2003 New Aurora put Through Her Paces
THE FASTER AURORA 101 SOLAR CAR BREAKS OUT FOR TESTING
Ford Australia You Yangs Proving Ground
21 June 2003
On the day that Australia's Antarctic stations celebrate mid-winter with a special dinner the much improved 2003 Aurora 101 solar car broke cover from the workshop and had its first trials. This was at the fabulous high speed loop at Ford Australia's You Yangs Proving Ground.
In weak afternoon sun Aurora's two new drivers and track novices at Suzuka had their first session in the revamped champion solar car. The last time that the solar car had travelled on this banked high speed loop was on 16 March 2002 when it broke 4 of Biel's world solar car records and hit a top speed of 145 kph.
Four months of steady work preceded this outing of the improved car. We were all anxious to see if it was worthwhile. But the first priority was to have the two new drivers get familiar with the controls. Both Kon and Damien quickly got the feel of the lighter car and soon were at speeds of 120 kph. The visibility with the new larger head bubble gave the new drivers confidence. The stability of the Aurora 101 was as good as always and the 2 hour test session was completed smoothly.
The conditions did not allow for testing of the solar array with its 10 new triple junction galium arsenide solar cells Gochermann solar panels or how the revised electrical system could cope with a sizzling 50 amps of current in a maximum acceleration run. But the car ran smoothly, there were no surprises and nothing broke. Its next run will be in far off Japan on the famous Suzuka Formula 1 racetrack in hot and humid conditions.
Sharing the trackspace was well known V8 supercar driver Craig Lowndes demonstrating the 290 kw Falcon GT to a TV program cameraman. They definitely exceeded 120 kph in Ford's new top of the range performance car.
The completion of the 2 hour test session | Rookie 16 year old driver Damien McArthur beaming after his first drive |