Stanford’s Solar-Powered Car In Darwin, Australia

CleanTechnica

Greetings from the Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, Australia! It’s been a while since we last posted from Port Augusta – and a lot has happened. Since departing from the Southern coast, we ran an approximately 1250km mock race, camped in the Outback while driving through the Northern Territory, settled down in Darwin at the Racetrack, drove a few laps, and (mostly) completed the scrutineering process for the 2013 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.

In order to train our race crew and verify our race strategy, Luminos drove a mock race from Port Augusta, to Coober Pedy, to Port Augusta, to Glendambo (you could say we’re familiar with this stretch of road).  The team practiced race day routines including morning array standing and control points, and also gained valuable experience in carefully metering our power consumption and production throughout the course of a multi-day race. As of the end of our mock race, Luminos has racked up around 4650 miles (7500 km). The solar-powered car is ready for the 3022km between Darwin and Adelaide.