MANILA, Philippines — Filipino ingenuity and faith powered the Philippines’ rookie solar car race team to reach the finish line of the 3000-kilometer World Solar Challenge in Australia.
All first-timers in solar car construction and operation, the 15-man Team Sinag (ray of light) carried the Philippine flag through the finish line of the WSC desert race, reportedly the most prestigious competition for solar-powered cars.
The country’s pioneering solar car team finished 11th place out of 20 teams in the race’s Challenge class, edging out cars from France, Canada, Chile and one of two entries from the host country.
“When we reached the finish line, it was an ecstatic experience. We traded lots of shirts with other teams… It’s really a good community and we’re really fortunate we got to meet them,” said team member Martin Sy-Quia.
Assembled from a group of engineering professors, graduates and students of De La Salle University-Manila, Team Sinag shone brightly, finishing the grueling race from Darwin to Adelaide (a north to south traverse) in six days, a day ahead of the deadline.
They finished the race on October 27 after nine-hour, non-stop daily runs from the starting line in Darwin on October 21, running at an average speed of 60 kilometers per hour. It was the determined ideal speed for Sinag, the Philippines’ first solar race car. At this rate, its charge could be maximized for the day’s required mileage.
“We had to compute every minute for our speed. All other teams used software to calculate their set speed, but in our case, we had four guys sitting in a car, two laptops, a calculator,” said Robert Obiles, overall student leader.
“We manually calculated our velocity, speed and next set point distance every, say, five minutes. And that’s from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” he added, explaining that speed must always be computed against the car’s remaining charge to ensure that it had enough power to end the day’s run.
They may have been two full days behind the winner, four-time champion Nuon and its car, Nuna 4, from the Netherlands, but this did not diminish the team’s elation. That they finished 11th out of 20 teams was not even expected as Sinag’s class included contenders from the United Kingdom, the United States, Wales, Taiwan and Senegal.
“These young adventurers have gone where no Filipino has gone before. They’ve bested other hi-tech competitors from around the world to finish the race a day ahead of schedule at 11th place, an overwhelming cause for celebration and pride,” said DLSU Chancellor Carmelita Quebengco, who considered Sinag’s victory “tops” over the school’s recent victory in the collegiate basketball championship.
Backed by cooperation from the government and the private sector (automotive, transport and power companies), Team Sinag unveiled the country’s first solar race car in January, some eight months since it was built from scratch.
It is said to be a record time in solar car construction, since most members of the team had never designed a car before.
“The top cars used space-grade solar panels which have very powerful cells while we used terrestrial cells for commercial use, although they were still highly efficient,” said Jac Catalan, assistant project leader.
With the help of experienced consultants, Sinag’s engineers manually designed the vehicle using available solar technology in the country, creating a car with a “sleek monocoque shell ” that can run up to 110 kilometers per hour.
A monocoque is a metal structure, such as an aircraft, in which the skin absorbs all or most of the stresses to which the body is subjected.
“They were basically impressed by the car… When we arrived at the race way, the scrutineer (car inspector) told us we were among the most prepared teams. We completed the scrutineering (pre-race check) and the scrutineer was impressed with how prepared we were in terms of safety,” Obiles said.
“One of them (participants) told us that for something handmade — they’re used to computer-designed machines — the finish was very fine,” said Sy-Quia.
Every race day posed a different challenge for the team. Besides, contending with the technical requirements of powering a solar car and making the daily deadline, the team had to endure camping in the Australian outback.
“From Sunday to Saturday, we woke up at 6 a.m., then everyone rushed to set up the solar panel because the sun was already rising. We installed the panel then charged the batteries. Then at exactly 8 a.m., we had to go or lose precious minutes,” said Catalan.
“Then we spent the entire day chasing the deadline, we checked at the control stops — we had seven of them along the entire route. At the end of the day, the challenge is to calculate the speed to stop at the right campsite,” he said.
On good days, the team found ideal camping spots. On bad days, there would be tire blowups and they would have to set up camp where they were.
“Once, we stopped in a place which was not exactly a campsite. There was a fence going nowhere, it was previously a quarantine center that had long been shut. We set up there, turned on our lights using the generator… and all the insects of Australia were there,” said Catalan, laughing at the recollection.
“We were just on the side of the road, there were a lot of flies and a lot of moths and we had to cook at that place,” said Obiles.
It was also very cold. “Since it’s far south, it’s cold. We had to gather firewood and make a fire,” he said.
Sy-Quia, who was responsible for preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner for the team, had his challenges to hurdle while on the road in Australia.
