TU Delft wins first fuel cell go-kart race

The world’s first fuel cell go-kart race, the Formula Zero championship race in Rotterdam, was won by Technical University (TU) of Delft on Saturday. Student teams from America, Spain, England, Belgium and the Netherlands competed in the opening race of the world's first hydrogen racing championship.

The race was dominated by the Greenchoice Forze team that represents Delft University of Technology from the Netherlands. The students from Delft won the main race which lead them to the highest place on the Formula Zero podium: zero. The team also performed well in the sprint races as first runner up behind the Spanish team. With these results the team from Delft is the winner of the event, and leader of the championship. Furthermore the team was awarded the people's choice award for best design, and the team set the track record on the temporary track with a laptime of 36.369 seconds.

This, the world’s first and only zero emissions fuel cell powered go-kart race, featured university teams from from Detroit, California, Leuven (Belgium), London (UK), Zaragoza (Spain) and Delft (Netherlands). The winning vehicle had a top speed of 100 km/h and a 0-100 km/h time of 5 seconds. The continuous power of 8 kW (11hp) to drive the two electric motor comes from a fuel cell. The only waste product is water. Another innovation is the possibility to regenerate and store braking energy. With this feature the kart has a temporary boostpower of 45 hp. The kart has more innovations such as two separate electric motors driving the left- and right wheel independently. This allows the kart to corner faster than conventional karts. The vehicle uses advanced electronics to control all systems and to guarantee safety.

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2008/08/24/097457.html

Source: The Auto Channel