EskiciDukkani

1- What is your target average speed through the outback, roughly?

2- Probably you take weather conditions into account. How do you do that, do you just use the public weather forecasts, or do you have other data sources?

(Congrats on your great performance in the qualification laps. I know it is hard, but hopefully you'll be able to shake the solid Delft / Tokai reign a bit. Seems like a tight race already. Enjoy!)

a former member (2013) of ITU Solar Team, Turkey

Also I think it is used to decrease the frontal area of the car which has a direct impact on aerodynamic drag force.

If on the side: The bottom portion of the seating compartment is not visible from the front side since it is hidden inbetween the wheel cases. So, it does not create extra frontal area.

I don't know how it's done now, but in the previous years they used to weight the drivers only once before the race. So you get the ballasts before the race and place it wherever you like. You can use the ballasts to change center of gravity to have a more dynamic/stable/x/y/z car, depending on your needs.