![]() ![]() “On the other hand, the supply chain of the (EV) world is a lot thinner than we thought. We didn’t have the time to build the motor and controller ourselves and we would have needed a team of specialist engineers. “That made a lot of sense for us because the powers are matched and they are very easy to interface and control. “The motor is from the world of EV conversion equipment the kind of gear you buy to convert your car into an electric vehicle,” Summers says. Crocodiles and sharks were a potential hazard. At times the seabed was 30 metres deep and just plain murky. Thirty divers tethered by airline spent 15 to 30 minutes at a time to guide the vehicle through sand, silty mud, and even over a gas pipeline. Credit: David HancockĪccording to Summers, work on converting and waterproofing the Mudcrab took about 12 months and scores of volunteers contributed hundreds of hours of their time, from writing customised circuit boards, converting the old diesel engine to electric and providing diving skills. Mudcrab’s engine housing protects the EV motor conversion with silicon oil. More than a thousand waiting people surged into the water, surrounded the vehicle and acclaimed the crew of divers and engineers. And it did on Saturday, when the Mudcrab slowly crawled across the harbour, doing what Landcruisers have done for decades in the Top End – carving a track through mud, water and sand – to reach Mindil Beach around 8.30pm, nearly 12 hours after it started about 7km west, at Mandorah. It appears that when you mix science with an innovative and “can-do” Territory attitude anything can happen. Many Darwin educators credit the World Solar Challenge for introducing hundreds of Darwin kids to science and technology. Solar and electric energy became his passion and, today, he works in that field for AGL in Melbourne. Much of Glen Summers’ education was spent working on solar cars – firstly for Kormilda College, his school in Darwin, and then for the University of NSW. The project ramped up as scores of people came on board – from a television production company to commercial divers, engineers and some really handy mechanics, fabricators and tradies around Darwin. “When Glen and another student, Tom Lawrence, called and said they were doing the project, it just ticked every box: the adventure side of things and the technical nature. “For me, it was almost like folklore as I was growing up,” Davy says. Credit: David HancockĮngineers Finn Davy and Glen Summers were at school in Darwin when they heard about the first unsuccessful crossing. Only this time the car was fitted with an electric motor and motor controller. Roll forward 4 decades to Saturday 29 July, and another generation of Darwin characters and their mates decided to have a crack at the same harbour crossing, using a similar kind of vehicle – a 40 series SWB Landcruiser, dubbed the “Mudcrab”. ![]() Fitted with a 60-metre-long snorkel, the ‘cruiser made it halfway before its starter motor flooded and couldn’t get going after stalling. In 1983, Darwin people got really excited when a group of mates decided to drive their Toyota Landcruiser across the harbour, under water. In 1994, the Cannonball Run between Darwin and Alice Springs brought racers from all over the world with fast, expensive cars and, every three years since 1987, Territorians have lined the Stuart Highway to watch the World Solar Challenge, the world’s longest solar car race, from Darwin to Adelaide. The annual V8 races at Hidden Valley attracts thousands. ![]() And there was the bull from Humpty Doo, which still holds the undisputed record for downing a two-litre Darwin stubby, the largest bottle of beer in the world.īut the people of Darwin, a city with one of the highest per-capita aggregations of four-wheel-drive vehicles, really enjoy anything to do with cars. The Darwin ice hockey club, which claims to be world champions because no other team has ever taken up a challenge to play them. There’s the Rocksitters Club, a Saturday evening tradition of nearly 5 decades’ standing to which people go for a beer to watch the weather turn spectacular. The Top End of Australia, particularly around Darwin, is renowned for eccentric activities and people. ![]()
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