Signwave Penrith has completed a vehicle wrap with a difference on the Western Sydney University Solar Car Project’s 170 kg vehicle that will race over 3,000km from Darwin to Adelaide from Sunday.
“This was a job unlike our usual vehicle wrap requests,” said David Amor, owner of Signwave Penrith. The student led, non-profit green initiative is about to compete in the world’s biggest solar endurance race with its sustainably engineered, catamaran shaped vehicle, christened Unlimited.
Signwave Penrith’s graphic designer Ashley Ross arranged the artwork before the shell of Unlimited was brought to the shop and the wrap was applied to cover the lower part and underside of the car. Most of the flat top side is covered with 391 solar cells.
“We didn’t have a lot of time and it required a greater degree of care and planning,” said Amor. “For vehicle wraps we need to heat the vinyl so that it forms a memory that will allow us to work with complex curves. However, in this case we had to be careful not to overheat the vinyl to avoid delamination of the carbon fibre.”
Because Unlimited will be periodically displayed on its side, the underside, featuring an Aboriginal design, is important and will be viewed by many.
"It’s fairly rare to be asked to wrap the underside of a car and we had to turn the car upside down to complete the job. The wheels are almost entirely enclosed and the catamaran shape added to the intricacy of the application. The cockpit was also challenging because it has extremely complex curves,” said Amor.
Signwave also wrapped the trailer that will transport the car, along with magnetics for the support vehicles.
The University of Western Sydney Solar Car project team praised the work. “A huge thank you goes to Signwave Penrith on behalf of the team and the project. On Tuesday night's launch, everyone was singing praises about how beautiful the car looked. We are incredibly grateful!” said Ann Xiao, marketing manager of the Solar Car Project, School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematics, Western Sydney University.
The World Solar Car Challenge runs across some of Australia's most dramatic landscapes from 18-25 October.