citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message aurora vehicle association inc. type incorporated industry solar cars founded 1980 headquarters melbourne victoria australia key people andris samsons chairman slogan inspiration . education . innovation through competition . website aurora solar car website the aurora vehicle association is a group of volunteers who are dedicated to achieving and demonstrating extreme efficiency in transport . aurora was started in 1980 by building high fuel efficiency petrol powered vehicles . between 1983 and 1985 aurora held the world record for fuel economy at 1808 km per litre 5107 miles per imperial gallon . in 1987 when hans tholstrup devised the first trans australian world solar challenge aurora turned to solar car development and has been a contestant in every world solar challenge and has achieved 1 win 4 second places 1 third place 1 fifth place 1 sixth place and 1 crash . aurora is a non profit group which sustained by corporate sponsorship from companies such as csiro mazda and sumitomo amongst many others . at various points in its history aurora has also been associated with some of australia s leading universities such as unsw university of technology sydney university of melbourne and rmit . contents 1 cars 2 world records 3 aurora in wsc 4 references 5 external links cars edit aurora have constructed several solar powered cars and are now in their 4th generation of car designs . ford model s 1987 ford model s specifications overall length 5.5 meters overall width 2.0 meters weight 250 kg top speed 100 km h drag coefficient solar panel 1400 watts christine 1990 christine specifications overall length 3.1 meters overall width 1.6 meters weight 180 kg top speed 112 km h drag coefficient cd 0.18 solar panel 1100 watts aurora q1 1993 aurora q1 specifications overall length 4.41 meters overall width 2.0 meters weight 220 kg top speed 112 km h drag coefficient cd 0.095 solar panel 1300 watts southern aurora 2000 southern aurora specifications overall length 4.58 meters overall width 2 meters weight 215 kg top speed 122 km h drag coefficient solar panel 1500 watts aurora 101 1996 aurora 101 4th generation specifications overall length 4.1 meters overall width 1.8 meters weight 130 kg top speed 152 km h drag coefficient cd 0.08 solar panel 1250 watts the current flagship is known as aurora evolution previously aurora 101 . the car weighs 120 kg without batteries or a driver and has attained speeds of 155 km h. it is built around a triangular carbon fibre frame with a circular cross section with a single driven front wheel and two rear wheels . the car s body is attached to the frame at three points through springs and shock absorbers . the car is extremely aerodynamic with a drag coefficient of 0.1 and a frontal area of 0.76 square metres . the motor which was developed as a joint effort between csiro the university of technology sydney and aurora weighs 15 kg and has a continuous operating power of 1.8 kw . the car s power comes from its solar array which covers a majority of the upper half of its body . there is a total of 5.98 square metres of silicon solar cells which originally provided up to 1250 w but now provides closer to 1200 w due to degradation . in full racing trim as per the world solar challenge rules the car weighs 240 kg with its batteries and driver . aurora 101 finished second in the 2003 wsc race 1 aurora 101 finished 3rd in the 2007 wsc race . 2 fastest lap at hidden valley racetrack darwin average speed 91.83 km h. fastest lap at suzuka racetrack average speed 93.08 km h. distance covered in 24 hours non stop record 1590 km . world records edit year record 1983 shell mileage marathon . 2 948 mpg 1984 shell mileage marathon . 3 133 mpg 1985 shell mileage marathon . 5 107 mpg 1994 trans continental solar challenge . perth to sydney 4 000 km 8.5 days 1998 citipower sunrace . adelaide to sydney . 2 080 km . average 100.9 km h over 100 km 2000 sydney to melbourne day record 877 km 2002 13 054 km in 24 days long distance solar car journey . 2002 780 km longest day distance on solar energy 2002 111.2 km h highest on road average speed for 100 km 2002 16 660 km since 1993 longest distance solar car driver 2002 131.0 km h for 100 miles est. 1994 biel 121.6 km h 2002 131.5 km h for one hour est. 1994 biel 123.0 km h 2002 132.1 km h for 100 km est. 1994 biel 124.3 km h 2002 86.2 km h on solar energy alone est. 1994 biel 82.6 km h 2004 1255 km in 24 hours 2005 1701 km in 24 hours 2007 world record distance for a battery powered car in christine 811 km at 53.05 km hr aurora in wsc edit event year placing average speed qualification grid position 1987 2nd place 44.48 km h 4 1990 6th place 1st in class lead acid 50.20 km h 13 1993 5th place 70.08 km h 17 1996 did not finish 3 9 1999 1st place 4 72.96 km h 7 2001 2nd place 90.26 km h 5 2003 2nd place 91.90 km h 1 2005 2nd place 92.03 km h 1 2007 3rd overall 1st in class 85.00 km h 3 2009 6th place 70.82 km h 1 references edit http news.bbc.co.uk 2 hi science nature 3203941 . stm http www.smh.com.au news environment dutch win solar car race 2007 10 25 119294122 7965.html sae australasia september october 1999 volume 59 number 5 page 15 australian energy news issue 14 dec 1999 page 39 external links edit aurora solar car home page retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title aurora solar car & oldid 647132329 categories solar car racinghidden categories articles needing additional references from january 2011all articles needing additional references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to 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