Well, we never really thought that yesterday would arrive. We arrived in Adelaide with Endeavour on the trailer but we crossed the finish line in Victoria Square on solar power. We crossed the line at 1:20pm SA time, Saturday 31^st October having set off from State Square, Darwin at 8:00am NT time, Sunday 25^th October. It took almost six full days, much heartache, and hard work to cover the 3000km from Darwin to Adelaide but we did it and 1616 of those kilometres were under solely solar power.

The feeling of crossing the finish line after such an epic and extraordinary journey was incredible. So many supporters and team family members and other teams were there to welcome us, clapping and cheering as Endeavour came to a final stop over the line. We could not be more pleased and overawed by the achievement of crossing an entire continent and the moment was such that the only way to do it justice was to pick up both of our team managers and throw them bodily into the fountain! A spray of champagne may have made contact with the solar cells but it seemed a fitting end to such an ‘Endeavour’.

The…
Read more →

We’ve made it! Today we covered about 300 solar kms and this takes our total to over half the race distance driven on solar power alone. Endeavour rolled into Port Augusta this afternoon at 3:30pm to complete her final race driving. We are not allowed to drive solar the final 300km to Adelaide because we arrived in Port Augusta after midday, but we have officially crossed the continent!

We could not be more pleased with how it has gone considering the problems we’ve had. We’ve covered 1600km using solar power alone and reached speeds of 108kph with the first race car CUER has ever built. The work that has gone towards making this possible is vast, it works out at about 1 man hour for every 100 metres! The team here in Australia and at home have put their all into making this possible and even though we did  not reach Adelaide solely under solar power, we are very proud of Endeavour and how far she has taken us.

This afternoon we drove out of the desert and in to the verdant countryside around Adelaide. The difference was incredible, and the return to civilisation certainly raised team morale after the…
Read more →

Another day full of ups and downs for CUER, we were obliged to trailer the car in the morning as per yesterday to try and catch up the rest of the pack. We managed to drive about 200 solar kilometres over the middle part of the day but unfortunately further battery problems put paid to this. Even more cells have died and Chao our battery surgeon had to perform an emergency cell bypass seeing as we are now completely out of spares. This is not an easy thing to do at the best of times, never mind in the back of a truck in the Outback!

On a positive note, we did see Leeming High School on the road which means that we have caught up the back of the pack. Although unfortunately we were on the side of the road when they passed by us…

We arrived at Coober Pedy this afternoon having trailered the final part of the day and bumped into Stanford and McMasters at the Control Point. To give some perspective, Stanford have got this far travelling at an average speed of about 40kph without having trailered. McMasters have trailered since Sunday when their car caught…
Read more →

Today Endeavour rolled into Alice Springs after four hours of flying along the Stuart Highway at an average speed of 73kph, at times travelling at over 100kph. We have reached the half way point despite our dying battery pack and this is thanks to a caffeine saturated electronics team and the determination of 17 Cambridge students ready to battle on through the Outback whatever it takes.

We may have had to trailer Endeavour in both the morning and evening but we still covered 286 solar kilometres. Endeavour is still very much in the race even if she is some way behind it. With over 1500km under our belt, CUER is ready to face the second half of the race and clock up as many kilometres under the sun as possible. We can still make a good race position regardless of the time or day we arrive in Adelaide and the team are all working flat out to make that happen.

We know that even against all odds; the battery cells are dying off one by one, time is running thin, almost 1500km stretch out ahead of us, but we will make it. Endeavour heads down the Stuart Highway at 8am…
Read more →

Today we attempted to make up lost time caused by our troubled batteries. We needed to get through the Tennant Creek Control Stop, after its official 11am close, and then on to Barrow Creek by 5pm.  If not we would find ourselves in a position where we were forced to trailer the car in order to catch up with the pack. CUER’s aim had always been to finish the race on solar power alone so this was not an option that we were willing to take.

The day started well, we set off from Dunmarra at 8:27am after serving our 27 mins of battery time penalty, and then maintained an average speed of 70kph until 11:30am. It then became clear the battery problems that we suffered from yesterday were not resolved and the battery pack was under considerable pressure. Chao, Jonathan and Julian, our ace electronics team, managed to get the car back on the road and nurse it through another few hours driving.

However, despite the determined effort of the electronics team, the problems did not subside and we were obliged to pull off the road again. This did not bode well for our 5pm deadline in Barrow Creek.…
Read more →