G’day Everyone! This is Jed and the MaizeBlaze crew from the outback of Australia. We just finished Day 3 and are now 40 kilometers due south of Alice Springs. We are currently in 8th place and the standings thus far are:

   1.) Queens University
   2.) Aurora
   3.) Sunshark
   4.) NTU
   5.) Spirit of Canberra
   6.) KIT
   7.) MIT
   8.) UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

   There is a very tight pack between the first ten cars since we are only about 3.5 hours away from Queens University. This kind of situation is very atypical for a WSC race since in the past, teams have crossed the finish line with hours or even days between competitors.

   During the race today, we passed Kanazawa coming out of the Alice Springs media stop and we know that MIT is only a couple of kilometers further down the road. We have been exchanging places with those teams all day long.

   Unfortunately, thick clouds and a strong head wind slowed us down in the morning but later in the day, the clouds broke and we were able to run at a good clip. As we finished charging for the night, more clouds rolled in, but we hope these will clear by morning.

   So, at this point, the race is only half over with a little less than 1,500 kilometers to go. The World Solar Challenge has been slower this year than in the past because of the less than ideal weather we have experienced thus far.

   However, things are looking up and the car is running great. Only time we have had to stop was for one flat tire on day one.

Keep up the good wishes!