Race Day 1 - Off we go!

Well what a day what a day! The race has begun! Adelaide here we come!!

Everyone was late to bed and early to rise again – everyone is quite sleep deprived and running on adrenaline and excitement. Even with the car packed there was the usual last minute run around trying to organize the solar car as well as personal luggage and camping equipment. For this race, besides the solar car Hulamin, we have 6 support cars to transport 20 UKZN team members (and one race official that accompanies us) and all the associated personal luggage, camping equipment, and food – not to mention a variety of spare parts and tools needed to keep Hulamin running as optimally as possible.

As per the time trials done on Saturday, Hulamin was 24^th out of 43 entrants off the starting block, but technical difficulties resulted in us being a few cars behind that intended position. The race started from Parliament Square, and I was very impressed with how officials managed to streamline the start. Rules of the race include that the solar car needs to be bracketed by a lead and follow vehicle at all times, so imagine trying to get 129 vehicles on the road in as short a time as possible, because time lost at the start is time never gained back. It was also a very festive mood at Parliament Square as people gathered to watch the start of the race. There was lots of cheering, and lots of photographs taken – it was a time to be able to see all the cars that had entered the race at one time. Our car started and then I was the one doing all the cheering – it is so exciting and such a privilege to be part of this!

The next few hours on the road were rather mundane for me, sitting in my allotted car following a few cars behind the solar car. But for the lead and follow vehicles and definitely Hulamin and its driver it was an intense time - overtaking other (slower) solar cars, dealing with long road trains that buffet the lightweight solar car as they come speeding past, general crosswinds, and managing the solar car at a speed that optimizes car performance.

Each car is equipped with a citizen band (cb) radio, and this became quite important as cellphone reception was patchy, even on our first day of travel. After 322 km on the road there was a mandatory control stop for the lead and follow vehicles and Hulamin. This stop was used to swap drivers (there are four team members who will alternate driving Hulamin), to angle to top shell to the sun, and to spray water on the panels to cool them down. An important rule at any stage of the race when the car has stopped and is being sunned is do not shade the solar panels – ever!

At the end of the 30-minute stop it was a race to get back into the cars and go go go! Once back on the road we had another few hours of driving before the 5 pm cutoff approached. At this stage everyone was getting very anxious to find a campsite for the night. We have to pull at least 10 m off the road and that is a huge challenge with the road side terrain and vegetation. A few minutes past 5 pm we came across a pull off spot – both on the left and right hand side of the road there was an area that had had the grass chopped. When the car stopped a large portion of the team leaped into frantic action setting up the solar car to catch the last few rays of sun, and doing various other car related jobs. I went to inspect the potential campsites on either side of the road with a few others. We decided on a spot and got to work setting up tents and getting supper on the road.

Catching the last rays of sunshine!

Convoy has arrived.

Organised chaos!

Our accommodation for the evening.

As the sun dipped below the horizon and the light faded the most brilliant stars became visible and you start to realise exactly how remote our location is – even more so when you have to break a trail through long grass to do a bush pee! And then headlamps get turned on, and the generator gets turned on and our camp is lit up like central Durban, noise included! With the loss of the sun we had hoped that the temperature would drop, but not a chance, we were all still hot and sweaty with no chance of a shower in the bush when we climbed into bed at varying stages through the night.

Everyone was really pleased with how the first day has gone, so excited to see what tomorrow brings! Minke