How Scott Bader’s Advanced Composites Powered a Record-Breaking Solar Car

Covering more than 3,000 kilometres across the Australian outback, a student-built solar car from Canada achieved a top 10 global finish in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, a remarkable feat of endurance, engineering, and innovation. Behind this success was Scott Bader’s structural adhesives and advanced resin technology, which played a critical role in enabling the team’s lightweight, high-strength vehicle design.

Discover how collaboration between Scott Bader’s materials experts and the solar car team brought together cutting-edge composites, structural bonding solutions, and precision tooling to meet extreme performance demands. From construction and automotive to renewable energy applications, it’s a powerful example of how Scott Bader’s materials drive innovation across industries.

The Challenge: Building a Solar Car for Global Competition

The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge is one of the world’s most demanding engineering events, where university teams design, build, and race solar-powered vehicles across the Australian desert.

For the Canadian team, the mission was clear: create a lightweight, aerodynamic, and energy efficient vehicle capable of withstanding intense heat, long distance stress, and precision manufacturing requirements.

Key challenges included:
• Maintaining structural integrity under fluctuating temperatures
• Achieving high dimensional accuracy in the carbon fibre monocoque
• Ensuring thermal stability and surface perfection in the moulding process

To meet these technical demands, the team needed high-performance composite materials capable of tolerating the heat and pressure of epoxy prepregs — without compromising strength or finish quality.

The Solution: High-Performance Products from Scott Bader

Scott Bader supplied a range of resins, adhesives, and fairing compounds to meet the team’s performance targets. The materials were selected to deliver temperature resistance, bonding reliability, and dimensional precision during the manufacture of composite tooling and structural assemblies.

The high-performance resin system enabled the production of carbon monocoque moulds with excellent surface definition and heat stability, ensuring consistent results under demanding curing cycles.

Scott Bader’s local technical team also provided guidance in material selection, ensuring the team could optimise process efficiency while maintaining safety and reliability standards.

The Materials: Scott Bader Products in Action

Crystic VE671 (High HDT Version):
Used in the tooling process, this high-temperature resistant resin was essential for producing precision composite moulds for the carbon monocoque. Its excellent dimensional stability under the elevated temperatures required for epoxy prepregs ensured repeatable, high-quality results.

Poly-Fair F26 Fairing Compound:
Applied to plugs to achieve an ultra-smooth finish prior to moulding, ensuring superior surface quality and minimal post-processing effort.

Crestabond M1-05 and M1-20 Structural Adhesives:
These high-performance methacrylate adhesives provided durable, fast-curing bonds for brackets, fixtures, and structural components — critical for both weight optimisation and safety assurance.

The Results – Global Recognition and Awards

The Canadian team completed the 3,000 km race in 38 hours, 51 minutes, and 36 seconds, securing 9th place worldwide, a major achievement in an elite field of global competitors.

Their outstanding performance earned multiple awards, including:
• Eberle-Selwood Championship Arrow Cup
• Safety Award

The combination of durability, thermal resistance, and bonding reliability provided by Scott Bader’s products played a central role in achieving these results, demonstrating how advanced materials can directly impact performance outcomes.

The Partnership: Technical Support and Seamless Collaboration

Over the course of an 18-month partnership, Scott Bader provided ongoing technical guidance, assisting the team with product selection, application techniques, and performance troubleshooting.

This collaboration extended beyond material supply, it represented a shared commitment to innovation, sustainability, and knowledge transfer between industry and education.

The Future: Supporting the Next Generation of Innovators

With new design iterations already in development, the team continues to push the boundaries of solar-powered mobility. Scott Bader remains a proud partner, helping to empower future engineers through access to sustainable, high-performance materials that inspire real-world innovation.

From student-built solar vehicles to large-scale renewable and automotive projects, Scott Bader continues to champion a future where engineering excellence and sustainability go hand in hand.

This case study highlights how Scott Bader’s composite technologies, from high-temperature tooling resins to structural adhesives enable world-class innovation under extreme conditions.

Whether developing next-generation transportation, renewable energy systems, or advanced industrial solutions, the right materials make measurable differences in performance and reliability.