Dutch Students Bring 80 MPH Solar Car to Minnesota Race

When 14 college students from the Netherlands arrive in Minnesota this July, they'll be driving something most people have never seen: a world champion solar car that looks like it belongs in a science fiction movie.

The Delft Solar Team is making their first-ever trip to the American Solar Challenge, and they're bringing Nuna 13S, a hand-built solar vehicle that recently won the grueling World Solar Challenge across Australia's Outback. Each team member took a full year off from university to design and build the car from scratch.

"We're just a small group of students who can really change the world if you only put some work and dedication in and have the passion," says Rosa Van Wijngaarden, the team's PR lead. The team has been chasing this dream since 2001, when the first Dutch astronaut challenged them to win on the world stage.

The car itself is extraordinary. It can reach 80 mph powered entirely by sunlight, thanks to brand new solar cells the team designed using a production method that cuts build time in half. Three distinctive fins rise from the body, tested in a Volkswagen wind tunnel to capture crosswinds like sails and push the car forward.

The asymmetrical shape isn't just for looks either. By positioning the driver to one side, the canopy avoids casting shadows on the solar panels. On a solar car, even tiny amounts of shade mean going back to the drawing board.

Getting to Minnesota presented challenges the team never faced in Australia. They had to convince race organizers to reveal the start location early just to plan their logistics. Shipping the car across the ocean and through customs became its own engineering puzzle.

The team also installed a metal roll cage specifically for American safety regulations, a headache for a vehicle normally built entirely from lightweight carbon fiber. Fitting it into the asymmetrical design while keeping an easy entry point for the driver turned out to be one of their hardest challenges.

The Ripple Effect

The Delft team's journey shows how student innovation can push sustainable technology forward. Their mission goes beyond winning races. They're proving that solar energy can power vehicles at highway speeds and inspiring the next generation to tackle climate solutions.

Their story also demonstrates resilience. In 2019, their car caught fire near the finish line while leading the Australian race. The 2021 race was canceled due to COVID. They finished third in 2022. But in 2025, they finally returned to the top of the podium with Nuna 13.

Now they're taking on an entirely new challenge: racing on roads they've never seen, through weather they can't predict, on a continent they've never visited. The Formula Sun Grand Prix runs three days of qualifying laps, followed by the multi-day American Solar Challenge route through terrain still unknown to the team.

"How do you prepare for something that you don't know?" Van Wijngaarden asks. But uncertainty has never stopped them before.

Fourteen students with one year and one solar car are about to show Minnesota what the future of transportation looks like.