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58-609: The Sunraycer won the first World Solar Challenge in 1987. The team's lead driver was John Harvey , an Australian driver with (at the time) nearly 40 years of racing experience. Harvey was involved with the testing and development of the Sunraycer at the General Motors Proving Ground in Arizona . The Sunraycer project started with a request from GM's Australian division to GM Headquarters to participate in

116-684: A cell encapsulation technique which allowed the moulding of solar panels to the curved shape of the car. BP "Saturn" cells, laminated using epoxy resins and fibreglass Power output ~1 kilowatt (1.3 hp) The original Sunswift vehicle was purchased from the Aurora Vehicle Association in 1996. The car, Aurora Q1 , was significantly upgraded and improved by the UNSW SRT and renamed Sunswift , under team leader Byron Kennedy. A new motor and controller, roll cage, chassis and batteries were added. Sunswift I then went on to race in

174-658: A dirt track to a bitumen track, once again racing for the same car owner he had in the 1960s, Ronald Mackay. Harvey drove cars such as the Austin Cooper S and Brabham BT14 Ford 1.5 litre. Harvey won the 1966 Australian 1½ Litre Championship in the Brabham and in the same year finished runner up in the Australian Drivers' Championship for 2.5 litre Australian National Formula cars in the same car, competing against much more powerful machinery, also winning

232-856: A place in the Motor Sport Hall of Fame. In the 2020 Australia Day Honours , Harvey was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to motor sports. Harvey died on 5 December 2020, aged 82, from a battle with lung cancer. ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † Not registered for series & points ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) UNSW Sunswift Sunswift Racing

290-422: A result of this, the vehicle competed in the 2017 World Solar Challenge and placed third in practicality. In December 2018, the team had driven from Perth to set a Guinness World Record for the lowest energy consumption while driving across Australia in an electric car. VIolet was then further tested and refined for reliability and efficiency, leading to an all-time highest Sunswift ranking of 2nd Place Overall in

348-477: A rule that barring himself, senior management could not participate in dangerous activities such as being a race driver. Walkinshaw finally relented and let Harvey race at Bathurst, originally offering him the lead driver role in the HSV team's 3rd car, something which Harvey turned down stating that "I had been the number two behind Brock for eight years and I wasn't about to become the number three" . During Round 7 of

406-644: A testimonial dinner in 2002. With Bond leaving the Holden team at the end of 1976, Harvey then became the lead driver for the 1977 season. In 1978, Peter Brock re-joined the Holden Dealer Team and became No.1 driver with Harvey driving the No.2 car. This established the pattern for almost a decade. The Harvey car effectively became Brock's backup, notably winning the 1978 Rothmans 500 event at Oran Park teamed with Charlie O'Brien. In 1980 Peter Brock took over

464-910: Is the solar car racing team of the University of New South Wales in Sydney , Australia. The team currently holds a number of world records and is best known for its participation in the World Solar Challenge (WSC). Since its founding in 1996 by Byron Kennedy, the Sunswift team has built a total of 7 cars, the most recent of which is Sunswift 7 . The team primarily consists of undergraduate students from various disciplines including business, engineering and industrial design. Despite its team members being largely engaged in full-time study, Sunswift has remained competitive in all participated solar car challenges, earning prestige and recognition on

522-474: The 1985 ATCC , as well as rounds of the 1986 ATCC . Harvey's biggest win came with the HDT at the 1983 James Hardie 1000 . Originally to be partnered with Brock's brother Phil, Harvey qualified his #25 Holden VH Commodore (the car in which Brock and Perkins had won the 1982 race ) in 5th place (Brock claimed pole in #05). After just eight laps, Brock's car blew its engine, seemingly putting him and Perkins out of

580-405: The 1988 Australian Touring Car Championship at Sandown, and despite being part of the management team at HSV, Harvey was on hand to be part of Allan Moffat's team for the weekend (complete with a Moffat team ANZ Bank jacket). From 1988 Moffat was racing a Ford Sierra RS500 built by Swiss ace Ruedi Eggenberger . Ironically, Harvey's old HDT teammate Larry Perkins through his Perkins Engineering

638-587: The IEEE Nikola Tesla Award . Aside from the driver, the single heaviest element in the car was the Hughes battery pack that utilized silver-oxide batteries . These batteries were included to provide extra power when passing trucks, to smooth out the performance of the vehicle, and because the race rules mandated driving only between the hours of 8 AM to 5 PM, but the cars were allowed to charge their batteries from sunlight even when they were not on

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696-662: The 2019 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge and finishing first across the line in Adelaide. Width: 2.2 metres (7 ft 2 in) Height: 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) The design and construction of eVe began in early 2012 and was completed within 18 months in time for the 2013 World Solar Challenge . The car cost approximately $ 500,000 and was built to compete in the new Cruiser Class in the WSC. This class focused on more practical solar cars with passenger seats, greater safety and more efficient batteries. To reflect its focus on practicality,

754-490: The 2023 World Solar Challenge, Cruiser Class. An on-road score of 109.4, practicality score of 83.3%, and a final score of 91.1 was achieved. They placed first for both the on-road score and practicality score. VIolet is the sixth vehicle designed and manufactured by Sunswift. It was the second vehicle manufactured by Sunswift that is built to compete in the Cruiser Class. Design of VIolet began in 2016 and manufacture

812-590: The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge Cruiser Class. The design began in 2020, with intentions of running in the cancelled 2021 World Solar Challenge. In December 2022, Sunswift achieved a Guinness World Record for the Fastest EV over 1,000 km (621 mi) on a single charge. It achieved this in 11 hours and 52.08 minutes, at an average speed of almost 85 km/h (53 mph). In October 2023, Sunswift won

870-566: The HDT. Driving a VK Commodore SS Group A , he teamed with HDT driver/engineer Neal Lowe to finish second behind the Commodore of Allan Grice and Graeme Bailey . Harvey won the 1986 Pukekohe 500 with Neal Lowe in their new Group A SS VK Commodore, and the pair finished second to HDT teammates Brock and Allan Moffat at the 1987 Nissan 500 Wellington. Harvey split with Brock by 1987, being unhappy with Brock's flirtation with ‘New Age’ ideas like his ‘Energy Polariser’. Harvey told his side of

928-680: The Holden Dealer Team, deciding John Harvey would not contest the ATCC races and contest only the endurance races at the end of the year. Peter Brock teamed with John Harvey (1980, 1981) for the CRC 300, winning both. This arrangement continued until the advent of Group A in Australia in 1985 , though Harvey did run in rounds of the 1984 ATCC , driving Brock's #05 when Brock and Perkins were attempting to win Le Mans . Harvey would then run selected rounds in

986-783: The NSW 1.5 litre Road Racing Championship. He began involvement with Bob Jane's racing team in 1967 and moved to Melbourne. Harvey won the 1971 and 1972 Australian Sports Car Championships driving the McLaren M6B Repco V8 for Bob Jane . He drove Jane's Repco V8 powered Holden Torana in Sports Sedan racing in the early 1970s, winning both the Toby Lee Series at Oran Park and the Marlboro Series at Calder Park Raceway in 1973. In 1976, Harvey won

1044-530: The Sunraycer broke the solar powered speed record with a top speed of 75.276 mph (121.145 km/h). By comparison, the winning car in the 2005 World Solar Challenge was the Nuna 3 , which had a top speed of 140 km/h (87 mph) and cruised with speeds of 110 to 120 km/h (av. speed 103 km/h for entire 3000 km). This record held until it was broken by UNSW Sunswift in January 2011. GM put

1102-672: The Sunraycer on tour, where it was displayed at several events across the United States. GM also produced a promotional 30-minute film about the Sunraycer aimed at middle-school and high-school students, narrated by one of the drivers of the Sunraycer. GM then donated the Sunraycer to the Smithsonian Institution . The Sunraycer led directly to the creation of the GM Impact, an electric powered car also designed by AeroVironment with help from both GM and Hughes; though

1160-559: The Sunraycer used solar power and not electrical power, it was not considered feasible at the time to create a solar-powered car for the American car market. The GM Impact led to the GM EV-1 , an experimental electric car which was leased to customers for a few years in the late 1990s before being controversially retired and scrapped. John Harvey (racing driver) John Francis Harvey OAM (21 February 1938 – 5 December 2020)

1218-601: The US and became the race team manager. Harvey's last Bathurst 1000 was in 1988 where he teamed with Kevin Bartlett in a Holden VL Commodore SS Group A SV to finish in 14th after qualifying 22nd. Early in the race, Harvey had been dicing with Brock, now racing a BMW M3. Harvey almost didn't get to drive in the 1988 race. At the time he was working for the Tom Walkinshaw owned Holden Special Vehicles and Walkinshaw had

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1276-507: The batteries can be completely recharged in 10 hours using a standard household power socket or in under 7 hours using a commercial power socket. In terms of cost and efficiency, for every 100 km the solar car would cost approximately $ 0.20 compared to the average $ 15 for conventional petrol powered cars. In July 2014 The Sunswift team broke an FIA World Record which was overseen by the Confederation of Australian Motorsport , for

1334-424: The battery at the same time, instead of just using conventional mechanical brakes. Lastly, the energy that was once in the sunlight shining on the car, reaches the electric motors which operate on the principles of electromagnetism to turn that electrical energy into rotational energy that spins the wheels and drives the car forward. Sunswift 7 (SR7) is the third vehicle manufactured by Sunswift designed to compete in

1392-410: The current into the motor controllers which converts it into a form that can be used to power the electric motor. Motor controllers are also used to manage things like speed regulation, cruise control and regenerative braking . Regenerative braking is using the existing motors as generators by converting the rotational energy of the wheels back into electrical energy, slowing the car down and recharging

1450-585: The drive from Perth to Sydney in 5.5 days. In September, the team successfully completed the WSC in ninth place overall, and was also awarded the CSIRO technical innovation award, out of an initial field of 41 international entrants. The same year, the Sunswift team was awarded the 2007 Engineers Australia Engineering Excellence Award for Education and Training. Between 1997 and 2003, the team developed, refined and raced four versions of UNSW Sunswift II. In 2000-2001,

1508-434: The electromagnetic energy of the sun into electrical energy, through the use of photovoltaic cells, and then converting that electrical energy into mechanical energy to drive the car, through the use of some form of electric motor. Maximum power point trackers act as an interface between the solar array and the battery, while motor controllers act as an interface between the battery and the electric motors As sunlight shines on

1566-589: The entire project took approximately 18 months and $ 250,000 to complete. On 7 January 2011, at the Royal Australian Navy airbase, HMAS  Albatross , IVy broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest solar powered vehicle. Australian racing driver Barton Mawer brought IVy to a top speed of 88.5 kilometres per hour (55.0 mph), beating the previous record of 22 years by over 10 kilometres per hour (6.2 mph). The rules of

1624-586: The fastest electric vehicle capable of travelling 500 kilometres (310 mi) on a single battery charge. The team beat the previous record 73 kilometres per hour (45 mph) – set in 1988 – with an average speed of 107 kilometres per hour (66 mph) over the 500-kilometre (310 mi) distance, which was done at the Australian Automotive Research Centre in Victoria. This record was not an exclusive Solar car record, but

1682-572: The fastest speed of all the 24 contestants (109 km/h), remaining in first place for the entire race. It raced the 1,867 miles (3,005 km) with an average speed of 41.6 mph (66.9 km/h), finishing the race in just 5.2 days. This was 50% faster than the second place vehicle (which arrived in Adelaide two days after the Sunraycer). Roger Smith, the GM CEO, went to Adelaide to congratulate his winning team. In June, 1988, at Mesa, Arizona ,

1740-701: The first round of the Australian Touring Car Championship in a one-off drive in a B&D Autos-sponsored Torana L34 at Symmons Plains . Later in the year Harvey was signed up to co-drive with Colin Bond in the Holden Dealer Team Torana L34 which finished a close second in the Bathurst 1000 . The race-winning #7 Holden was accidentally credited with an extra lap, putting it ahead of the #1 Holden. The error

1798-573: The inaugural World Solar Challenge from Darwin to Adelaide, the first international race for purely solar powered cars. Despite being regarded as one of the best Speedcar drivers in Australia, Harvey switched from speedway to road racing in 1964 following the deaths of a few friends in Speedcar racing, as well as a contentious 6-month suspension received from the Sydney-based National Speedcar Club officials after he

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1856-403: The light intensity which can change rapidly if some cells become shaded. The electricity then flows into the battery where it can be stored for later use such as to drive the car while there is no sunlight. Although the battery is primarily charged by the solar panels, it can also be externally charged by the conventionally generated electricity at your home or workplace. The battery then discharges

1914-419: The newer recruits, thus helping to continue the standard of excellence that has been embodied in the team since its founding in 1996. The Sunswift team also plays an active role in the local community by educating the general public about the advantages of solar versus conventionally powered vehicles. To this end, they regularly showcase the series of Sunswift cars at exhibitions and hold information days open to

1972-526: The old record by 10 mph. The Sunraycer reportedly cost slightly less than $ 2 million to build. The race, in November 1987, was from Darwin in the north of Australia, to Adelaide in the south. The race course followed the Stuart Highway for nearly the entire trip, going past Alice Springs in the middle of the continent. The Sunraycer, driven by John Harvey, won the pole position with

2030-474: The only road legal solar cars in the world and the first to adhere to the strict Australian Design Rules . As with eVe, IVy was built to compete in the World Solar Challenge , specifically for the 2009 race. However, unlike eVe, IVy raced as part of the Challenger Class and Challenger Class Silicon, ending up finishing 4th overall despite being the first silicon powered car across the line. Overall,

2088-430: The public. In addition, Sunswift also visits schools in order to teach and inspire young children about implementing solar power technology whilst demonstrating how it can be a fun and effective method of powering a car. All solar cars have at least five main parts to their power system: the solar array , maximum power point tracker (MPPT), battery , motor controller and electric motor . These cars rely on converting

2146-551: The race for being some 50–80  kg underweight (after a protest from a privateer M3 team, the works M3's were found to have been fitted with lightweight carbon-fibre and kevlar body panels). Later at the Spa, 24 Hours in August, Moffat, and Harvey achieved a class win and finished 4th outright behind the works BMW Team M3's. Sydney driver Tony Mulvihill had also been listed to drive the #5 Rothmans sponsored Commodore at Spa, though he

2204-453: The race. However, due to the pair being cross-entered in #25, Brock and Perkins then took over from Harvey for the rest of the race (leaving Phil Brock without a drive). The race win was controversial at the time as many felt Brock and Perkins should not have been allowed to move into the HDT's second car after theirs retired. Under race rules at the time, however, cross-entering was allowed and had actually been used in previous 1000s, though this

2262-422: The record required that IVy be powered solely by the sun and with the entire battery pack removed, the car weighed only 140 kilograms (310 lb). Sunswift III was designed for the 2005 WSC. Mechanical problems caused a crash before the race, and the car completed the course unofficially. In 2006, the mechanics were improved. In January 2007, Jaycar Sunswift III broke the world transcontinental record, completing

2320-442: The road, allowing driving during allowed hours even when the weather was overcast. The frame of the car weighed 14 pounds. AeroVironment engineers made use of Kevlar for the shell of the car. The Sunraycer was tested through the spring and summer of 1987. During the testing period, the team had the time to set a new world speed record with the Sunraycer, achieving a speed of 36 mph (58 km/h) from solar power alone, breaking

2378-478: The solar array, it transfers energy to the electrons within the photovoltaic cells, thus allowing them to conduct electricity and causing a current to flow. This current then travels to the MPPTs which alter the load across the solar array in order to ensure that it is generating electricity as efficiently as possible. The MPPTs have to constantly monitor the output of the photovoltaic cells because that output depends on

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2436-581: The story of the split in Bill Tuckey's 1987 book The Rise and Fall of Peter Brock . In March 1987, Harvey teamed up with Allan Moffat to drive their HDT built (and covertly bought by Moffat) Holden VL Commodore SS Group A to victory in the first round of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship at the famous Monza circuit in Italy. After finishing seventh, the pair were promoted as the first six BMW Motorsport backed BMW M3 's were disqualified from

2494-578: The team also designed it to resemble a modern-day sports car, rather than the typical space aged style of most other solar vehicles. The car was the fastest vehicle in the Cruiser Class, achieving Line Honours and overall third place for the Cruiser class while also attaining the highest top speed of 128 kilometres per hour (80 mph). On a single charge of its batteries, eVe can travel up to 500 kilometres (310 mi) or over 800 kilometres (500 mi) if powered by its own solar cells. Once fully depleted,

2552-488: The team embarked on the TopCell project to manufacture buried contact solar cells to construct a new solar array. This makes the UNSW SRT the first and only team to have made their own solar cells. Along the way, the team achieved a new world record efficiency for this type of solar cell. The remaining cells on UNSW Sunswift II are the world's highest efficiency "PERL" silicon solar cells, made at UNSW. The team also pioneered

2610-432: The time available. AeroVironment, led by Paul MacCready , was given the contract to build what would be called the Sunraycer. During the conceptual process, the goal was to create a very low-weight and ultra-low wind resistance vehicle. With this in mind, AeroVironment produced a design that proved to be very lightweight (only 585 lb (265 kg)) and created a very low drag coefficient (c d : 0.125). The Sunraycer

2668-526: The upcoming World Solar Challenge. This race, to be held in Australia in late 1987, would feature purely solar-powered cars. Roger Smith , the CEO of GM, was interested in the idea and agreed to fund a study to see if a solar powered car could be built within 10 months. Smith hired AeroVironment to do the study. A month later, AeroVironment engineers concluded that a highly competitive car could be built within

2726-524: The world stage as well as training young engineers to be on the cutting edge of their profession. A number of former Sunswift team members have moved on to establishing their own companies and others have attained highly sought-after positions in the workforce; for example, working as part of well-established racing teams such as those in Formula 1 . Some of these team members remain in contact with Sunswift even after graduation, and act as mentors or advisors to

2784-579: Was alleged to spin fellow driver Al Staples in a scratch race at the Sydney Showground Speedway . Although this decision was later reverted to no suspension at the drivers' meeting, Harvey decided to opt-out of Speedway to go road racing. He would make a short-lived comeback to racing speedcars in 1974 at the Liverpool Speedway in western Sydney after the track promoters changed the 440-metre (480 yd) D-shaped oval from

2842-546: Was also the 9th and last Bathurst 1000 win for his longtime teammate Peter Brock. Shortly after the Brock breakup John was appointed lead driver of the GM Sunraycer team and made two trips to the US for testing and race team preparation. He was recommended for his professionalism and discipline by Ray Borrett (Holden's reliability and “skunkworks” motor sport engineer). Ray was involved in  the development of Sunraycer in

2900-651: Was an Australian racing driver . He was a top Speedcar driver for many years in the 1950s and 1960s, winning many championship races including the NSW Championship for three successive years and the Victorian Championship twice before turning his skills to road racing where he had a long and successful career until his retirement at the end of 1988. In 1987 John made history driving the General Motors Sunraycer to victory in

2958-510: Was caught out by the notorious Ardennes weather in qualifying and failed to qualify for the race. This forced Moffat and Harvey to drive the 24 hours with just the two of them while most other teams used at least 3 drivers. After Moffat abandoned the Commodore in favor of Andy Rouse 's Ford Sierra RS500 , Harvey missed the 1987 James Hardie 1000 which was a round of the WTCC. It was the first Bathurst race Harvey had missed since 1972 . The race

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3016-753: Was completed in late 2017. In comparison to previous generations of Sunswift vehicles, VIolet is Sunswift's first four-seat, four-door vehicle with a 5-square-metre solar array consisting of 318 monocrystalline silicon cells with an approximate efficiency of 22%. VIolet was designed with a greater focus on practicality, with the aim of resembling a more comfortable family vehicle in comparison to previous generations of Sunswift vehicles. New features have been implemented in VIolet such as live monitoring and fault detection, entertainment systems, air conditioning, navigation, wifi, reverse camera, adjustable seating, parking sensors, front and back boot-space, and ergonomic dashboard. As

3074-403: Was designed to be fast and was capable of a top speed of 109 km/h (68 mph). A total of 8800 solar cells were manufactured and installed by a team from Hughes Aircraft. At high noon, the car would generate about 1500 watts of power. The engine was created for the Sunraycer by GM using a brand new electric motor based on Magnequench permanent magnets . This kind of rare-earth magnet

3132-520: Was invented in 1983 independently by the GM physics department and Sumitomo Special Metals . Both companies discovered and eventually commercialized two significantly different manufacturing processes for this material class; the GM concept was commercialized under the Magnequench brand. The new motor was lightweight and efficient; GM stated its motor efficiency was around 92%. In 2011 its constructor won

3190-472: Was open to any Electric vehicle weighing under 500 kilograms (1,100 lb). Consequently, for this record the Solar cells were disconnected from the electrical systems, and the car was allowed to only run on its lithium-ion battery pack. The team is currently progressing with eVe's road legality status and plans to officially register eVe as Australia's first road legal Solar car . This would make eVe one of

3248-417: Was picked up after the race and the relevant race official offered the Holden Dealer Team, the official factory team, the right to appeal. However, the #7 car was entered by Ron Hodgson Motors , one of Holden's biggest dealerships. The Holden hierarchy decided it would be good 'politic' to let Bob Morris and British sportscar racer John Fitzpatrick keep the win. Holden apologised to John Harvey for this at

3306-647: Was running the factory-backed Holden team in the 1988 ATCC under the name of Holden Special Vehicles. In February 1988, Harvey drove the new VL Commodore SS Group A SV which was the pace car driver for the first-ever NASCAR race held outside of North America, the Goodyear NASCAR 500 held at the then-new, A$ 54 million Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne. Following the 1988 Tooheys 1000, Harvey retired from competitive motorsport to concentrate on his work with Holden and HSV. In 2018, CAMS awarded Harvey

3364-569: Was the first time drivers had moved from one car to another and had gone on to win the race. Harvey would go on to finish second at Bathurst the following year in the last race for the Group C touring cars in what was a 1-2 form finish for the Dealer Team with Brock/Perkins bringing in their VK Commodore home first in front of Harvey's co-driver, 25-year-old Tasmanian David “Skippy” Parsons . Harvey would finish second again two years later for

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