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HAALUR

The solar car that won first place in the Cruiser category of the 2018 Atacama Solar Challenge. I was a construction assistant and the team photographer.

ClientUniversidad Diego Portales
Year2018
ServicesSolar vehicle · Industrial design · Photography · Competition
HAALUR

My role

  • Vehicle construction assistant
  • Official team photographer
  • Documenting the build and the race

HAALUR is the solar car that Universidad Diego Portales took to the 2018 Atacama Solar Challenge, where it won first place in the Cruiser category. I worked on the team as a construction assistant and as photographer: the images on this page are mine, from the workshop to the finish line in Arica.

The vehicle under construction, with the body still unpainted.
The vehicle under construction, with the body still unpainted.
Frame and cockpit before the panels were mounted.
Frame and cockpit before the panels were mounted.
Workshop: mounting the panels on the body, still white.
Workshop: mounting the panels on the body, still white.
Adjustments on the road: much of the race is driven with the car open.
Adjustments on the road: much of the race is driven with the car open.

The competition

The 2018 edition was the toughest to date. Eleven teams faced the traffic of the capital, the Chilean coast and the Atacama Desert, on a route of more than 2,500 kilometers between Santiago and Arica. That year the rules were aligned with those of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, and for the first time the race was run continuously instead of in stages: each day picked up where the previous one ended.

The Cruiser category, introduced that year, brings together multi-occupant vehicles designed to be practical, efficient and reliable. They are the ones most like a real car, and for that very reason the hardest: range and livable space have to be solved at the same time.

The car on the track during pre-race testing.
The car on the track during pre-race testing.
Two team members in the cockpit, checking before setting off.
Two team members in the cockpit, checking before setting off.
The Atacama route: more than 2,500 kilometers between Santiago and Arica.
The Atacama route: more than 2,500 kilometers between Santiago and Arica.
End of a day on the road.
End of a day on the road.
The whole team with the car, at a stop along the route.
The whole team with the car, at a stop along the route.

A solar car is not made by one designer. It is made by a large team, from several degrees, that lives on the road with the vehicle for three weeks. My job was twofold: helping with the design and being the one who documented. Most of the photos on this page exist because someone had to record what was happening, and that was me.

First place, Cruiser category, 2018 Atacama Solar Challenge.
The team on the podium.
The team on the podium.
Arriving in Arica.
Arriving in Arica.
Press coverage of the race start.
Press coverage of the race start.