Pictures of Solar Powered Cars Racing in the Albury/Wodonga Solar Model Car Challenge

Welcome to the pictures of solar powered cars racing in the Solar Model Car Challenge held once a year in Albury/Wodonga, Australia

Ready set go, the solar powered cars are about to race.

About the project
The above mentioned event is better known as the Industry Bridge to School project. It is an innovative education partnership between local industry and schools designed to engage students in learning, develop employability skills, increase awareness of career opportunities in local manufacturing industry and to respond to regional skill shortages.


Action pictures of solar powered cars. The solar model cars racing side by side

The project involves teams of students from local schools each working with an industry mentor to design, build and race a radio controlled solar powered car. Each team is provided with the basic components to build the car, and a budget to cover costs of additional parts and materials. The buzzword is: make solar car


Like in real car racing, the driver at the controls requires skill and concentration. Practice generates perfection, completing the project early allows ample time for practice runs.
The small gazebo in the picture acts as the penality tent; when a driver causes a crash he must park his car in the shade for 5 minutes, missing out on laps and solar energy.

Each team is required to undertake research on solar energy for cars and perform experimental work involving batteries, motors, electronics and a wide variety of engineering concepts such as speed to weight ratios, steering geometry, gearing mechanisms, lightweight construction and metal fabrication. This goes on cuncurrently with planning and designing the solar powered model car for the race. Many students find these initail stages of the project boring and will not get enthusiastic until construction begins. Building a basic prototype will keep them busy whilst the engineering minded students design & refine the racer.

Funding for the 2005 program was provided by the Australian Industry Group through the Enterprise & Career Education Program and the Federal Government Department of Education Science and Training. Substantial in kind support has been provided by Wilson Transformer Company, Kooka Brothas, Geofabrics Australasia and Cooper Tools.

The solar racing cars carefully avoid shady areas. This and a few other obstacles have been introduced on purpose to test the drivers control abilities and reduce the emphasis on speed only.

Whilst there’s a strong focus on innovations and creativity in design of the model electric solar cars, with the aim of being competitive and functional in the final race setting, there should always remain an underlying focus on team work, collaboration and individual personal growth.

And the winners is....the car that has scored the highest number of laps in one hour is deemed to be the winner of the event. This requires a combination of speed, team driving skills (each team member gets an allocated share of the driving) and car relaibility.

The Solar Car Challenge takes place over two school terms and aims to develop long-term relationships between the schools and businesses involved. Other activities are build into the program including industry tours and workshops, careers education, media/promotions such as the pictures of solar powered cars, catering and event management.


No.1, a 3 wheeler, was the winning car. A masterpiece made of carbon fibre blade sections and including an expertly calculated metal gearbox. This car was created by combining a motivated team with a dedicated mentor supported by the school and the sponsoring industry. No.3, also a 3 wheeler, was almost as fast with an all alu frame and a single timing belt drive.

Now in its 5th year, the project has been enthusiastically embraced by local industry, schools, students, teachers and the community in general. With this strong support it has now become an important yearly event in the Albury Wodonga Region, and is currently being promoted to other similar regions nationally.


A solar model car team performing some electronic assembling. Every solar powered racing car required many hours of design, planning and construction time, always best performed by the students with guidance from the industry mentor and school teacher.

Our Goals:

1 Build strong and ongoing relationship between industry and schools,

2 Promote careers in manufacturing to students and school community as a whole, and

3 engage students in a way that the traditional education process may not be able to.

Support and Coordination The Industry t School project is directed by a management committee comprising industry & school representation and the support of the Australian Industry Group and The North East Local Learning & Employment Network.
The project is coordinated by the AiGroup Training adviso from their offices in Albury.

A popular and event is the visit to the sponsoring industry. In the picture above the solar car team visits the Milspec alternator manufacturing plant with Company Manager David Cooper explaining the various components.

I'm sure you have enjoyed the pictures of solar powered cars. As time goes by and more information is submitted for publication, we'll add more pictures of solar powered cars and perhaps a video. So come back to see us again soon. For more pictures of solar powered cars click here