The Sunshark Solar Car Team was a solar car racing team at the University of Queensland

University of Queensland

The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...

 in Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

The Sunshark team was made up of students from the University of Queensland. Through sponsorship the team was able to enter solar car races in Australia and overseas.

Car

The Sunshark solar car is based on a tear drop design to reduce energy loss to wind drag. It has three wheels, with the single rear wheel positioned at the centre of the vehicle and connected to the drive chain.

Races

The Sunshark's first race was in November 1996 for the 3010 km World Solar Challenge from Darwin to Adelaide where it placed 5th and was the first Australian car to finish.

In August 1997 the Sunshark team travelled to Japan for the Akita Solar Car Rallye and placed 5th overall and 1st in the Stock Car class.

In January 1999 the Sunshark team raced in the 1790 km CitiPower SunRace from Sydney to Melbourne and placed 2nd.