DST Director-General to lower the flag at Sasol Solar Challenge 2016
The Director-General, Dr Phil Mjwara, will start of the Sasol Solar Challenge race by signalling the start of the 2016 race.
With the starting line-up at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria, the Sasol Solar Challenge is a competition for teams who have to design, manage, build and drive solar-powered vehicles across South Africa.
The DST supports the initiative as it aims to encourage young people to achieve success in STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It helps educates young people in the principles of STEM, as well as innovation, teamwork and business principles. It promotes collaboration between students, industry and government.
Students get an opportunity to apply the theoretical science and technology lessons they learnt at school or university in practice, and South African students get a chance to test their engineering skills against some of the best solar car teams in the world.
The eight-day event sees local and international solar-powered cars travel as far as they can on various roads and loops between Pretoria and Cape Town. The 2016 event – from 24 September to 1 October 2016 – traverses some of the worldʹs most beautiful and diverse landscapes, from desert and savannah to mountains and coastal forest.
International teams are attracted to the challenge of competing under such varying road conditions and seeing how well their cars will handle a drop of nearly 2 000 m in altitude over the course of the race.
Over the last three days, 14 teams from all over the world have been undergoing tough scrutiny at the Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria to determine whether they are fit to compete in this year’s 2 000 km challenge across the country.
The first static scrutiny round assessed the carsʹsuitability in terms of electrical and mechanical engineering, structural stability and other safety aspects. Experts in the field from the CSIR inspected the vehicles' batteries, solar panels and branding, and weighed both cars and drivers.
The starting order on Saturday will be –
1. Tokai Challenger, Japan
2. Nuon Solar Team, The Netherlands
3. Maragon Olympus, South Africa
4. GAMF MegaLux, Hungary
5. Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa
6. Lodz Solar Team, Poland
7. ZingCO, South Africa
8. North-West University, South Africa
The eight-day race will finish at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on 1 October.
