Behind the scenes at Top Dutch Solar Racing

On the website of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge you can see the seconds ticking away. 74 days, 21 hours, 19 minutes and 12 seconds before the adventure starts: a race of more than 3000 kilometres through the Australian outback. The challenge is to be the reach the finish line as fast as you can on solar energy alone. In Groningen, the Top Dutch Solar Racing Team is busy preparing for the race and perfecting their solar car.

text: Nathalie Meeuwsen
photo: Marnix Hoekman, from left to right: Julliette Evers (Top Dutch), Yntze Buitenwerf, Danielle van der Eide and Mark Jansen (Seatrade). 

Third-year Marketing Management student Julliette Evers  jumped at the chance to be part of the Top Dutch Solar Challenge team
‘You get thrown into the deep end in such a wonderful way. I’m actually the first marketing manager for Top Dutch. My job is to manage the acquisitions and the communications slash media side and most things external.

Our biggest challenge so far has been timing because the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge has pulled in their dates two months earlier, so we lost two whole months of preparation, and that has meant a big change in how we function. It’s all about having a positive mindset and a can-do attitude.

As for promoting the team’s efforts, that will kick off in earnest after the car reveal on June 6th. As a competitive racing team, however, you do have to keep your secrets until you can release them. But as soon as that car's out, we really get to show off the amazing work we've done.’

Eldert Zeinstra was one of the founders of the Top Dutch Solar Racing Team in 2017, together with Jeroen Brattinga, Frank Pot and Vincent Taselaar. The team finished fourth in 2019
'We were doing a project together and we wanted to do something besides our studies, a larger project. We had a lot of crazy ideas, such as building a rocket, but we decided to build a solar car. We had our doubts at first because the other teams’ racing level is quite high and going to Australia with your entire team is an expensive affair. So either you’re not doing it at all or you just go for it. There is no in between.

During my vocational training in mechanical engineering at the Friese Poort, I did an internship at TU Delft with their solar boat team. At Friese Poort we were also building a solar boat and it turned out we were better at certain things, such as our engine installation. The team in Delft asked for our help. So I moved there for a few months. That was an eye-opener, those guys can calculate everything really well. The cooperation between the different levels of education worked so well that we also wanted this for the Top Dutch Solar Racing Team.

The internship in Delft was also the reason why I started doing Mechanical Engineering at Hanze. I was good at building stuff and had insight into mechanics, but knowing how to calculate is sometimes just the kind of optimisation you need and I really wanted to know how to do that too.

I worked on Top Dutch Solar Racing for two years and did many different things in that time. Initially, I was mainly working on a bit of aerodynamics and mechanics, which must be coordinated well. Composite was kind of my speciality: carbon fiber with epoxy, the lightest and strongest material you can use. Hull design is about the inside of the car, the parts that are also made of composite to which, for example, suspensions have to be attached, seat belts, I have also been very busy with that combination.’

In a solar car, everything has to be done as efficiently as possible. Every bit of energy you get from the sun has to be converted as efficiently as possible. There is a certain surface area on which the sun falls. To utilise this solar power, you use solar cells with certain foils and microstructures. Then you store it in batteries. Everything you put in, you want to get out. That is actually the whole energy transition in a nutshell: making everything as efficient as possible.'

Mark Jansen is the managing director of Seatrade, one of the partners of the Top Dutch Solar Racing Team. The shipping company, based in Groningen, operates worldwide and specialises in refrigerated and frozen cargo
'We are a reefer / container shipping company and, of course, it is fantastic to work with modern equipment and materials but it also about the human element, the people on board. I don't just mean the people on board our ships, but also the people here at the office. That is why a project such as Top Dutch Solar Racing appeals to us hugely. It includes all disciplines, not only the highly educated but also the practically trained people who provide craftmanship. That is something we find really important here at Seatrade.

We don't transport the solar car itself, which will arrive in Australia by plane, but there is a lot of other stuff, such as spare parts, tents and whatever else besides, that the team have to take with them. We had a container built and together with the team we furnished it especially for this purpose and we have also spray-painted it in the right colour. It will travel to Australia on one of our ships.

It is really cool that you can drive through Australia on solar energy, of course. These are great developments that we are very interested in. You see a lot of innovation in this area in shipping as well. Unfortunately, it is not yet entirely feasible for transatlantic and intercontinental shipping. Closer to the coast, you do see many alternatives, ships with sails and rotors, for example. Our ships are extremely energy-efficient, by using modern engines and hull designs, which is positive. But our ships don't run on sunflower seeds, they still need fuel. As a company, we are really looking for an alternative, green fuel, but it is not sufficiently available yet. That is a challenge.'

At the Hanze, we challenge students to work on real-life issues from the region in a future-oriented way. In student challenges such as Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, students learn by doing – together with companies, governmental agencies  and residents. It provides fresh ideas, new perspectives and tangible innovations with social impact.Top Dutch Solar Racing is a multidisciplinary student team consisting of vocational, higher vocational education and university students from different fields of study. Together they are building a solar car to participate in the international Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. The solar car, named Green Falcon, was officially presented in the city centre of Groningen on the sixth of June.