Nano-Car World Grand Prix: World’s Largest Small Car Race Slated For Oct 2016

Yes, you heard it right. The Centre for Materials Elaboration and Structural Studies of the French National Centre for Scientific Research is hosting the world’s first nano-scale Grand Prix. The amazing race is to be held in October this year in the French city of Toulouse. The cars that will take part in this one of a kind race are molecule sized and are complete with chassis, 2 axles and freely rotating wheels. Unlike the normal Grand Prix, this race will have a track made out of gold and kept at a temperature of minus 268 degrees inside a vacuum chamber. The whole track will be observed using high powered instruments called scanning tunneling microscopes developed to monitor the race.


There are five teams that are competing in this race, each with their own chemically synthesized molecule car. The cars will run using the electricity provided by the tip of the scanning electron microscope and will start with time trials to determine the fastest car. The organizers also said that there might be a bumper to bumper race between four cars on the same track. One of the teams competing for the race is Rice University (US). Professor Tour has designed their car using special methods of chemical synthesis which is an enhanced version of his first single-molecule car which provided the proof-of-concept to manufacture machines at a nano scale. The earlier version was driven by a paddle-wheel motor that ran by absorbing light. Since then various nano car models have been added to the collection including a nano truck and nano backhoes. His new molecule car will be driven by the team of Professor Leonhard Grill, from Karl-Franzen University in Austria, specialists in manipulating objects at the nano-scale.


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