Lets set the scene by pointing out that as I write this I’m sitting in a tent, surrounded by about 12 other tents, cars, and people who are running around going nuts trying to get their solar powered car fixed before the morning. (Their brakes, suspension geometry and motors are dodgy, which makes the tyre scrubbing and the two attempts at Hayes creek hill seem not so bad). Its an odd feeling!

After 12 hours in Sydney, following a flight from San Francisco, I got back on a plane (the inside of which has lost its novelty). Getting to Darwin, Dave Finn from Tritium picked me up from the airport and we headed to Hidden Valley race track to drop some MPPTs (power electronics) off for some guys from New Zealand.

Friday, we headed out to the race track to check out some of the cars before heading to Litchfield. There were 41 starters in this year’s race. They range from the European Space Agency  sponsored Nuon team, to the impoverished Detlev, who has brought his car in several suitcases to every race. This year there’s a lot of innovation in the field. Concentrator cells were used on two different cars (Michigan and Twente). Both have tracking arrays. Lots of teams are using some interesting electronics. Toronto have their own MPPTs -- little ones. Lots have built their own telemetry, and only a very few bought bits and just stuck them together. Much better than previous years.

Friday night, I caught up with Aimee, who I did undergrad with. We drank too many beers, and I woke up on Saturday very, very, very hung over, which made Qualifying and Observer training that day a little more difficult. Whups. Was good to see her though!

Qualifying was cool - the cars do a hot lap of the track and the team with the fastest time ends up first on the grid.

My role in the race is that of observer: you basically have to write down what the teams do, so that the scrutineers can work out whether they should have any penalties later on. Its an OK job, and it means I get to see the teams in action. For better, or worse, I’m with the team from the Philippines, who are right at the back after today’s racing. They started this morning and had several flat tyres. One “interesting” event was the two attempts required to get the heavy (380kg with driver) car up Hayes Creek hill, which is the steepest on route. The first time, they stopped, half way up. After a couple of Ueys, they had another crack with a run up and made it.

I got to try Adobo, which is some kind of traditional Philippine food. Pretty good though! I was tempted to inflict Vegemite... ;-).

After the control stop, they decided to camp out for the night, charging their pack. Which means we’re hanging out in Katherine for the night. More updates to follow.