Train Engineer competes in World Solar Challenge

Commuters on Chiltern Railways will be pleased to hear how one of their engineers designed, built and ran a solar car in one of the most difficult environments on the planet. 

 

Richard Flint, 27 years old from Aylesbury, has worked at Chiltern Railways as a Technical Engineer for 3 years.  Richard took on the World Solar Challenge in his own time after becoming involved in the project at the University in Durham where he studied engineering. 

 

The challenge is a friendly one in Australia and teams depart Darwin aiming to be the first to arrive in Adelaide, some 3000km to the south but before they can start there’s vigorous testing that needs to be done. 

 

Richard explains:  “Once our car arrived after being shipped to Darwin, we had to test it to make sure it worked as the car was in a hot container for just over a month.  As a driver of the car, as well as technical support, I also had to show I could get out of the car in 15 seconds.”

 

Once the teams have left Darwin they must travel as far as they can until 1700 in the afternoon where they make camp in the desert wherever they happen to be.  Richard continued:  “It took us seven days to complete the challenge and as a team we are already looking at what we would do differently next time.  I really enjoyed the challenge; it’s about getting the right things in the right place at the right time, so very much like running a railway.” 

 

Richard and his team will be on BBC North East and Cumbria’s Inside Out in the New Year. 

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For further media information please contact the Chiltern Railways press office on 020 7333 3014 or press@chilternrailways.co.uk