Sikat II rises to 17th place in Australia race

(Updated 8:15 p.m.) At around 4 p.m. Sunday (Manila time), the 2011 World Solar Challenge race held its awarding ceremonies in Australia, where it was revealed that Team Philippines solar car Sikat II had finished the 3,000-km race at 17th place – three notches higher than indicated in previous provisional reports. The “solar kilometers" of each of the 37 competing cars had to be calculated upon their arrival in Adelaide, Australia. Provisional results had only reflected the teams’ last positions through checkpoints. “One hundred eleven kilometers lang ang lamang sa atin ng MIT [Masacheussette Institute of Technology]," Harold Geronimo of Team Solar Philippines said in a phone interview with GMA News Online. Sikat II started the race in Darwin at the 32nd out of 37 slots on Oct. 16, but rallied to the 20th spot as of Saturday, Oct. 22, besting rivals from the US, the UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Canada, among others. This was in spite of delays caused by a fire that hit Sikat II's battery on Oct. 18. A solar kilometer (solar km) is the measure of distance traveled by a car using only solar energy. MIT’s car clocked in 2,222 solar km with Sikat II only 111 solar km on its heels. In comparison, 18th placer Havin of Iran trailed 216 solar km behind Sikat II. “Kung di tayo nagkaproblema sa battery, we could have placed 12th or even in the top ten," Geronimo surmised. “The team is very, very happy," he said. “We actually performed better with Sikat II than with Sinag." Sinag was the first Philippine entry in the solar car race back in 2007, which finished at 12th place. “We are using the highest-efficiency solar cells from Sun Power, an American company with plants in Batangas and Laguna," Geronimo explained. “Technically, Pinoy-made solar cells got us that far," he said. The De La Salle University's Solar Car Society built Sikat II, improving on the design of its predecessor, Sikat I. - KBK, GMA News