Punch Powertrain Solar Team’s car sports Cromax coatings

The Punch Powertrain Solar Team’s latest car – which has been named Punch One – and sports Cromax coatings, was unveiled to the general public on 9 August 2015 at the Colonial Palace in Tervuren, Belgium. Punch One’s livery, which includes a Cromax logo, had already been unveiled to Philippe King of Belgium at a local press conference on 2 July 2015.

Dries Van den Bergh, Cromax Brand Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa, says, “as Bronze Partners of the team, we are so proud to be a part of this innovative and highly-dynamic group of students who are meeting the challenges of this undertaking head-on. It’s an inspiration to work alongside them.”

Under the terms of the partnership agreement, Cromax worked with the team to create bespoke and eye-catching colours for the carbon fibre car, which was prepped and painted with Cromax materials at the brand’s state-of-the-art training headquarters for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in Mechelen, Belgium, in May and June 2015.

Koen Silverans, Cromax EMEA Training Leader, said, “after filling some small imperfections with 779R Multi-Function Putty, we applied 635R Chromate Free Etching Primer and then 1051R High Productive Surfacer to prepare the carbon fibre. Then we used our most productive and technologically-advanced waterborne basecoat – Cromax Pro Basecoat – on the car. This was carried out by Eduardo Murillo, one of our Belgian technical experts, and Alex Van Den Brande, our technical coordinator at the EMEA Cromax Training Centre. But the real star was our Ultra Performance Energy Clear CC6700. It is the latest addition to our clearcoat offering, and our most productive one. It dries extremely fast at relatively low temperatures, which can save energy – the perfect clear for a solar car. Ultra Performance Energy Clear CC6700 produces an exceptionally durable mirror-like finish too, so despite the gruelling race conditions the car will continue to look fantastic.”

The car will compete in Australia at the 2015 World Solar Challenge – regarded as the world championship for solar vehicles – against 30 other teams from 19 different countries, this October. The race covers over 3,000kms between Darwin and Adelaide.

Keep up to date with the progress of the Punch Powertrain Solar Team via twitter.com/solarteam_be or visit www.solarteam.be. For more information on Cromax products and services visit www.cromax.com/uk.