Following a tragic fire in Spain on 1 June 2006, where the world's most successful solar car 'Aurora 101', was totally destroyed, the Aurora team of volunteers has rebounded with a new solar supercar for the 2007 Panasonic World Solar Challenge. As a memory to the last decade it is also named 'Aurora 101'.

The new Aurora 101 has been built to the new Challenge Class rules of the 2007 WSC which place new emphasis on introducing practical features more like regular cars. Aurora has taken this theme of practicality even further by using high performance production solar cells from Sunpower. As a result the new car is eligible for the 'production class' in the 2007 event.

Aurora's second entry is separated by 20 years. Affectionately named 'Christine' this car first raced in the inaugural 1987 WSC finishing second to the mighty Sunraycer from GM USA. Christine also raced in 1990, claiming first place in the lead acid battery class then participated in the first Suzuka 'Dream Cup' in 1992, finishing in 8th position. For 2007, Christine retains its unique tilting solar panel but is upgraded in many ways to meet more up to date expectations.

Aurora 101 retains a single wheel front wheel drive layout with the high efficiency CSIRO wheel motor. Other Australian developed technologies from Armacel, Tritium, AERL, CAST and MoTeC are incorporated in the new Aurora 101. The body is shaped by the wind, designed to not create uplift or downforce. Its newly required headlights are high output LEDs from Osram. The new car weighs in at 160 kg, just lighter than the previous car but in spite of much added feature content. Team member Shaun Johnson developed the aerodynamics but will not be present to see the car run as he is working for the Ferrari F1 team in Maranello, Italy.

We look forward to catching up with many international teams and solar car friends in Darwin. This includes the new Philippine team Sinag for which Aurora has been technical advisor and our sister team Aviva Southern Aurora from Hamilton Victoria.

Our reports will commence Sunday, 14 October and will be transmitted from Australia's outback using a BGAN satellite connection provided by TC Communications.

14/10/2007 - day 1
We slept in. The 11 team members form the Aurora 101 and Aurora Christine teams recovered from their late arrival... [download report]

15/10/2007 - day 2
We had an early start. Breakfast finished by 7.30 AM and then we moved down to the track... [download report]

16/10/2007 - day 3
Today was to reach 38 deg. C in Darwin. The solar car pits at Hidden Valley race track were filling up... [download report]

17/10/2007 - day 4
Today we were hoping to get a lot more track time following the delays we had with motor problems yesterday... [download report]

18/10/2007 - day 5
Today we planned to finalise our battery balancing as well as getting the wheels aligned and repaired... [download report]

19/10/2007 - day 6
It was a very early start for all Aurora members. We were up at 5 AM... [download report]

20/10/2007 - day 7
Today was a big day for qualifying and selection of grid positions... [download report]

21/10/2007 - day 8
We hate getting up early. It was particularly so this morning after a very late pack up of the pit... [download report]

22/10/2007 - day 9
We think we fixed the maximum power trackers and therefore should have our maximum energy input today... [download report]

23/10/2007 - day 10
The sun did not seem to rise. There was no direct sunlight... [download report]

24/10/2007 - day 11
Alice Springs turned in a beautiful morning and we were pretty relaxed... [download report]

25/10/2007 - day 12
Another early start for Aurora 101 but this time with perfect battery charging conditions... [download report]

26/10/2007 - day 13
Another early start for the Aurora 101 crew. There was some initial confusion... [download report]