smart Australia

2005-10-01T13:30:00.000+10:00

And so the journey comes to an end...

We travelled 3,830 km, used just 128.22 litres of diesel and had a blast. For those of you who like the other terms, that's 3.34l/100km or 29.87km per litre...and we did all of it with the aircon on.

If you'd like to see the beast that managed this remarkable feat, visit the Sydney International Motor Show running from October 13-23rd, 2005. It will be tucked away in our smart Stacker appearing on the smart stand.

We've also got a few other little highlights on the stand, the smart BRABUS forfour and a hypercolour fortwo!

2005-10-01T13:15:00.000+10:00

David and Goliath

For the curious, the fuel cell bus is currently operating in Perth, Australia.

2005-10-01T13:00:00.000+10:00

Inside Victoria Square the car got just as much attention as it had received along the journey.

2005-10-01T12:00:00.000+10:00

We've gone from run ins with the police to a royal police escort into Victoria Square, Adelaide.

This is the view from the back of our Mercedes-Benz hydrogen fuel cell bus that lead the vehicles into the square.

It was suiting that our car that produces lower CO2 emissions than the current greenest vehicle in Australia trailed our hydrogen fuel cell bus that emits zero CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.

2005-09-30T15:00:00.000+10:00

Liv's photographic art piece...she calls it 'bug'.

2005-09-30T12:00:00.000+10:00

After remembering to pay for petrol slipped Liv's mind for the third time the boys had to help talk their way out of a 'free' night's accomodation in the Woomera lockup.

The boys in blue...err tan...requested a photo with Liv in front of their car to which she happily obliged.

So after a quick smile and a laugh we were on our way again...

2005-09-30T09:00:00.000+10:00

We were insanely jealous about the paint job on this car, we've already started planning support van version 2...Btw, big thanks to Zoe and Kirsty for the loan of the Vito which we've lived out of for the past week. We really wouldn't have survived without it!

2005-09-29T16:30:00.000+10:00

Waiting for the shot. Simon used his lens to keep an eye on the horizon for the elusive road train.

2005-09-29T15:30:00.000+10:00

Back on the road again after waiting for a road train. Once again Liv was clearly abusing the use of the car horn.

2005-09-29T14:30:00.000+10:00

This is one of the many road side stops when waiting for road trains. Amazingly we got this shot without any of us waving flies off.

(from left to right) Rob 'Dirka Dirka' Bourke, Liv 'Horn Abuser' McLean, Simon 'The Road Train Hunter' O'Dwyer, Zac 'You weren't there man' Loo

2005-09-29T10:30:00.000+10:00

Simon joined us for the trip from Ayers Rock to Coober Pedy on the hunt for some road trains. Simon had the picture he wanted in his mind, so we spent the whole day chasing road trains up and down the Stuart Highway. Keep an eye on Saturday's Age for a brilliant shot.

Thanks to Terry the trucky for helping us out.

Also just a note to the safety officer for the World Solar Challenge, the road train doesn't suck the smart in as it goes past!

2005-09-28T18:00:00.000+10:00

Sunset at the real Ayers Rock. It didn't turn purple, and the park ranger threatened to lock up the photographer and throw us out, but otherwise it was really nice!

2005-09-28T12:30:00.000+10:00

Rob believed this was Ayers Rock, although he wondered why it had the 'ramps' up the side and and a flat top. He was so convinced that he almost had us guessing for a while...

2005-09-27T14:30:00.000+10:00

Liv and Zac at an optional refuel at the Mobil service station in Ti Tree. The kind folks over at Mobil Oil Australia have strongly supported our Greenfleet quest.

2005-09-27T11:30:00.000+10:00

A view from the road between Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. That's the Ghan's rail line running from the left of the picture.

2005-09-27T10:30:00.000+10:00

Crusing along the Stuart Highway from Tennant Creek to Alice Springs we couldn't help but make a quick stop off to the Devil's marbles.

2005-09-26T16:00:00.000+10:00

We were dubious about filling up at Daly Waters Pub 'Outback Servo'. However we stopped in for a quick toilet break and a stretch of the legs.

2005-09-26T15:30:00.000+10:00

The Vito has played a vital support role for the smart fortwo on the World Solar Challenge, it's providing welcome relief from the long days of driving as well as helping us carry a lot of giveaways and brochures.

Impressively the Vito is also churning out impressive fuel consumption, averaging around 8.5 litres per 100km. We're quite impressed considering it's carrying a full load and two people.

2005-09-26T15:00:00.000+10:00

Same road, different stretch. Liv has taken over the driving here, and is doing some impressive figures. The best we've achieved so far is 2.9 litres per 100km. These figures are better than the factory tests...even with the aircon on!

Btw. In case you can't read it, the decal underneath 'why fuel around' says 'Darwin to Adelaide on a 130 litres ... even with the aircon on.'

2005-09-26T13:00:00.000+10:00

On our way to Tennant Creek from Katherine we managed to sneak in a quick dip in the springs at Mataranka. Apparently the natural springs on the way into town are better than the one we visited on the outskirts of town, however we were suitably impressed none the less. Really helps break up the drive.

2005-09-25T18:30:00.000+10:00

After the day of driving from Darwin to Katherine we had the chance to visit the Katherine Gorge in the afternoon. The view from the top of the first mountain was amazing, and we highly recommend it to anyone travelling through the area.

2005-09-25T18:00:00.000+10:00

One of the fuel stops along the way to Katherine. Annalise and Sam have a quick stretch before jumping back into the fortwo.

2005-09-25T17:00:00.000+10:00

This is one of the solar cars we passed just outside of Darwin. Although we've heard the favourite (The Dutch team) are averaging 140km/h, some of the slower condtenders are doing around 60-70km/h.

The cars look great, we think this one kind of looks like a horizontal tear drop.

2005-09-25T16:00:00.000+10:00

Leaving Darwin we were given a royal send off with hundreds of locals lining the Stuart Highway and waving through all of the vehicles as the left on the journey.

2005-09-25T15:00:00.000+10:00

After an early 5am awakening, an early breakfast at the only place in town that was open we headed to the starting line. The locals had put on a fine effort and shown up in droves to glance over the solar cars and the greenfleet vehicles.

With Annalise Braakensiek behind the wheel we set off at around 8:30am for the first leg to Katherine.

2005-09-23T16:59:00.000+10:00

We arrived in Darwin late last night to a balmy 29 degrees, a pleasant and hot change from the early spring of Melbourne.

This morning we visited Frost Motors in Darwin to pick up the smart fortwo diesel coupe and the Mercedes-Benz Vito (support vehicle). Daryl and the team were very helpful (big thanks to all!) with helping us prepare the vehicles for the challenge. We spent the better part of the morning placing the decals on the vehicle so we could present and registration later in the day.

At registration it was all very exciting, the MIT solar car was there, or as it has affectionately been named by everyone else in the challenge, the stealth bomber.

2005-09-21T16:20:00.000+10:00

A few weeks ago we received the diesel powered smart fortwo coupe from Germany. We had to chuckle at the fact that it only comes with a 20 litre tank unlike the usual 30 litres carried by a petrol driven fortwo. I suppose when it only uses 3.3l/100km on highway cycle you don't need anymore than that.

We leave Melbourne for Darwin tomorrow afternoon. The car is safely tucked away in the Mercedes-Benz dealership in Darwin awaiting us to pick it up. The flights are all booked and Annalise Braakensiek is really excited about getting behind the wheel.