Atacama Solar Challenge, Latin America’s first big solar auto competition has a winner: Alejandra Oyarzo, pilot of the Universidad de La Serena’s Intikalpa team arrives in Antofagasta, 1300 Km north to Santiago, Chile.
The Intikalpa (which means solar energy) team managed to travel 1,060 kilometers, beating 30 entries from seven countries across the Americas.
The racers, driving eco-friendly vehicles in the Friday through Sunday competition had to cross the Atacama desert, the world’s driest.
The winner car, built by the Chilean team Antakari had an impressive average speed of 75 km/h. The team was made of students at the Universidad de La Serena and engineers from the private Los Pelambres mining company.
“All the hard work was really worth it. We were the most competitive team in developing the car, and that is where we outdid the competition,” Jaime Munoz, the winning team’s driver, told AFP.
Besides this competition there was another one for mixed solar and pedal-powered tricycles.
[via Physorg]
