New teams at the track included TIGA from Osaka, Japan, UNSW from Sydney, Kelly from South Australia, and Nuna, the favorite from the Netherlands. All four looked like they would be highly competitive, and during the day did some actual track testing. The UNSW car, SunSwift III is a six-meter long car with two occupants placed back-to-back. The head bubble space is quite small. We’re wondering who the lucky passengers will be.

The hotshot group for the day was University of Michigan, getting down to track times of 2:06. Aurora’s tyre distribution efforts were successful and all 70 Michelin solar car tires found new homes.

There is a French team who is expected who had lost track of their solar car shipment. It turned up in Sydney and will be in Darwin tomorrow. There is no word of the Iranian team, last known to have been having troubles with visas. The continuing work on solar cars was evident among many teams. MIT, the hard hit ones, were making good progress in repairing their rear solar panels and nose section of the car. Unfortunately their batteries are still on route from the US. They were able to borrow lead acid batteries from the University of Twente team from the Netherlands to make up for some needed testing laps.

Our day finished with a two-hour reception at Kerry Mazda in Darwin city where the solar car was prominently on the curbside, attracting a number of responses from passing motorists. Craig Ambrose-Pierce hosted the display.

The best news for the day was the arrival of the legend, Peter Pudney, who quietly has the reputation for being the best World Solar Challenge strategist. This occurred because of some irreparable damage to a motor controller in an electric vehicle project Peter had been leading. So instead of Darwin for display we expect to see it in Adelaide when we get there.

Our team rounds out tonight with our last two members: Rebecca Trump, camp boss for the run, and Tom Baker, our head electrical person. The pace from tomorrow will hot up.