Road test

By Thursday afternoon the car was ready for the road. We have 4 drivers and they need practice to get accustomed to the Aussie driving. Roads are good but there are no shoulders and driving on the other side of the road while being passed by road trains is unnerving for even an experienced driver. The team needs to practice emergency stops, driver changes and flat tire repairs.
The race needs to have all 4 vehicle working together. The control center is the Chase car that is just behind the solar car. 500 feet in front is Lead that clears traffic and reports any road hazards. Chase protects the rear of the solar car from overtaking traffic and monitors power performance and sets speed controls. Trailer does what ever needs to be done. We are all connected by CB radios and the chatter can become quite hectic at times
The first road test ended when a  problem with the emergency brake.  The disks were replaced that night at the shop and we lost valuable practice time. It was fortunate that this happened before rather than during the race. We learned from several other miscues that allowed us to improve our racing procedures
This is Nuon Solar Team from the Netherlands that was practicing at the same time. They are a well established team and are one of the favorites