Bridgestone Outlines Support for the 2023 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge Teams

Bridgestone Corporation is celebrating a decade as the title partner of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge (BWSC) by naming the largest cohort of Bridgestone-supported teams in the history of the event. In the year of its 60th anniversary of Bridgestone Motorsport activity, Bridgestone has further showcased its long-term commitment to sustainable global motorsport at the official event launch of the 2023 BWSC in Adelaide. This year, 35 teams will take on the 3,000km journey from Darwin to Adelaide on Bridgestone tyres.

This year also sees ENLITEN technology, the base technology for product design that realizes the “New premium”, in Bridgestone’s BWSC tyre for the first time. The BWSC will also be the first time ENLITEN technology has been utilized in a competitive platform, marking an exciting milestone in Bridgestone Motorsport’s history and the merging of motorsport and sustainability.

The BWSC showcases Bridgestone’s corporate commitment of “Energy: Committed to the realization of a carbon neutral mobility society” and “Emotion: Committed to inspiring excitement and spreading joy to the world of mobility” described in the “Bridgestone E8 Commitment.” ^*

“Bridgestone remains committed to the BWSC as a demonstration of its transformation towards a sustainable solutions company through the development of new tyre technology and by showcasing the values of the Bridgestone E8 Commitment,” said Tomoyuki Takagi, Executive Director Global Marketing Strategy, Bridgestone Corporation.

“We are delighted to see the return of this incredible event and are excited to continue expanding our involvement in the BWSC through supporting participating teams. Through our widespread support, we are sharing in the excitement of sustainable mobility solutions, and supporting innovation developed through the BWSC.”

The BWSC is the world’s foremost solar car event and Bridgestone’s long-term commitment to the BWSC plays a key role in its support of global motorsport culture, as a sustainable global premium brand. The return of the BWSC in 2023 marks the first event since Bridgestone’s decade-long title partnership extension was announced in 2019. Bridgestone has continued to expand its team support throughout the past decade, growing from one fitment in 2013 to a total of 35 out of 43 teams, running Bridgestone tyres in 2023.

Placing sustainability at the core of management and business, Bridgestone strives to realize our vision “Toward 2050, Bridgestone continues to provide social value and customer value as a sustainable solutions company” and, the BWSC plays a unique role in the convergence of motorsport, and sustainable solutions for the future. The event provides Bridgestone with a real-world research and development platform in some of the harshest conditions in the world to test new applications of the tyre equipped with ENLITEN technology.

“The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge provides us with an ideal platform to develop and showcase the tyre equipped with ENLITEN technology for innovative vehicles and support the development of mobility solutions around the world,” said Tomoyuki Takagi.

“As the automotive industry continues to become electrified, the BWSC allows us to showcase our technology and developments to the world. The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge is directly linked to our history as a tyre company, and our future as a sustainable solutions company.”

The BWSC is just one of Bridgestone’s global partnerships within its sustainable global motorsport pillar, joining the Bridgestone FIA ecoRally Cup, an international competition for road production vehicles with an electric drivetrain. This activity is also one of the reasons Bridgestone motorsport initiatives have been awarded the prestigious Three Star of Environmental Accreditation from FIA, Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, the not-for-profit world governing body of motorsport.

The BWSC has been running since 1987 with the purpose of contributing to the development of solar cars, supporting young engineers, and contributing to the environment while using a new power source: solar light. Participants are challenged to design, build and develop the world’s most efficient vehicles. The 2023 event will be the 16th edition of the challenge and takes place from Sunday, 22 October.

Overview of the 2023 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 1. Date: October 22-29, 2023 2. Host Country: Australia (Start: Darwin; Goal: Adelaide) 3. Host: South Australian Motorsport Board (SAMSB) 4. Event Classes (1) Challenger Class A challenge to be first in vehicles designed for speed; vehicles require three or four wheels and one driver. Bridgestone support: 25 teams (Total 32 teams) (2) Cruiser Class A challenge testing vehicles’ energy efficiency and practicality; vehicles must have four wheels and be able to be ridden by one driver and more than one passenger. Bridgestone support: 10 teams (Total 11 teams) (3) Adventure Class A challenge open to vehicles that do not meet the requirements to compete in the Challenger Class or Cruiser Class, such as vehicles based on the regulations of prior competitions; vehicles must have more than three wheels.

Source: Bridgestone