Graaf-Reinet is well on the way to climb the ladder to becoming one of South-Africa’s top tourism and event destinations.
The 2022 Sasol Solar Challenge, which will start on September 9, in Johannesburg, en-route to Cape Town to finish on September 16, will this year for the first time stay over for two days in Graaff-Reinet and entertain people of one of the 20 towns it will pass by.
Graaff-Reinet was chosen as the town to entertain the residents with solar engineering from the evening of September 12, to the morning of September 14.
Event director and owner of the Sasol Solar Challenge, Robert Walker, said it was Graaff-Reinet’s beauty, tourism attractions, friendly people and massive support towards the Sasol Solar Challenge that made them decide to stay over and make a special event within Graaff-Reinet and the surrounding towns.
As part of this commitment the solar cars will also for the first time make a pit stop in Willowmore.
The Willowmore stopover will form part of a 440km one day solar challenge race on September 13, starting in Graaff-Reinet and driving through towns like Willowmore, Jansenville and Kirkwood, with the race finishing in Graaff-Reinet again.
“While they stay over in Graaff-Reinet, people can interact with the members of the nine local and six international teams, to view and even touch their spaceships on wheels,” said Walker.
He said it comes with no surprise that the 2022 challenge is one that is highly anticipated.
“It is great to see how much this event continues to evolve with the help of so many communities, businesses, volunteers, partners and sponsors who continue to help the Sasol Solar Challenge team to put up this amazing event,” said Walker.
“We are expanding the reach of the event across the country to not only showcase the mind-blowing innovations and technologies developed by the teams, but also to raise awareness on the use of renewable energy to save our country and the entire planet.
“The Sasol Solar Challenge’s goal is to impact communities to develop and embrace renewable energy and the future of STEM.”
Walker said this year’s event was also aimed at encouraging the youth to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM).
“One of the key objectives for the Sasol Solar Challenge is to attract young people to STEM-based studies at learning institutions, through hands-on and real-life applications from like-minded scholars from around the world, who will be driving in their towns.”
Sasol senior manager for group brand and sponsorship, Nozipho Mbatha, echoed Walker and said, “The Sasol Solar Challenge demonstrates the value of science, technology engineering and maths initiatives. It is a showcase of where engineering and technology meet in real life.”
Mbatha added that the event created space for young South Africans to develop skills for careers of the future, bringing the purpose of innovating for a better world.
The Sasol Solar Challenge is a biennial competition that sees local and international solar powered vehicles, challenging each other to move as far as possible along a set route, using only the power of the sun and cutting-edge technology.
This year’s event is set to include secret routes and shorter loops.
Teams will be forced to find information regarding routes, as it will be withheld until the night before they hit the road.
There will be changes in landscape, with different mountain terrains and hills being introduced.
“It has always been a fundamental challenge to see who can get the most kilometers down to Cape Town,” said Walker.
The Dutch Solar team won the last challenge in 2018.
