A team of Belgian students and engineers on Friday won a solar-powered car race in South Africa widely considered the most challenging for testing the technology.
More than a dozen teams competed in the eight-day race spanning thousands of kilometers, with varying weather and altitude extremes adding to the complexities for designers.
“Innoptus claimed victory after breaking their own record not once, but twice during the competition,” the organizers of the Sasol Solar Challenge said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
The race, held every two years since its inauguration in 2008, began on Sept. 13 in Secunda in the country’s northeast with 14 teams competing to the finish in Cape Town.
“This is a crucible... It is the most extreme solar challenge in the world,” race director Rob Walker told reporters at the finish line.
The Innoptus car had a flat surface decked with photovoltaic panels and a white exterior, with a narrow driver’s seat sporting the number plate “SUN 08.”
“If you want to create a renewable future, we still have a lot of work to do, but we believe in ourselves and it’s possible to do it,” said Arne Besteijns, the public relations officer for Innoptus Solar.
The other teams came from South Africa, Qatar, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey and Germany. They were met with confetti thrown by hundreds of cheering fans at the finish line.
Ebenhezer Tswana, a driver for one of the two South African teams, said many people did not believe their car would make it.
“I’m very happy because actually, this car we actually drove all the way,” he said.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS