Race Report BWSC 2011

The Umicar Imagine, the fourth Belgian solar car, was built from 2010 to 2011. It took part in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge and finished tenth out of 37 participants, even though battery problems occurred during the race.

This car incorporated top notch technologies to enhance performance of the vehicle, such as the integrated solar concentrators to counteract the new solar panel size limitations. It finished the qualifications in Darwin in sixth place, giving the solar car a good start in the race.

In the first half of the competition, they lost a couple positions but managed to recapture them during the second half.

After 2600 kilometers of driving, the Umicar Imagine encountered a technical issue: the batteries got excessively hot and required cooling. This setback cost the team a lot of time.

However, after swapping out the battery the team was able to continue. An added time penalty resulted in the car finishing tenth in the race. The Umicar Imagine was one of eight cars that finished the race without being towed by a trailer: twenty-nine other teams had to transport their solar car due to technical failure at some point during the race.