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30 September 2005: Team finishes World Solar Challenge in 5 days
Yesterday, at 5.06pm the UNSW SRT crossed the finish of timing for the World Solar Challenge. We saw the best performance yet from our solar car, UNSW Sunswift III, which averaged an impressive 90km/h over the course of the day despite some patches of cloud. We were the 9th solar car to cross the line, and had made a several hour lead on the next vehicle, which crossed the line today.

This morning we drove the solar car into the Adelaide city centre to cross the finish line in Victoria Square. The chequered flag for our team was waved by UNSW Vice-Chancellor, and team patron, Prof Mark Wainwright. Our team was the first to cross the finish line with a car using commercially available silicon solar cells. This is just one factor which has demonstrated our ability to construct an extremely high efficiency solar racing vehicle without excessive funding (the eight teams who finished in front of us all used 'space grade' solar cells).

28 September 2005: Fourth day in the desert
Waking up to an overcast sky we thought we were in for a very slow day. Thankfully, the forecast was wrong, and by midday the clouds had mainly burnt off. On the other hand, our luck with flat tyres till yesterday certainly ran out today, with our front left tyre wearing down to the canvas several times. A few of our team members are currently scratching their heads to try and work out how to fix the problem for tomorrow.

By he time we reached the Cadney Homestead control point we had closed the gap between us and the next solar car, HansGo (UK/Germany)... but that was before the several flat tryres mentioned above. Nevertheless we maintained our position as the 9th placed solar car.

We passed Coober Pedy this afternoon and are currently camped about 100km's south of the town. We were pleased to find what looked like an excellent site, only to be knocked off our feet by extremely strong winds as we stepped out of our vehicles. The top shell of our car was under so much force that it took the entire team of twelve to support the structure for about an hour while it charged the batteries.

Cadney Homestead control stop	The team supports the solar array in strong winds

27 September 2005: Day three
With slightly better performance from our solar array today, our team was able to proceed with an average speed of around 80km/h. Further to this we overtook three vehicles this morning, Umicar (Belgium), Solution (Netherlands) and Southern Aurora (Australia). We passed the Alice Springs control point this afternoon, and are currently camped near Erldunda, roughly 650km's from where we set out this morning. Our car ran very well today, apart from the control point, we only made three short stops, two to change drivers and one to repair a flat tyre. We got our flat only 20 minutes before we were due to stop for the evening, but we're not too disappointed considering that was our first flat during racing hours over the last three days.

When we stop in the evening at around 5pm we are allowed to tilt our solar array towards the sun to charge our batteries. The same applies in the morning from sunrise till 8am, so one of the challenges during the race is to find a suitably exposed campsite in the 10 minute time-penalty-free window between 5 and 5.10pm!

Tyre change	Behind the solar array

26 September 2005: Two days down...
Today the team proceeded on after a much needed sleep under the stars. The main delay today was a loose connector to our wheel motor, which was discovered at our campsite this morning. After this we were able to travel for most of the day between 70 and 80km/h. We passed two control points today, being Dunmarra and Tennant Creek. At each control point you are required to stop for half an hour, providing an opportunity to change drivers and fill all our non-solar cars up with fuel! Tonight we are based just south of Tennant Creek, having now completed over 1000km's of the course. Some fine tuning of our solar array trackers have been made this evening, hopefully allowing us to average an even greater speed tomorrow. We have also made adjustments enabling us to re-install the lower wheel fairings tomorrow, which we have not had installed due to the damage caused by our accident. We overtook a few more teams today (including the University of Calgary from Canada and Aoyama Gakuin University from Japan), and are now sitting in the equivalent of 12th position, which the team is very happy with considering the events of the last few days.

Driver and passenger are replaced at a control stop

25 September 2005: UNSW SRT makes the start of WSC
After working through the night to make adjustments to our vehicle, our team made it to the start line in Darwin. A final inspection of the vehicle was conducted by officials at the start line and then the team was off. We started last on the grid as a result of our failure to participate in the final stage of qualifying on Saturday. Thankfully, the organisers have allowed our team to compete in the event, providing an official observer, timing at control stops and so on (so you can track our progress at the World Solar Challenge website; www.wsc.org.au). Our departure from Darwin was a little slow as we traveled via our accommodation with the solar car to pick up the rest of our gear! Despite our troubles (which includes a large portion of the solar array being wired out after our accident) we were able to overtake five other solar cars during the day.

Repairs being made to the damaged vehicle	Charging the batteries at our campsite

24 September 2005: Team races against clock to repair UNSW Sunswift III
Unfortunately UNSW Sunswift III was involved in an accident whilst testing on the Arnhem Highway yesterday afternoon. The vehicle came to rest on very rough ground on the side of the road after becoming unstable. Some mechanical components, and a few of the solar panels were significantly damaged. Today the team has put in a huge effort to repair the vehicle back to a roadworthy condition, in the hope that it will still be possible to enter the race.

The event organisers have been assisting the team and will conduct a final inspection tomorrow morning. The vehicle certainly won't perform as originally hoped, but it will be an amazing feat if we can participate in some form.

19 September 2005: Barkly Homestead
For the last two days we have been based at the Barkly Homestead, on the Barkly Highway in the Northern Territory. We've had some setbacks including damage to the wheel motor's stator, but also some valuable testing in conditions fairly similar to what we can expect on the race. Work has continued on various aspects of the car including the telemetry system and the installation and testing of the new battery pack. We hope to arrive in Darwin tomorrow to prepare for scrutineering and qualifying which will commence on Thursday.

UNSW Sunswift III leaves the Barkly Roadhouse	Battery testing and various electrical work underway

17 September 2005: Battery testing
Some long nights are being had by a few of our non-drivers (being Ryan and Andrew) to conduct testing of the new battery pack. The testing started on the 15th with a slow charge to full capacity of the pack, whilst at the same time testing out one of the maximum power point trackers (which are used to extract maximum power from the solar panels). The testing is continuing tonight with a discharge, to properly characterise the pack.

16 September 2005: Solar racing teams need petrol too...
Our race fleet includes four vehicles; 'scout' (running ahead of the fleet), 'lead' and 'control' (surrounding the solar car), and 'trailer' (carrying supplies and the solar car trailer). Given our round trip to the race and back is about 10,000km's it goes without saying that our fuel budget is quite significant! After pulling into Charleville last night, our fleet filled up, with trailer managing to forget to use their fuel card. The Charleville police were quick on the case, tracking us down at a caravan park in the morning. A few red faces later (and after fixing up the bill) we were on our way again... The police wished us the best of luck in the race.

Stephen's brush with the law

16 September 2005: Roo count: 1
Shortly outside Longreach, our fleet was running at a reduced speed, heading straight into the setting sun. The tow vehicle was leading the fleet (being the only vehicle with a bull bar), which came in handy at dusk. A kangaroo was hit, causing no damage to our ute, unfortunately the control vehicle which was traveling behind the trailer was not so lucky. They too hit the road kill, puncturing their fuel tank, which was quickly repaired by a fast moving Scott.

14 September 2005: Display at Bourke High School
Today the team displayed our solar car for students at the Bourke High School before setting off for testing on the open road. Apart from the students we were also visited by the local newspaper, The Western Herald.

14 September 2005: Testing (and fixing)
From Bourke we took out the solar car, but after preliminary testing decided the brakes needed some adjusting. We then spent several hours fixing the brakes... Mark had a great time bleeding the brake lines on the side of the road (at one point commeting "the only thing I don't like about solar car racing is the solar car"). After it was all fixed we ran the car for a short distance and then proceeded to Cunnamulla in Queensland.

13 September 2005: Dubbo and beyond
We spent our first night at Dubbo, taking the opportunity to purchase a final few components and supplies with the town being the last major centre for quite some time ahead of us. After thawing out with some hot tea, we got to work on finishing the wheel fairing fillets, and drove through to Bourke. The final vehicle in our fleet left Sydney today after staying back to finalise work on the newly assembled battery pack. Once they join us tomorrow morning we hope to get the solar car out and put it through its paces!

This won't happen for much longer...	Sanding the carbon fibre fillets in Dubbo

12 September 2005: We're off to Darwin
After a week long camp out at our workshop "Solarch" the UNSW SRT left Sydney today for the World Solar Challenge. Over the last few days the team has been fine-tuning various components of our new solar car and packing our fleet of four vehicles.

On our way to Darwin we will test the vehicle under fairly similar conditions expected during the 3000km World Solar Challenge. The race starts on the 25th of September and includes roughly 25 solar car entries from around the globe.

Daniel packs the camping equipment	Scott, Simon and Andrew working on various electrical components

The World Solar Challenge Route: