Yes! You woke me.

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

Oh, [BLEEP] yes.

ANDREW: The outback is pretty challenging.

It's pretty hot in the desert sun,

and that's sort of why we're out here,

because it's so sunny, but, yeah...

It's dry, there's very little facilities

just because of how rural it is.

During the race, we're pulling off,

and it's just a dirt patch in the middle of nowhere.

So you really have to be self-reliant.

In our truck, we bring all kinds of water,

all kinds of food and supplies.

SIDD: Deep in the outback, the harshest conditions and all that.

It's an adventure about putting yourself to the test.

And that's as, an engineering student,

it's nothing that you would learn at school.

Australia is a continent

with one of the most unique climates in the world.

This is, in fact, the driest continent,

which is inhabited by humans.

It's a land of extremes.

Being out here, you feel the power of the sun.

It gets so stinking hot

just standing outside of the shade.

And of course, it is that very energy

which is propelling these cars down the road

at incredible speeds.

Yeah, the flies are bad,

-but nothing can ruin my day anymore. -[BOTH LAUGH]

DEREK: It's day three, and the World Solar Challenge

is nearly at the halfway point.

Teams are running out of time

to make their move and catch the current leader,

Team Twente from the Netherlands.

SIDD: Catching Twente? I don't know.

I think they might be too far ahead to catch

if everything goes perfectly for them.

Um, things don't always go perfectly.

So all the leaders are in one tight group

and everyone's just trying to break out of that group.

Some people may break out of that group

in the wrong direction, by breaking down.

Do you have a parking brake?

Do the parking.

Disregard.

So, I think we'll learn a lot in the next day

to see, uh, which of those teams

was maybe pushing their car a little too hard

to stay with the leaders.

We know it's not us.

Um, I think we're gonna continue to pick up the pace.

As smooth as possible,

-not a sharp... -Yes, yes.

-A bit more. -Okay.

[SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

[DRIES SPEAKING]

-Blue! -ALL: Oi!

[CLAPPING]

DEREK: 8:00 arrives, and day three is underway.

As the cars push hard to catch the first place team, Twente,

it's important to remember

that this is not just a race across the outback.

It's a race against

the potentially cataclysmic effects of climate change.

We all see, the whole world sees

that it's going very bad with the planet...

and we really need changes.

We need to change, uh, the way we live,

the way mobility works.

DEREK: Started in 1987,

the World Solar Challenge was designed as an engine

for just such change and innovation.

The World Solar Challenge puts out a new set of rules

every four years, so,

they changed the rules drastically that year.

Um, and then, that forces us to innovate,

and to create new cars and think out of the box.

DEREK: To win, teams must constantly push

for new and efficient motors, batteries and electronics,

making these cars rolling laboratories

for green technology.

It's in those rapid pushes of the design

that you get this fallout technology

that goes into a Tesla or a Toyota Prius.

Things like regenerative braking,

or motor controller technology.

DEREK: Being a part of this long tradition of innovation

is a source of pride for these teams.

ANDREW: We've been competing in this race for about 30 years.

The best finish we've ever achieved was two years ago in 2017.

Uh, we took second place.

We are the most prominent American team by any standard.

Um, so when we come here,

we're representing not only our university, but our country,

and so, I think we have... there's pressure from everybody back home.

to... to put the American flag at number one.

The Vattenfall Solar team,

it started 20 years ago.

There were three students of the Technical University of Delft,

and they saw this movie

about the World Solar Challenge,

And it was this high school in Hawaii, I think...

-There they go. -Halle Berry, Jim Belushi...

-Yes! -[CHEERING]

Race the Sun.

They were seeing that movie and they were thinking,

"Let's just go for it and build a solar car."

The first time they competed

in the World Solar Challenge, they won.

Since the first race,

we've won seven out of nine races

and we will try to win it again.

[PHILIP SPEAKING]

JARNO: This is the eighth time we're competing.

That means it all started in 2005

with some crazy guys

who had a vision

and adventure in front of them.

After that, unfortunately, we had some difficult times.

In 2007, we had a crash.

The year after, we also had a fire of the batteries.

JARNO: From that point on, we have been building

on that experience as well.

JASPER: We want to show that solar energy

is part of the future.

We want to help also promote Belgium

as a really technological, advanced country.

We are here at the first control stop on day three.

This is Alice Springs,

an oasis in the middle of the desert.

We are now located about 1,500 kilometers from Darwin

and 1,500 kilometers from Adelaide.

We are at the halfway point of this race.

I've been looking at the race tracker

and seeing cars jockeying for position.

The teams are really going for it

and trying to get out ahead.

But team Twente is still maintaining

a substantial lead over the rest of the pack.

Stop.

All right.

-Well done. -Okay, guys.

Told you.

DEREK: Team Vattenfall has now arrived in Alice Springs.

They are almost exactly 13 minutes back of team 20.

It seems to me like no matter what these other teams do,

they just cannot close that gap.

Great job, great job.

-Yay! -[CLAPPING]

This morning, we took off from our camping spot

and tried to catch up to Vattenfall and Twente

who are in place one and place two.

But we haven't made a lot of gains yet so far,

so, tensions are rising.

DEREK: Midday temperatures peak

around 105 degrees outside

and over 115 degrees inside the cockpits,

but teams continue pushing hard.

It's just sweltering.

It's sweltering outside, it's sweltering inside.

I feel sorry for the guys from Sweden.

DEREK: 317 kilometers down the road,

the teams pass through the next control stop at Kulgera.

[CHEERING, CLAPPING]

DEREK: But despite all efforts to shake up the race,

the top three teams remain locked in position.

And soon, there's a new challenge to contend with

as the wind starts to pick up.

Cars designed for maximum efficiency

face a unique danger when it comes to wind.

In a normal race car,

inverted wing-like structures

use airflow to push the car down,

adding stability at high speeds.

The extra drag this creates is easily overcome

by powerful gas-guzzling engines.

But ultralight solar cars must prioritize efficiency,

so, this is not an option.

Even worse, their highly efficient body

can actually act like a wing

and push in the other direction,

creating lift away from the road,

robbing the narrow tires of precious grip,

and the driver, of control.

This is particularly problematic in strong winds.

ANDREW: In the outback, there are these cross winds,

and the solar cars, because they're so light,

they get swayed all the way over the place.

So keeping the car on the road, keeping it safe,

that's an immense part of the challenge.

ABBY: You never know what's gonna happen when you go out there.

The unpredictability of it all is pretty scary.

[AGORIA TECHNICIAN SPEAKING]

DEREK: Team Agoria has picked up their speed a notch,

but in erratic gusts,

it's a gamble.

We could speed up to 102.

We did the first control stop.

And the second control stop,

there we speeded up to 107,

but the speed is always in comparison with the winds.

DRIVER: [ON RADIO] Race to control.

There's a bit of wind.

[INDISTINCT MESSAGE OVER RADIO]

[INDISTINCT MESSAGE OVER RADIO]

[MAN 1 SPEAKING]

[MAN 2 SPEAKING]

[MAN 1 SPEAKING]

[MAN 2 SPEAKING]

We just spun a 360...

So now, we're gonna do...

[MAN 3 SPEAKING]

JASPER: At one moment we hit a whirly whirly,

it's like a small tornado.

So, the car spun.

DEREK: A whirly whirly, or whirly wind

is Australian slang for a dust devil,

a rapidly spinning vortex

caused when hot air rises quickly from the ground

and collides with cooler air above.

And as Agoria just found out,

whirly winds can be nearly invisible

if they haven't picked up much dust.

[JASPER SPEAKING]

[INDISTINCT CONVERSATION]

DEREK: Michigan and Tokai have both gained ground

during Agoria's emergency stop.

But thanks to their rapid response,

Agoria hangs on to third place.

[JASPER SPEAKING]

[LAUGHS]

It's okay.

[AGORIA TEAM MEMBER SPEAKING]

The race is challenging, to say the least.

But working with the same group of people for so many months,

it makes you become friends,

and sometimes more than friends.

I even got a boyfriend out of one of the team members.

Phillip.

Actually, I hope by saying this,

it doesn't jinx anything.

So, yeah, you spend a lot of time along with each other,

so, yeah, people tend to get pretty close.

And the fun thing about the relationship within the solar team

is that you're both sharing the same passion.

'Cause I had a relationship with someone else before the solar team.

and it was like, "Solar cars!"

And he was like, "Okay, fine."

And now, you're talking about the same passion.

You're sharing the same worries,

and yeah, it's great, actually.

I think this will last

for quite a while, for sure.

DEREK: As the 5:00 stop down arrives,

teams are exhausted.

[DRIES SPEAKING]

Agoria's driver isn't the only part of the team

that's showing some wear and tear.

Uh, it broke off during the spin.