Engineering endurance
What the Australian Outback taught the Brunel Solar Team about trust and resilience
Endurance is abstract. It’s the point where preparation, trust, and composure meet pressure. At Teijin Aramid, this principle defines how we engineer our materials: performance proven not in controlled conditions, but in environments where failure is not an option.
The Australian Outback challenged the Brunel Solar Team to that same test. Over five days and 3,000 kilometers, their endurance was measured in both Nuna 13’s performance and the resilience of the engineers behind it.
Preparation before the start line
Endurance begins long before pressure arrives. For the Brunel Solar Team, it was forged through discipline. Pit stops were repeated until they became instinctive, and strategy calls were rehearsed until they became automatic. Each drill turned uncertainty into confidence and created a foundation resilient enough for the Outback.
"What stood out in Australia was how every action the Brunel Solar Team took had already been rehearsed. That discipline mirrors our own approach: reliability is engineered long before pressure arrives."
Hendrik de Zeeuw, CCO, Teijin Aramid
That discipline meant there was no pause between decision and action. When pressure came, the team could act without hesitation because every role and every motion had been rehearsed to the point of reliability. In an environment that does not permit mistakes, reliability becomes the truest form of endurance.
The alumni contributed another dimension. They carried not only the memory of earlier challenges but also the perspective that comes from having lived through them, reminding the young team members to focus on the plan rather than the pressure. When tension rose, the alumni offered reassurance – calm voices that steadied hands and kept focus sharp. Challenges were assessed in scale and context, allowing the team to respond with control rather than urgency.
Confidence in each call
Once Nuna 13 was on the Stuart Highway, survival at the front came down to how well the team backed each other’s decisions. Rivals pressed close, sometimes only minutes behind. The desert demanded focus that no single person could sustain alone, and progress depended on the team’s ability to rely fully on one another.
“They really have to trust me… I’m the only one with my eyes on Nuna during the race.”
Jans van den Nobelen, Partnerships, Brunel Solar Team
That reliance came into sharp focus in the chase vehicle. Jans carried the responsibility of watching Nuna during the race and relaying what she saw. In an environment where hesitation could cost the lead, her observations only mattered if the team acted on them immediately.
Trust turned individual effort into cohesion. It allowed decisions to flow into action and ensured that Nuna could hold its line under pressure.
Composure under pressure
Endurance reveals itself most clearly in the moments that could undo months of preparation.
Near Coober Pedy, the team faced an unexpected stop with rivals closing fast. What could have been a routine fix anywhere else became a high-stakes test of composure. In that moment, endurance meant resisting the urge to rush. Drivers and crew moved through the replacement exactly as they had drilled it: steady, precise, and without hesitation.
Within minutes, Nuna was back on the highway, still holding the lead. Chief engineer Daan van den Dries later described it as “one of the most stressful things I’ve ever seen.” That stress was the test. Because true endurance is about holding composure when the instinct is to panic. The team succeeded because preparation had created trust, and trust allowed precision to prevail when pressure was at its highest.
Endurance as a shared principle
In the Australian Outback, endurance proved itself as more than stamina. It was preparation made reliable through discipline, trust that removed hesitation, and composure that allowed precision under pressure. Those qualities carried Nuna 13 across 3,000 kilometers and secured victory against the world’s toughest competition.
We build the same principle into our materials: performance that endures when there’s no margin for error.
For the Brunel Solar Team, that principle delivered a record eighth world title. For us, it defines how we support our partners in turning demanding goals into lasting results.
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