University teams set to race wind-powered cars

But that hasn’t stopped the organisers of the Aeolus wind energy race from challenging university teams from across Europe to build a car that can do just that.

Later this month, teams from eight European establishments – including one from Bristol University – will take their esoteric designs onto a racetrack at Stauning Airport in Denmark to race their custom-designed vehicles against one another.

The competition will take place over three days – between 24 and 26 September – with the vehicles racing under a variety of conditions to determine which can make the most efficient use of the wind.

All of the wind-powered vehicles that take part in the event must adhere to a strict set of design guidelines.

First, they must be land vehicles on wheels that are steered by a driver. Second, they must be powered by a device with spinning blades that can extract energy only from the wind. Finally, while the temporary storage of energy is allowed during the race, the storage device used – such as a battery – must be empty at the start.

Racing against the Bristol University design will be vehicles developed by students from many other European universities – the Wind Turbine racing team from TU Denmark, Team Inventus from Stuttgart University, Baltic Thunder from CE-Wind Kiel University, the North Energy team from Fachhochschule Emden/Leer, the Spirit of Amsterdam team from Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Team Anemo from Inholland Delft and a group at Fachhochschule Flensburg.

The event is supported by Ringkřbing-Skjern Kommune and Vestas Wind Systems.