The Brit students on epic Outback adventure in car that can do 1,800 miles on half the power it takes to boil a kettle
THE CB radio in my rental car crackled into life.
“I’ve a numb bum,” says Nicola.
I wasn’t surprised. She wasn’t relaxing in the squishy upholstery of my SUV.
She was ahead of me, centimetres off the asphalt, in arguably the most uncomfortable road car I’ve ever seen.
And it’s 40C. With no air-con.
But this 180kg wacky racer can travel 1,800 miles at an average of 45mph and on just 1kW of solar power — HALF of what’s needed to boil a kettle, or 15 times less power than needed to travel at the same speed in a Tesla 3 which is the most efficient electric car on sale today. Mind-blowing.
This is the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, an epic five-day endurance pursuit through the brutally tough Aussie outback.
Uni students from around the world come here every two years to “race” experimental motors powered only by the sun, so The Sun followed the team from Durham University to see how they fared in an event where the cream of the young trailblazers are whisked off by scouts from the Teslas of this world to work in Silicon Valley.
Others end up in top motorsport teams.
Durham’s chief engineer Luke Deacon, 23, has already won a plum job as a wind-tunnel engineer on the Williams F1 team.
He said: “Adrian Newey and Ross Brawn have been my inspiration since I was eight.
“I came to Durham because of its solar car project and to get in F1.”
But are the teams here on a level playing field? No, budgets differ wildly.
Top Belgian team Innoptus — fastest finisher this year with an average speed of 55mph — is said to have nearly £4million available and enjoys state-of-the-art wind-tunnel and battery tech access.
Durham operates on £250k and students pay for their own flights and accommodation, though roadside camping during the event is naturally free.
Professor David Sims-Williams tells me: “We are not intimidated by the multi-million-pound budgets.
“It’s making the right decisions that’s the difference and where the fast learning is done.”
Durham were just 100km from finishing in 2019 when they ran out of power. But not this year.
A puncture here, flapping body panel there, burned-out motor and bush fires aside, they made the finish — the first Brit team ever.
Mortar boards off to those bright young sparks, who’ll be optimising tomorrow’s road and race cars.