Then you state: “While that’s pretty impressive on its own, the solar car’s claimed top speed is actually about 185 kilometers (115 miles) an hour. When you consider that it’s powered by nothing but the Sun, that is really quite impressive.”

I am quite convinced the top speed can not be reached on the power of the solar panels alone, but only when drawing most power from the 5 kWh battery which they are allowed to carry according to wsc regulation.

Furthermore I think it deserves mention that Eindhoven University (Eindhoven is the birthplace of Philips) claimed first place in the cruiser class with their 4 seater solar family car ‘Stella’.

And the Dutch took the bronze too in the challenger class. So I am understandably proud.

And at the same time curious why this sport isn’t much more popular in Germany. They are solar champions of the world and 5x larger than The Netherlands. However only 1 German team competed in the WSC (vs 3 Dutch teams). I think the inspiring personality of Wubbo Ockels has something to do with that. He has been involved in the Nuon team from the beginning.