It has now been six months since we picked the SRZero up from Heathrow after she had made the long journey back from Argentina. Six months where the team have been focusing on getting back into the routine of everyday life in London. Some members are back in their old jobs, some have continued on their research at Imperial College and some have started a company providing services and consultancy in electric and hybrid vehicle drive trains with a particular focus on commercializing a revolutionary new battery technology for electric vehicles (read more at www.vantage-power.com).

As busy as everyday life gets it has been difficult finding time and resources for the SRZero. She survived the 26,500km journey from Alaska to Argentina majestically but, as those who have watched the documentary will know, she went through a hell of a lot! I remember one of the main observations from people when we were building the car was that we would never complete our journey with a ground clearance of 8cm. Well we proved them wrong but you can imagine what a beating she took – 100’s of kilometres of gravel stretches, entering numerous underground garages, on and off ferries, Central and South American monster speed bumps; not to mention the full on crash in Quito, altercation with a truck in Lima and the list goes on. Nevertheless she still drove wonderfully after getting back to the UK. However, it was clear to us that we would have to put in some serious time and money to replace the parts that had been fixed in a hurry on the trip. We were getting lots of enquiries to show and tell the car and story, so it was imperative to make sure she looked the part! So that is what we have been doing over the last few weeks and she is now looking nearly good as new although we have left some of the tell-tale scars to prove what she has been through!

The SRZero is now on her way to a large, 9 day exhibition in Hanover, Germany called the “Ideas Exposition”. It’s all about getting young people enthused about Science and Technology and showing them what is possible with it. As you no doubt know this fits in perfectly with our ideals: Sustainability, Education and Adventure. It will be a pleasure to show people what we have achieved and share some exciting stories from our own adventure!

So if you are around in the vicinity of North Germany, please come along to the “IdeenExpo” (www.ideenexpo.de). It starts 25^th August and is on for 9 days until 4^th September. Entry is free, so there can be no excuses!