Results

Award winners
Top 4 Summary
 
Event đŸ„‡ 1st Place đŸ„ˆ 2nd Place đŸ„‰ 3rd Place 4th Place
Secondary Boats HMAS Big Chungus – Taroona HS Nauti Buoy – Taroona HS Sosolios – Hobart City HS Southern Cross – Home School
Primary Boats Speedy Sloth – Howrah PS Guppy – Taroona PS Pink Unicorn – Howrah PS BOMB – Howrah PS
Event Report
A new record 62 entries took part in last week’s Model Solar Boat Challenge held at Hobart City HS on Tuesday November 25.

It was an overcast day that saw light levels hover between 20 and 40% for most of the competition but this didn’t worry the teams in the slightest. Many boats were still achieving incredible speeds with their reduced power setups.

The event was held across two race pools for the first time, one for the high school entries and one for the primary schools. This allowed teams to be given a greater number of round robin races to fine tune their boats for the later knockout rounds. It was during these heats that “Flying Cloud II” (boat 51) ended up clocking the fastest time of the day in 6.71s.

The final knockout competitions were held after lunch where the top 2 boats out of 4 would progress to the next round. Some races had clear standouts while others came right down to the wire. The top 2 remained unchanged in the two-race high school final, with Taroona’s “HMAS Big Chungus” (boat 69) beating out fellow classmates “Nauti Buoy” (boat 71). An additional race was needed to separate eventual 3rd place “Sosolios” from Hobart City HS (boat 53) and the 4th place homeschool entry “Southern Cross” (boat 52).

The primary school final 4 was a tight battle between three boats from Howrah PS and one from Goulburn St PS. In the end it was Howrah’s “Speedy Sloth” (boat 32) that proved too strong and took out the win ahead of “Guppy” from Goulburn St (boat 22) and Howrah’s other entries “Pink Unicorn” (boat 28) and “BOMB” (boat 33). The final results were as follows:

Secondary school top 4:
1st Place: HMAS Big Chungus (boat 69), Taroona HS
2nd Place: Nauti Buoy (boat 71), Taroona HS
3rd Place: Sosolios (boat 53), Hobart City HS
4th Place: Southern Cross (boat 52), Home Build

Primary school top 4:
1st Place: Speedy Sloth (boat 32), Howrah PS
2nd Place: Guppy (boat 22), Taroona PS
3rd Place: Pink Unicorn (boat 28), Howrah PS
4th Place: BOMB (boat 33), Howrah PS

Fastest Time (6.71s): Flying Coud II (Boat 51), Home Build
Best Engineered: TBA
Best use of Recycled Materials (Primary): TBA
Best use of Recycled Materials (Secondary): TBA

A big thank you to our supporters of this year’s boat event Aerius Marine, TasNetworks, Hobart City High School, Engineers Australia and the University of Tasmania. We’d also like to thank members from The Royal Institution of Naval Architects and the Wooden Boat Guild Tasmania for helping us run the event on the day. A special mentioned also goes out to the Tasmania Fire Service for coming down and filling up the two race pools.

The boat rules have remained largely unchanged over the last 2-3 years so expect to see something a bit different for 2026. These will be finalised over the summer and released at the beginning of next year.
You can expect race day to again take place during Term 4 and we look forward to seeing everyone back next year!
Award winners

Top 4 Summary
Event đŸ„‡ 1st Place đŸ„ˆ 2nd Place đŸ„‰ 3rd Place 4th Place
Overall Cars Light Weight Gold – Woodbridge School Alegria – Woodbridge School Celeritas Daemonium – Woodbridge School Strength Rating – Goulburn Street PS
Primary Cars Strength Rating – Goulburn Street PS Octomobile – Woodbridge School Chicken Pizza – Goulburn Street PS
Event Report
Well done to everyone that participated at the recent Tasmanian Model Solar Car Championships on November 9.

The event was held at the New Town Campus of Hobart City HS and saw a new state record of 57 car entries take part. 52 of these came from 12 different schools and 5 were entered as home builds. Three teams came from Latrobe HS which had an early morning start and made the trip down from the north of the state.

This year’s participants needed to design and build their cars to be capable of carrying 20x ping pong balls and a 4.5” wooden manakin driver. Teams also had the choice of racing with an electronic solar panel controller + 200g weight penalty or running without either.

Teams needed to deal with a whole range of sun levels throughout the day from heavy cloud cover to bright sunshine. Every condition had its own challenges, it was all about maximising speed at the lower light levels while for many it was more about getting the cars to stay on the track when the sun came out from behind the clouds.

The final knockout competition was held after lunch and run in a double-elimination format where cars needed to lose to two different opponents before being eliminated. In the end Woodbridge’s car 48 “Light Weight Gold” took out 3 of 4 races in the best of 5 final against fellow car 10 “Alegria”. Woodbridge also finished 3rd with car 23 “Celeritas Daemonium” and it was during the later knockout rounds that this car ended up clocking the fastest lap time of the day in 18.84s.

Goulburn Street PS car 29 “Strength Rating” finished 4th overall and took out the top spot for a primary school entry. Woodbridge’s car 32 “Octomobile” and Goulburn Street’s car 18 “Chicken Pizza” were also awarded the 2nd and 3rd placed primary school entries after progressing next furthest in the knockout draw. The final results were as follows:

Overall winners:
1st Place: Light Weight Gold (Car 48), Woodbridge School
2nd Place: Alegria (Car 10), Woodbridge School
3rd Place: Celeritas Daemonium (Car 23), Woodbridge School
4th Place: Strength Rating (Car 29), Goulburn Street PS

Primary school top 3:
1st Place: Strength Rating (Car 29), Goulburn Street PS
2nd Place: Octomobile (Car 32), Woodbridge School
3rd Place: Chick Pizza (Car 18), Goulburn Street PS

Fastest Lap (18.84s): Celeritas Daemonium (Car 23), Woodbridge School
Best Engineered: TBA
Engineering Knowledge: TBA

The top 4 have been selected to represent Tasmania at the upcoming national finals held in Melbourne in early December.

A big thank you to our supporters of this year’s car event TasNetworks, Hobart City High School, Engineers Australia and the University of Tasmania. Rule changes for 2026 are set to be finalised over the summer and released at the beginning of next year. Expect there to be at least one major change that will encourage a car re-design.

In some exciting news there’s also a good chance of Tasmania hosting the national finals in Hobart in 2026. Race days will again take place during Term 4 and we look forward to seeing everyone back again for an even bigger and better event next year!