UNLIMITED 2.0: Vehicle specifications and sponsors

UNLIMITED 2.0

  • The body/ chassis: Full carbon fibre/Nomex monocoque with integrated crash structure.
  • Solar panels/ cells: 4m2 Silicon solar cells (260 cells in total).
  • Wheels, tyres and axle design: Handmade Bridgestone Ecopia tyres, mounted on full carbon fibre wheels.
  • Suspension: Aircraft grade aluminium suspension. (Leading arm suspension at the front, trailing arm suspension at the rear.)
  • Brakes: Competitive mountain bike brakes, with custom hoses and pedal assembly.
  • Motor: CSIRO motor, first designed in the 1990s at 98% efficiency. Housed in a ultra-lightweight custom carbon-fibre motor frame.
  • Batteries: 20kg Panasonic Lithium-Ion cells.
  • The interior: A moulded carbon-fibre seat with a four point safety harness.
  • GPS/ monitoring systems: A GPS tracker issued by the World Solar Challenge. The car constantly communicated gigabytes of data about every system on the car via a wireless link to a support vehicle.
  • Communication systems: A Bluetooth radio unit allows the support team to keep in constant, real time communication with the driver.
  • Safety systems: A racing-certified four point safety harness to keep our driver safe in the event of a crash. The driver cell has been built to withstand very significant impacts from all directions, partly through the provision of a roll hoop surrounding the driver. The driver is required to wear a helmet at all times.

2017 sponsors

  • Western Sydney University, and the University's School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics.
  • Bridgestone: Provided us with tyres custom made for solar cars. We are one of their primary testing partners in the lead up to the race, and we are currently one of 6 teams featured in a documentary they are producing about the World Solar Challenge.
  • Gurit: A world leader in composite technologies. They have provided us with discounted engineering services for the construction of the monocoque, and also discounted materials with which to build the car.
  • TAFE NSW: Provided the facilities, equipment and expertise to ensure a paint job of the highest quality, with additional vinyl work on the side of the car.
  • PPG: Provided us with all the paint, primers and consumable to paint our car.
  • AGM Engineering: This supplier has machined all of our suspension parts, while providing a discount on labour and materials, as well as providing detailed engineering support and workshops.
  • Dropbox: Provided a business cloud storage plan.
  • ANSYS: Provided industry-leading engineering simulation software free of charge. We have used this software extensively across our aerodynamics and structural design. This is absolutely critical to the success of our car, due to the budget constraints we have with prototyping.
  • Leap Australia: Technical support for the ANSYS software packages, as well as free training courses.
  • Campus Living Villages: Provide free accommodation during busy periods for the team.
  • Gochermann: Provide a discount on the encapsulation for our solar cells.
  • Sunpower: Provide the best possible solar cells.
  • Blackchrome: Discounted team apparel.
  • Steelmate: Provide a set of Tyre Pressure Monitor Systems, so that we can constantly measure tyre performance so that we can maximise performance and avoid punctures.
  • RODE Microphones: Provided a set of microphones for conducting interviews.