A rather unconventional race is held this week in Den Helder in the North of the Netherlands. In the Racing Aeolus seven student teams compete to drive as fast as possible on headwind. Last year’s record of 101,76% efficiency was broken yesterday by a Canadian team that realised an efficiency of 102,45%.

Seven student teams from the Netherlands, Turkey, Germany, Denmark and Canada arrived in Den Helder this week for a new round in the annual Racing Aeolus, one of the four large sustainability races in the world along with the World Solar Challenge in Australia, the Dong Energy Solar Challenge Boat race in Friesland, and the Shell Eco Marathon.

Last year, in the ninth edition of Racing Aeolus, the Danish team was the first to break the 100% efficiency barrier: the wind- powered car of the Danes drove harder than the headwind that blew in the driver’s face. A major breakthrough for the cars mounted with huge propellers.

But this year, on the first day of the race the Canadian Chinook ETS team already broke the record. The car drove 2,45% faster than the headwind it drove against. Today and tomorrow the teams have their chances to do even better.

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