|
|
Solar Race Map
Solar Race Notes:
The finals would be a tour-style affair consisting of an oceanside drive from suburban Makuhari past downtown Chiba, then angling northeast towards Sakara and Narita. Traveling around the Kasumiga Lagoon, they would circle two smaller mountains, Tsukubesan and Kabasan via the Ibokuro Pass. From here, their route turned eastward, towards Kasama and Mito. Once in Mito, their racecourse would then bear west again, parallel to the Nakagawa River until the racers reached Kuroiso. Driving past the Tohoku Expressway, they would travel southeast through Tochigi Prefecture towards Nikko and Nikko National Park. En route to the park, the drivers would negotiate a number of zigzag mountain roads. Traveling through Nikko, they would then drive between Mts. Nantai and Shirane and then retrace their route back to Nikko. This meant that the drivers would have to travel up and down the infamous Iroha-zaka highway, with its 48 sharp turns. From Nikko they would proceed southeast, skirting around Utsunomiya and angling south to Shimodate. From Shimodate, their trek would pass Ishioka, through Sawara and out to Choshi and Cape Inubo. From there, the route proceeded down the ocean to Tagane and then down the coast through Chosai, Mobara, to Katsuura. Here, they would double back west across the Boso Peninsula towards Futtsu and then south to Tateyama and out to the tip of the peninsula at the Nojimazaki Lighthouse.
The course would be extremely rigorous, as the drive northeast from Makuhari consisted of treacherous narrow winding roads. The roads near the lagoon were dirt roads, which were bound to mire some of the contestants. The drive to Nikko National Park would strain the batteries, as it was heavy shaded with forest. The mountain driving there would test the car's stability to the utmost, as the pair of mountains would have dramatic orographic wind sheer. The oceanside stages would dramatically effect the efficiency of the solar panels with salt-water spray and wind turbulence. The drive from Katsuura across the Nokogiriyama mountains to Takeyama was entirely on maintenance roads that possessed some hazardous cornering and rugged terrain. Finally the short stage from Takeyama to the lighthouse would subject the solar car to leeward weather conditions and hilly, twisty roads.
