Built on what came before

From early design notes to the final choice of fiber in the tire, this is how each decision shapes a solar car built for the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 

Legacy doesn’t live in titles or trophies. It is carried through decisions, passed from one team to the next. You find it in the past design drawings, each one a response to a challenge and an ambition to build what’s next.

At the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, legacy is shaped through performance under real conditions. Each decision, from structural design to material choice, is exposed to heat, load, and long-distance wear. Student teams refine these decisions in context. Bridgestone uses the event to explore the limits of circular inputs. And fibers from Teijin Aramid play a supporting role by reinforcing the tire structure where strength and stability are critical. Together, these efforts help inform how future systems are built, tested in context, and refined through use.

Inheriting more than a name

Every September, a new group of students walks into the workshop and becomes the Brunel Solar Team. What they inherit isn’t a finished car, but a set of expectations shaped by two decades of race history and a long line of engineers who came before them. Nuna 13 is part of a lineage that began in 2001. But for many of its builders, the story started long before they were selected for the 2025 team.

“I remember sitting with my mom, watching the children’s news when the Brunel Solar Team won again. She turned to me and said, ‘Maybe you’ll study in Delft one day.’ Realizing that dream was one thing. I never imagined I’d be part of the (Brunel) team.”  
Jans van den Nobelen, Partnerships team

The team doesn’t start from a clean slate. From the first week, every choice is weighed against a single question: will it help us win? Decisions on weight, safety margins, data systems, and race strategy are shaped by that goal and by the experience of the teams that came before.

The Brunel Solar Team picks up where others left off. They work with past designs, test what still holds, and change what does not. Their decisions shape the car and set new demands for every part of it. This is where Bridgestone plays a role, developing tires that are expected to perform more precisely, under greater pressure, with less room for compromise.

Expertise is just the starting point

Bridgestone could easily treat the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge as simply a branding exercise. With decades of experience in motorsport and a global reputation for high-performance tire technology, its position is already secure. Instead, they use the event as a testing ground.

This year, that approach shaped a new generation of tires with ENLITEN™ technology. The 2025 versions include recovered carbon black, recycled steel, and, for the first time, aramid fiber made with circular content. The result is a solar car tire with over 65% recycled and renewable material content, designed to perform under extreme conditions.

“We don’t treat this challenge as a showcase. We treat it as a challenge. Can we take materials that no one has used in this way before and trust them over 3,000 kilometers? Can we make sustainability perform at a competitive pace?”  
Hiromasa Nakahara, manager, Global Motorsport Section at Bridgestone

The Outback does not respond to theory. It pushes back through heat, wear, and long hours on the road. And for Bridgestone, this is where decisions are tested. Each kilometer reveals how materials behave and where there is room for improvement. The same is true for the Brunel Solar Team. While their scope is different, the level of commitment is the same. Progress at this level depends on partners who are willing to take responsibility for what they build and trust the outcome enough to put it to the test.

What sets this race apart is the way it brings together different ways of thinking, designing, and building. Every part of the system must prove its value in motion, including the fibers that support it from within.