The first meters on Australian soil
The second stop on our journey from Adelaide to Darwin to compete in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2019 is Coober Pedy. In the opal capital of the world, the conditions for testing were ideal for us: seemingly endless highways with bright sunshine. But before that, we first had to overcome the approx. 800 kilometers between Nuriootpa and Coober Pedy.
On the way we visited the Dutch team Top Dutch Solar Racing in Port Augusta. Since Top Dutch drives a very similar vehicle concept in the shape of an arrow, it was very interesting to see how completely different solutions were found to comparable challenges. However, it is very dangerous to drive at night in the outback, because animals like to stay on the still hot asphalt, which often leads to accidents. Therefore, we soon set off again to reach our destination in daylight. After more than twelve hours of driving we finally arrived in Coober Pedy. After we had set up our workshop in front of our house, we continued where we had left off in Nuriootpa - working on the vehicle in order to be optimally prepared for testing. And then it was finally here: the moment when the Covestro Sonnenwagen was on the road for the first time on the Australian highway, its actual habitat. We had all been working towards this moment for so long and had certainly imagined it many times, but finally driving through the outback in reality was something very special for all of us. The data that we were able to collect during the first test drives was directly used again to optimize the vehicle. In Coober Pedy will be one of the checkpoints during the race and only in the state of South Australia it is allowed to test in convoy on public roads with Challenger solar vehicles. Therefore, the place is also very attractive for other solar teams, which led to the fact that we got two visitors for a barbecue: First, the SolarCar Team of the University of Bochum visited us. The Bochum team competes in the Cruiser class during the World Solar Challenge and together with us they form the German representation in Australia during the WSC. Unfortunately, the weather conditions in Coober Pedy were not always as good as we had hoped: In the workshop in front of our house, there was often strong wind and we even had one of the 2.3 rainy days in September. Therefore, we moved the workshop to a hall of the District Council of Coober Pedy. There we continued to work, optimize and start more tests. The trips became longer, further and faster and the Covestro Sonnenwagen got better and better. In addition to all the work, our feelgood manager provided a highlight on the day of the fourth anniversary of Team Sonnenwagen Aachen: This time, the destination of our vehicle convoy was not the workshop or the Stuart Highway, but the drive-in movie theater in Coober Pedy to watch the film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" together.