BWSC with ARIBA ZES X
As ITU ZES Solar Car Team, we have been exhibiting our interdisciplinary work in national and international competitions with our supporters from the sector, academicians of our university, and graduates of our team since 2004. We continuously add new ones to our experience and successes every year by ensuring the continuity of our team culture and values.
We are preparing to participate in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (BWSC), our next stop on this journey, for the fourth time in October 2023. As our vehicle, ARIBA ZES X, traverses the continent of Australia from north to south, our success and experience in previous years will shed light on us and guide us in reaching our goals.
Bridgestone World Solar Challenge
Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, the world's largest and most prestigious solar energy competition, has been held every two years on the Australian continent with thousands of participants from 24 countries since 1987 and is followed with enthusiasm by more than 25 million global audiences. In this race, where the engineering and technological capabilities of the teams as well as their operational abilities are tested, the teams cross the continent from Darwin to Adelaide from one end to the other for seven days, competing with each other and challenging continental conditions.
ITU ZES SCT on the Journey to Australia
In 2009, when we participated in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge for the first time, we won the "The Best Newcomer Award" award by traveling 1350 km with ARIBA IV, and we became the first and only solar car team in our country to receive awards worldwide.
We participated in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2013, held in Australia in October with ARIBA VI, which we prepared with devotion in line with our first racing experiences in 2009, but due to some problems with the engine, we covered 1613 km in the race and finished the race in 17th place. We ended the BWSC'2013 race experiencing the critical importance of promptly responding to any unexpected mishaps that may occur during the preparation process and the race.
In the last Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, we participated in 2017 with ARIBA VIII Bees On Wheels (BOW), we covered 2200 km with solar energy, but we could not get an official rating due to some technical problems. Our BWSC adventure, in which we discovered our limits and crossed them at the same time, made us more accustomed and experienced to the atmosphere of the race each time.
Tough Conditions
Our experience has developed us to be solution-oriented against the geographical conditions of the Australian continent and the technical and operational failures that may arise due to the nature of the race. Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, in which all teams were tested in many ways to manage the pre-race process as well as their engineering and technological capabilities and transferred all their developed skills to the challenging race process, could not be realized in 2021 due to pandemic measures, but it was published by YouTube Originals named "Light Speed", which describes the racing process in 2019. The documentary shot was broadcast and attracted great attention with nearly 60 million views. Throughout the documentary, we see how the teams cope with the challenging conditions of the race and sometimes how their efforts fail. With all these processes and stages, BWSC keeps the excitement of the participants alive and creates a perfect area where teams and therefore countries compete in their engineering. Thus, as a collective engineering field where technological developments are tested and new developments are rapidly introduced to the world of science, BWSC maintains its importance in the sector.
Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2023
We set our sights high on the adventure of BWSC, which we will be a part of again in October 2023, and we continue to prepare nonstop with more than 30 leading supporters from different sectors. On the 100th anniversary of our Republic, being successful and making proud our school and our country increases the importance of the BWSC'23 race for us.