Swiss Car With New Silicon Cells Wins World Solar Race in Australia

A Swiss vehicle using newly developed solar cells crossed the finish line Friday about 250 miles ahead of the second-place entry in the 1,875-mile World Solar Challenge.

Supporters rang cow bells as the “Spirit of Biel” crossed the line south of Adelaide on Australia’s southern coast. The car, which resembles a pink-and-blue cockroach, took the lead Sunday after leaving the starting line in the northern city of Darwin.

The highly favored Honda entry from Japan was in second place and was not expected to finish until this morning.

Three cars--Japan’s Hoxan Corp. and U.S. entries from the University of Michigan and Western Washington University--were battling for third.

The Swiss entry from Biel University averaged 40.1 m.p.h. and finished in an unofficial time of 46 hours, 23 minutes. That was 90 minutes off the record set by General Motors’ Sunraycer in the inaugural race three years ago.

The Biel car finished third in 1987 after it suffering a collision near Alice Springs, near the halfway mark.

The Swiss car was built at a cost of about $1 million, much of it raised by the 53,000 citizens of Biel.

The car was powered by revolutionary silicon solar cells developed at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

The laser-grooved cells turn the sun’s rays into electrical energy at a 17% efficiency rate, 4% higher than others, university officials said.

Biel team leader Fredy Sidler said the energy consumed by the car over six days was equal to less than 1 1/2 gallons of gasoline.

The winners’ trophy was a globe topped by the sun.

The 36-team entry list included 11 cars each from Australia and Japan, eight from the United States and one each from Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, New Zealand and Britain.