Yeah the Sunraycer was so far ahead of its time its hard to contemplate. Modren solar racers cost between 250 and 600 thousand. Imagine what would happen if they were given 5 million today and no restrictions.
@@passivlife Some solar race teams in recent years have had "budgets" in the 1 to 2 million $ range. Their cars are usually engineering works of art. Particularly the composites and electrical work. I usually salivate when looking at their "guts" close up. Aptera would have done well to have it's engineers visit the better teams garages. Most are in Western Europe, Japan and Australia. Finally, at 10:42 you can clearly see the back side of solar panels built for the vehicle. The solar panels with the yellow-ish gaps between cells were designed and built by a veteran of solar racing from the 1990s. To this day, his panels are still the best performance panels available and he makes them in his garage at home....
The solar challenge may itself be easy compared to the challenges faced by Aptera Motors in trying to get their solar electric vehicle into production.
Come to think of it, Aptera is ideal for WSC. It has versions that has a range of up1200 km. WSC is not really a practical challenge. Not even petrol cars have such range and will have difficulties in completing 1200 km without any fuel stop. It is I interesting to understand why WSC requires such impractical huge range. The cruiser class now allows cars that are 2 m wide. It used to be just 1.7 m, which I found too narrow in comparison with practical cars. But with 19 sq. m area, only 5 sq. m solar allowed. For a solar car race, the solar component is only 10%. Better call it battery racer.
I have an Aptera on order. And I'm an investor.This is a great video. Well done.
Thanks. Great to here you're all in!
Same.👍
Paul MacCready is my personal hero. Sunraycer is the template for how all modern cars should be built.
Yeah the Sunraycer was so far ahead of its time its hard to contemplate. Modren solar racers cost between 250 and 600 thousand. Imagine what would happen if they were given 5 million today and no restrictions.
@@passivlife Some solar race teams in recent years have had "budgets" in the 1 to 2 million $ range. Their cars are usually engineering works of art. Particularly the composites and electrical work. I usually salivate when looking at their "guts" close up. Aptera would have done well to have it's engineers visit the better teams garages. Most are in Western Europe, Japan and Australia.
Finally, at 10:42 you can clearly see the back side of solar panels built for the vehicle. The solar panels with the yellow-ish gaps between cells were designed and built by a veteran of solar racing from the 1990s. To this day, his panels are still the best performance panels available and he makes them in his garage at home....
Really? Who makes them?
@@passivlife SunCat Solar, LLC in Arizona
Great Video !
Thanks!
Nice video 👍 but surprising that you didn't mention the predecessor of the competition, the Tour de Sol
The solar challenge may itself be easy compared to the challenges faced by Aptera Motors in trying to get their solar electric vehicle into production.
Definitely.
Hello I am From India and we want to take part in this race in upcoming years so can you help me by guiding my team to build this car.
Hello Kushagra. If you go to my TH-cam Channel Page you can contact me using the email address link. Thanks.
Very, very nice video. Unfortunately, Aptera is dismissive and downright antagonistic towards solar car racing. Their loss.
Come to think of it, Aptera is ideal for WSC. It has versions that has a range of up1200 km. WSC is not really a practical challenge. Not even petrol cars have such range and will have difficulties in completing 1200 km without any fuel stop. It is I interesting to understand why WSC requires such impractical huge range. The cruiser class now allows cars that are 2 m wide. It used to be just 1.7 m, which I found too narrow in comparison with practical cars. But with 19 sq. m area, only 5 sq. m solar allowed. For a solar car race, the solar component is only 10%. Better call it battery racer.