Page 38 - Waterfall City_Issue 11_2022

Waterfall City Motoring

2022 SASOL

SOLAR CHALLENGE

Striving to ignite curiosity and a love for science

and engineering in our younger generation

N ow in its 14th year, the South

African Sasol Solar Challenge
was back in full force this
year. Among the nine teams
that participated was a group of
high school learners that managed
to surpass their goal of covering
1 000km by more than 200km.

The Sasol Solar Challenge entails
conceptualising, designing and
building a car that is able to cover
large distances using sunlight that is
converted to solar power. This ticks all
the boxes for students both at school
and university level, in that it requires
the practical application of STEM
(science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics) principles.

Sasol started sponsoring the event
in 2012, four years after it began,
and has continued to do so to
encourage further development in
solar technology. The challenge was
inspired by the Bridgestone World
Solar Challenge that has been held
in Australia since 1987. Now run and
owned by a firm of experienced events
professionals based in Centurion, this
event has over the years attracted
participants from Hong Kong,
Hungary, Japan, Poland, Belgium, The
Netherlands and Turkey, and has often
included the top global solar racing
teams.

The eight-day event this year took
place from 9-16 September. Starting
from the Carnival City Casino in
Brakpan, the 2022 route to the finish
line at the V&A Waterfront in Cape
Town went through five provinces and
18 towns that included Trompsburg,
Willowmore, Kirkwood, Jeffreys Bay,

36 Waterfall City Issue 11 2022