The 2013 World Solar Challenge, with teams supported by Inmarsat's BGAN services, is now firmly underway in the outback of Australia.
The biennial solar-powered electric vehicle race started in Darwin, Australia, on 6 October and is due to finish in Adelaide on 13 October.
Two of the teams using BGAN to help optimise their performance are making great progress.
At the end of day three, Netherlands-based Team Twente was in third place out of 40 entries closely followed by the University of Michigan Solar Car Team in sixth place.
The third team using BGAN is the Solar Car Project Team from Kogakuin University in Japan, sponsored by Inmarsat partner JSAT Mobile Communications and Addvalue Technologies.
The race teams are using BGAN to share information with their support teams back at their universities, such as weather forecasting, road conditions, potential hazards along the route and race-critical details of the performance of the vehicle.
They are also posting images and videos on social media sites to keep fans and sponsors hooked in.
“Inmarsat is proud to support the solar car teams as they seek not only to excel in this year's World Solar Challenge but also to further global efforts to harness natural sources of energy,” said Gerbrand Schalkwijk, Vice President, Inmarsat Energy.
Catch up with the latest updates on how all the teams from 23 countries are doing in their attempt to travel 1,864 miles (3,000 km) across the country to highlight global efforts to harness natural sources of energy via the race website.
