Australian outback solar car race

The leading cars in the 2009 World Solar Challenge have passed the halfway point in the race from Darwin to Adelaide, after camping out in the Australian outback. The event is meant to be a trial and exhibition of ecologically friendly vehicles, by racing them through the heart of Australia's landscape. The teams slept under the stars and maintained their vehicles while enjoying an Australian barbecue. Only one team, the Belgium Umicar team, has pulled out after an accident, but no one was injured. The Principia team from the United States has had a good run so far, even though they weren't really taking advantage of their solar panels for the first few hours. Peter Ritter, from the Principia team, explained: "Well we had a great first day. We ran 525 kilometres. We were hoping to maybe run a little bit farther but we started out a little slow and we had a problem where our ray wasn't hooked up to the batteries to be charging so we ran the first two and a half hours as an electric car. So on the positive side that shows we have got a great battery pack." The Global Green Challenge endurance event or The Eco Challenge for environmental friendly production and experimental vehicles also continued. These vehicles are driving from Darwin to Adelaide, but are competing on which vehicle can get there using the least amount of energy, rather than in the shortest time. The vehicles should reach the finish in Adelaide on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the weather conditions.

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ITN | October 26, 2009