Sikat II is 17th place out of 37 teams in the 2011 World Solar Challenge in Australia

To be more competitive in this year’s race and it's hope to claim a place in the podium for the fastest solar car in the world, Sikat II claimed to have improved their design: more efficient solar panels, more aerodynamic, decrease in weight, more efficient batteries and stronger and stiffer body for the given weight.

Team Solar Philippines with Sikat II
Image via SIKAT2_SolarCar 

Sikat II, a third generation solar-powered car, just finished 17th place out of 37 teams in the 2011 World Solar Challenge in Australia last Saturday, October 22, 2011.


Sikat II drops 5 places from there debut performance of 12th place with Sinag (the first Philippine solar car) among 40 participants in 2007. They are behind Team MIT Solar Electric Vehicle in the finish line. Philippines is ahead of teams from canada,us,germany,italy,turkey, saudi arabia, iran, etc.


The top three finishers of the challenge are Tokai University, Nuon Solar Team and the University of Michigan.  They have crossed the finish line on Thursday and avoided the bad weather which undoubtedly affected the following pack.


Ashiya University secured fourth place on Friday, beating the Netherlands' Solar Team Twente by just seven minutes. In a hot battle for six and seventh slots on Saturday, Oz competitors Sunswift UNSW Solar Team and Aurora passed the chequered flag similarly separated by a mere seven minutes.


SOCRAT Istanbul University, Solar Energy Racers of Switzerland and Taiwan's Apollo Solar Car Team made up the top ten. They clocked up 2735, 2663 and 2650 solar kilometres, respectively.


Here are the rest of the results:

1. Tokai University: 2998 solar km
2. Nuon Solar Team: 2998
3. University of Michigan: 2998
4. Solar Team Twente: 2998
5. Sunswift UNSW: 2998
6. Solar Team: 2998
7. Aurora: 2998
8. SOCRAT Istanbul University:2735
9. Solar Energy Racers:2663
10. Apollo Solar Car Team:2650
11. Umicore Solar Team: 2636 
12. Stanford Solar Car Team: 2418
13. Team Okinawa: 2408
14. Nanyang Technological University: 2283
15. SAITEM, Sakarya University Advanced Technologies: 2263
16. MIT Solar Electric Vehcile Team: 2222
17. Team Solar Philippines: 2111
18. Qazvin Islamic Azad University: 1891
19. University of Calgary: 1840
20. CalSol: 1809
21. Universidad de Chile: 1709
22. Onda Solare: 1751
23. Anadolu Solar Team: 1675
24. University of Toronto: 1661
25. Cambridge Uni Eco Racing: 1487
26. Hochshule Bochum Solar Car Team: 1454
27. Eclipse 7 Solarcar Team: 1415
28. Principia Solar Team: 1303
29. Seraaj Solar Car Team: 1269
30. Midnight Sun Solar Rayce Team: 1116
31. University of Tehran Solar Car Team: 826
32. Solar Spirit Australia: 801
33. Durham University: 552
34. Solaris: 301
35. UMP Solar: 229
36. Uniten Solar Ranger Team: 223
37. Green Maniac: 73

Hopefully, Team Philippines will improve by 2 years time and take a place in the podium. Go Philippines! 


Before we pack up, here are a few simple things I learned that we need to improve as an avid technology fan compared to the winner:

1. Efficiency: Sikat II has a solar panel with 21% efficiency, while Tokai's has 30%.
2. Aerodynamic shape and surface smoothness: Inches of width and height differences is a factor on drag. Sikat II is 5000 mm long, 1700 meters wide and 1100 mm high; while Tokai is 4980 mm long,1640 mm wide, and 930 mm high.
3. Rolling resistance, related to the type of tyre and the weight of the car pushing on those tyres. Less weight reduces rolling resistance. Tokai is much lighter which weighs 160 kg (with battery w/o driver), compared to Sikat II's less than 180 kg. If we consider the driver, it would greatly matter.