AURORA-RMIT 101 SPRINTS TO 4 NEW SOLAR CAR WORLD RECORDS. JUST ANOTHER SATURDAY!!

Australia's super solar car, the Victorian based Aurora-RMIT 101 closed out its summer of road and track events by smashing 4 world solar car records at the Ford You Yangs Proving Ground on 16 March 2002.

These records have stood since 1994 and were set by the Biel University solar car team of Switzerland.

Over the past 4 months, Aurora has become the world's most accomplished solar car team, setting a total of 7 new world records, finishing second and breaking Honda's event record in the 2001 World Solar Challenge and setting a new event record in winning the recently completed 2002 Australian Greenhouse Office Sunrace.

Although a totally volunteer group, the Aurora Vehicle Association and its program partner RMIT University has been backed and encouraged in its achievements by an eminent group of 56 supporter companies and organisations. Foundation Supporters include the Victorian Government, lawyers Minter Ellison, Ford, Bosch, 101 Collins Street and Sumitomo Corporation.

The accomplishments of the Aurora-RMIT 101 solar car since November 2001 are as follows:

World's longest solar car journey (anti-clockwise around Australia) 27 Dec 2001-19 Jan 2002: 13,054km
(Previous Record: 7,043.5km Queens, Canada 2000)

Longest day distance on solar energy alone, 17 Jan 2002: 780km
(New Record)

Fastest average speed over 100km on road, 10 Jan 2002: 111.24kph
(Previous Record: 107.78kph NTU, 2000)

Fastest average speed over 100km on track, 16 Mar 2002*: 132.10kph
(Previous Record: 124.30kph Biel, 1994)

Fastest average speed over 1 hour on track, 16 Mar 2002*: 131.50kph
(Previous Record: 123.00 kph Biel, 1994)

Fastest average speed over 100 miles (161 km) on track 16 Mar 2002*: 131.00kph
(Previous Record: 121.60 kph Biel, 1994)

Fastest speed on solar energy alone, 16 Mar 2002: 86.20 kph-over 3.8km
(Previous Record: 82.60 kph Biel, 1994-over 6.04 km)

Second place in 2001 World Solar Challenge, 18-22 November 2002: 90.26kph
(Previous Record: 89.76 kph Honda, 1996)
WSC Event won by Alpha Centauri at 91.81 kph average over 3,010 km

First place in 2002 Australian Greenhouse Office Sunrace-2,300km, 16-24 Feb 2002: 94.25kph (New Record)

* From a standing start. These records set on 16 March 2002 independently observed by Warren Baldsing of CSIRO Energy Technology who had also acted as Chemical Safety Officer at the 2001 World Solar Challenge.

Aurora's lead driver and member since 1992, Tony Vriens, has become the world's longest distance solar car driver - clocking up approximately 16,500 km in events since 1992.

The Aurora-RMIT 101 solar car will be on display at Rialto Towers from 25-28 March as part of the Italian-Australian Technological Innovation Exhibition.

For more information, please contact: David Fewchuk 03-8608 2889 0411-250 464
High resolution images are available under "Images".