Submission + - Solar car attempts to break record
snowdon writes: "The UNSW solar car, Jaycar Sunswift III, set off yesterday in an attempt to break the world record for a west-to-east crossing of Australia: about 4000km. The previous record stands at 8.5 days, set by Dick Smith and Aurora in 1993, and the team is attempting to complete the journey in less than 6. The car is one of the most advanced ever built, and is the result of several years of undergrad and postgrad volunteer labour. Features of interest: the car's design was refined by performing simulations on a large (80 PC) cluster for three months; the car is constructed almost exclusively using carbon fibre (including suspension and steering components); the car's control, power and telemetry electronics are custom-built and run both Linux and L4/Iguana. You can track the team's progress over the next few days at www.sunswift.com."