Flying Dutch win world solar car race in Australia

This handout from the World Solar Challenge 2017 taken and received on October 11, 2017, shows the Nuon Solar Team vehicle &quot
This handout from the World Solar Challenge 2017 taken and received on October 11, 2017, shows the Nuon Solar Team vehicle "Nuna9" from the Netherlands speeding towards Coober Pedy during the fourth day of racing

Dominant Dutch team "Nuon" Thursday won an epic 3,000-kilometre (1,860-mile) solar car race across Australia's outback for the third-straight year in an innovative contest showcasing new vehicle technology.

The World Solar Challenge, first run in 1987 and last held in 2015, began in the northern city of Darwin on Sunday morning with 41 competing cars, with Adelaide in South Australia state the final destination.

Cheers and chants of "Nuna" roared from the large Dutch contingent as the "Nuna 9" car—travelling at an average speed of 81.2 kilometres per hour (55.5 mph)—crossed the finish line mid-afternoon.

"Welcome to #Adelaide @NuonSolarTeam, winner of the @bridgestone #BWSC17 Schneider Electric Challenger Class," race organisers tweeted.

The US' University of Michigan "Novum" was on track for second place ahead of Belgium's Punch Powertrain.

The event has become one of the world's foremost innovation challenges with teams looking to demonstrate designs that could one day lead to commercially available solar-powered vehicles for passengers.

Google co-founder Larry Page and Tesla co-founder J B Straubel are past competitors who credit the event in influencing their careers

The win is the seventh for Nuon, with their car overcoming cloudy skies as they took the lead early and stayed ahead in the elite Challenger class, which features slick, single seat aerodynamic vehicles built for sustained endurance and total energy efficiency.

This handout from the World Solar Challenge 2017 taken and received on October 10, 2017 shows Nuon Solar Team vehicle "Nuna
This handout from the World Solar Challenge 2017 taken and received on October 10, 2017 shows Nuon Solar Team vehicle "Nuna9" from the Netherlands arriving in Alice Springs on the third day of racing

The team's winning time was 37 hours, 10 minutes and 41 seconds. When their team finished first in 2015, it took them 33.03 hours.

Team manager Sander Koot said they changed their strategy and driving style to cope with weather conditions that included wind gusts of up to 60 kmh.

They also positioned the car so it could benefit from the windy conditions like a sailing ship, the team's aerodynamics expert Jasper Hemmes told organisers.

There is also a Cruiser class which aims to showcase solar technology for mainstream vehicles that are more practical for day-to-day use.

Another Dutch team, Eindhoven, is on track to finish Friday and win that class, with Germany's HS Bochum tracking second.

This handout from the World Solar Challenge 2017 shows team members of Nuon Solar Team from the Netherlands preparing their vehi
This handout from the World Solar Challenge 2017 shows team members of Nuon Solar Team from the Netherlands preparing their vehicle "Nuna9" to catch the first morning sun near Dunmarra on the second day of racing

The vehicles are powered by the sun and mostly developed by universities or corporations, with teams hailing from Australia and across the world including the United States, Malaysia, India and South Africa.

They are allowed to store a small amount of energy but the majority of their power has to come from the sun and their vehicle's kinetic forces.

The crews drove between 8am and 5pm each day with seven checkpoints along a route cutting through the heart of Australia's central desert region, to get updates on their standings, the weather, and do basic maintenance.

© 2017 AFP

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