Fins harness wind to help propel solar cars through Australian race

The wind has joined the sun in helping to propel the biennial solar-powered car race across Australia this year, after several teams added hi-tech fins to their ultralight aerodynamic designs. The fins are vertical airfoils that act like sails to help propel solar-powered cars in the nearly 2,000-mile race. The Dutch team Brunel won this year’s Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in a car equipped with two of the fins. Similar vertical air foils have been installed on large cargo ships to help save fuel.

Class discussion: Is using an airfoil in a solar-powered race cheating? Or, is using the wind just taking advantage of another form of energy powered by the sun? How are the fins on the solar cars different from the tail fins American automakers started putting on cars 70 years ago? Did those 1950s tail fins serve any practical purpose? How have other types of air foils or fins been used on race cars or vehicles and vessels designed to set speed records on land and water?