Solar car Nuna smashes upside down

Solar car Nuna 13 has been knocked over during a test. This happened on 4 June in Volkswagen’s wind tunnel. Despite the damage the new version of the Delft solar car suffered, the planned unveiling on 10 June will go ahead as planned.

The Brunel Solar Team reports this in a press release. The student team informs that things went wrong during one of the last tests on test day two. How exactly that could have happened is not clear. The car is attached to a rolling tyre at several points during a wind tunnel test. The car must have come loose at one of those points.

No injuries

No one was in the car and there were no injuries. The Nuna 13 suffered scratches and dents. Whether any electrical and mechanical parts were damaged will be determined by further checks. A spokesperson said she is confident that the Nuna can be repaired. She says this will take one to two weeks.

‘We are extremely shocked by what happened,’ says team leader Elias Wawoe in the press release. ‘Months of work seemed lost in one fell swoop; it could have been much worse. We see this unexpected setback as a valuable stress test for our cooperation, which only strengthens our drive and problem-solving ability.’
World champion

The Brunel Solar Team has competed in the World Solar Racing Championships in Australia 11 times since its inception in 1999. Seven times, the team became world champions. In 2019, things went seriously wrong with the car during the race. It burned to the ground.