Endeavour is loaded onto the trailer, having reached Port Augusta. Credit: CUER

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 baking heart of the red centre. We are camping tonight in Mount Remarkable National Park surrounded by kangaroos and green grass, quite a change from the dust and sand of Coober Pedy.

Tomorrow we trailer to Adelaide and drive the final stretch in to Victoria Square to display the car with the rest of the competitors. We may be a day late, but we made it and the lessons we learnt this time around will bring the dream of being several days ahead closer to becoming a reality. We’re looking forward to finding out our final race position based on our solar kilometres and catching up with the other teams at the Award Ceremony tomorrow night.