Darwin (Australia) – 41 solar cars on their way competing in the World Solar Challenge 2007 in Australia.

The race, started on Sunday, takes the participating teams on an 1870 mile journey from Darwin, a town on the north end of the Northern Territory, south through the Outback, ending in Adelaide, South Australia. The race will officially end on October 28, while first cars are expected to cross the finish line as early as October 25.

The organizers describe the race, which was first organized by Danish adventurer Hans Thostrup in 1987, as an “energy efficiency challenge”, which requires a balance between sustainable speed and endurance, energy management and strategic planning. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the challenge has been held in 3-year intervals until 1999 and since then has been held every two years. The last race was won by Dutch Nuon team from the Technical University of Delft, whose Nuon III car crossed the finish line after a race time of 29 hours and 11 minutes. The average speed achieved by Nuon III was 64.3 mph.

University of Michigan's Continuum car

The current event is separated in two classes of vehicles – the “Adventure Class”, which includes veteran solar cars, as well as the “Challenge Class”, which has stricter regulations, including upright seating and solar panels that do not exceed a total area of six square meters.

Among the 41 teams are four US teams: The University of Oregon and the University of Michigan have entrants in the Challenge Class, while Stanford University and the Houston Solar Car Race Team from the Houston Vocational Center, Mississippi, are competing in the Adventure Class.

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