Media Release
October 19 2007
Team has hiccups but Trev's fine - report 1, Friday October 19
Even
before they got to Darwin, the UniSA team behind Trev’s participation in
the 2007 Panasonic World Solar Challenge had its fair share of
mechanical problems this week. And none of them were with Trev.
“A battery charger blew up on Saturday,” team leader Dr Peter Pudney said. “Normally it can take days or months to rebuild one but we managed to do it in a day. It looks very agricultural and weighs more than the car - but it works.”
The problems didn’t end there, though. A blown tyre on the trailer carrying Trev meant some unscheduled downtime on the side of the Stuart Highway. And a broken airconditioner belt in one of the support cars made the trip less than comfortable for about 1000 km.
“Unfortunately I wasn’t in that car, so I couldn’t share their pain,” a sympathetic Dr Pudney said.
The team arrived in Darwin yesterday and spent some time at the Hidden Valley Raceway putting Trev through his paces over a number of laps.
“Trev’s going beautifully,” Dr Pudney said.
At 2pm today, Trev will be back at the racetrack to undergo official scrutineering to ensure it passes the stability and braking tests before being issued with a roadworthiness sticker.
Hear Dr Pudney at 4.30pm today on 891 ABC Radio Adelaide talking to Deb Tribe on the Drive program..
Contact for interview
- Dr Peter Pudney mobile 0431 613 910
Media contact
- Vincent Ciccarello office (08) 8302 0578 mobile 0434 603 457 email vincent.ciccarello@unisa.edu.au