Cherie Pepperell (2020) Heads a Winning Team that is Making a Difference

Old Girl, Cherie Pepperell (2020) – part of the World Solar Challenge ‘Cruiser Cup’ winning team

MLC School congratulates Cherie Pepperell (2020) and the whole ‘Sunswift Racing’ team (UNSW) for a tremendous victory in a positive, future-focused event

Occurring every two years, World Solar Challenge is the world’s biggest and most prestigious solar challenge. For 36 years, it has attracted the greatest minds from around the world to Australia to push the limits of technological innovation by traveling the outback in a vehicle powered only by the energy of the sun.

The UNSW ‘Sunswift 7’ claimed its first Cruiser Cup victory at the 22 – 29 October 2023 (Darwin to Adelaide) World Solar Challenge.

Teams, usually comprising of tertiary and secondary students, traverse 3,000 kilometres from Darwin to Adelaide in a solar-powered vehicle designed, engineered and built with their own hands.

Participating teams enter their vehicle into one of three classes:

• • The Cruiser Class – conducted as 3 x 1,200km stages without recharging.
• • The Challenger Class – conducted in a single stage from Darwin to Adelaide.
• • The Adventure Class is a non-competitive class which provides opportunity for cars built for previous events.

Cherie’s team built the Sunswift 7 to compete for the Cruiser Cup. To win this Cup, solar electric cars must complete the journey from Darwin to Adelaide within time windows, and as energy efficiently as possible. Out of the starting ten Cruisers, six remained in contention after a drama-filled second stage fighting strong headwinds and smoky conditions.

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