It was only on Tuesday that the Solar Team Twente solar car
crashed, breaking into two as it landed on the road surface and
sustaining extensive damage. Nevertheless at 8:00 local time on
Wednesday morning, after the team had worked through the night
repairing their vehicle, the 21Revolution was once again ready to
rejoin the race. Indeed, it ended up covering more 550 kilometres -
a cause for great satisfaction among the team.
Many people who had seen the photographs of Solar Team Twente's
crashed car had not expected to see it run again, and certainly not
the very next day. In spite of this, the team succeeded in getting
it roadworthy again after working on it the whole night. On the
line from Australia, Twente team member Annemiek Dul admitted that
the repair would not win any beauty contests but at least it meant
the vehicle was up and running again. "The car has all kinds of
scars and we have had to use a lot of duct tape, but at 8 o'clock
this morning, it was ready to go. Many team members did not get any
sleep at all, as they had to work on the car non-stop. Obviously,
the drivers were allowed to sleep."
Safety
The team deliberately took things slowly at the start of day
four of the World Solar Challenge. Annemiek said that the main
priority of the team was safety. "At first, we did not go any
faster than 40 kilometres an hour, because we needed to know how
the car would respond and whether everything would be alright. As
the day went on, we upped the speed, and managed to reach 75
kilometres an hour." Although that is slower than the speeds that
the team reached earlier on in the race, it was still no mean
achievement, given the circumstances. The team succeeded in
covering 550 kilometres and is now in the state of South
Australia.
Repairs
The 21Revolution needed a lot of repair work. Both the right
rear suspension and the front suspension were broken. The lenses
that focus the sunlight onto the solar panels were completely
destroyed. One of the wheel covers was badly damaged and some of
the solar cells were broken. It was only when the team had set
about repairing these items that they discovered that part of the
frame had to be replaced as well. Fortunately, they had
considerable reserves of spare parts and duct tape with them.
The energy intake of the solar panel was somewhat lower than
normal during the fourth day of the race, but this caused no
difficulties at all, explained Annemiek. At the moment, the team is
checking the car for any hidden defects.
Finish
The team from Twente was overtaken by just one other team on the
fourth day. It had previously been expected that they would finish
on Thursday, but Annemiek admits that because of the crash, that is
now beyond them. "We are now hoping to cross the finishing line
sometime on Friday morning."
