An environmentally friendly version of wacky races has kicked off in Australia, as 38 solar powered cars speed across the continent. The World Solar Challenge set off at the weekend, with teams competing to complete the 3,000 kilometres between Darwin in the north and Adelaide in the south (official website).

The Age reckons the Nuon Solar Team, with three previous wins under its belt, is favorite to win. It also holds the race record – an impressive 29 hours. However at the moment Japan’s Ashiya team is leading, followed by Belgium’s Umicore and Australia’s Aurora (ABC).

There has already been controversy. The University of Michigan is blaming the Stanford Solar Car Team for a crash could have put them out of the race. It’s heartbreaking stuff for Michigan. Before the race the team’s engineering director Alex Curaudeau said, “When the race finally comes, you’re really nervous because you have put an entire two years of your life into this project. It’s like watching your kid grow up; you just want it to succeed.” They do appear to be back up and running now though.

UPDATE – 30/10/07

Apologies for the tardy nature of this update. The winner of the race was indeed the Nuon team.

Michigan finished seventh out of 41 cars after their run in with Stanford (Michigan Daily). Stanford were put out of the race by a tyre blow out which flipped their car. The driver was uninjured (The Stanford Daily).

Image: Getty