Swiss Students Beat Automotive Giants in Race of Solar Cars

A cockroach-shaped vehicle built by Swiss university students left the giants of the Japanese and U.S. motor industries eating dust when it won the world’s major solar car race today.

Supporters rang cow bells in bright sunshine as the sleek, pink-and-blue car called the Spirit of Biel crossed the finish line among vineyards outside Adelaide at the end of the second World Solar Challenge.

It used the energy equivalent of just 1.3 gallons of gasoline to cover the 1,900 miles of flat, arid outback from the northern city of Darwin.

It made the journey in 49 hours and 15 minutes at an average speed of 40 m.p.h., just failing to beat the winning time in the inaugural race in 1987.

Powered by revolutionary solar cells invented in Australia, the Biel finished about 240 miles ahead of its nearest rival--an entry financed by Japan’s Honda, which is not expected to finish until Saturday.

Race officials estimate that Honda spent about $20 million on their bid, about 10 times that spent by the Swiss.

Japanese motor giants Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi along with General Motors of the United States all backed cars in the race, which had 36 starters.

“I never thought we would win it before we started,” driver Paul Balmer said after prying himself out of the car’s tiny cockpit. “But once the race began, I realized we weren’t too bad at all.

“In the middle of the race it was very hot and dry, and we burst five tires in two days. On the first day we had an electronics failure, but otherwise everything went well.”

The three-tired Biel is 18 feet long, three feet high and weighs 385 pounds empty.

“Now all I want is a shower and we’ll probably have a big party tonight,” Balmer said. Each of the team’s four drivers was presented with a watch by the Swiss consul in Melbourne.

The low-slung car, with a body of reinforced carbon fiber, occasionally touched speeds of 65 m.p.h.

Laboratory assistant Balmer was in the team from Ingenieurschule Biel that finished third behind General Motors’ Sunraycer in 1987.

The Swiss car was in second place, not far behind Sunraycer, when it collided with a conventional car in Alice Springs after failing to give way at a crossing.