New and under the sun

A group of Cambridge students are hoping that their game-changing design of solar car will make them the first British winners of the World Solar Challenge. The cumulative effect is a radical, race-winning design that also incorporates elements that could be used more widely in a low-carbon future - Keno Mario-Ghae A new solar car which, according to its creators, "rewrites the rulebook" for green vehicles, has been designed by students aiming to become the first British team to win the World Solar Challenge. The prototype, which has been named "Resolution", was built by engineers at the University of Cambridge. It is being unveiled in a road-test today (July 5th) at the Millbrook Race Track, near Bedford. The team will be taking the car to Australia in October, where they will compete against rivals from all over the world in a 3,000km race from Darwin to Adelaide, in which the vehicles must be powered by the sun alone. Their hope is that Resolution's radically different design, in particular a set of moving solar panels which maximise power by tracking the path of the sun across the sky, will enable them to take first place where others have failed. No British team has ever won the competition in its 26-year history.