So $3m worth of car

has just gone up in smoke? And another one, probably "worth" just as much "flipped" in the wind?
Thankfully nobody was hurt - apart from their pride.
The current "solar challenge" - where people attempt to race their solar powered cars from the top to the bottom of the middle of Downunder -  has produced some drama this year.
I wonder about this "solar power" business when it comes to cars. It  does seem a little unlikely to me - but then I am a cat of very little automotive brain. I know nothing at all about that aspect of cars.  I know very little about cars at all.
Solar panels on the other hand are something I know a little about. We have solar panels on our roof - for the hot water and to feed electricity back into the grid. 
In Downunder  the use of solar panels for heating water would appear to make sense. We do get rather a lot of the "fuel" - sunshine - for them.  It is of course backed up by the electricity supply. 
The other solar panels do feed some electricity back into the grid. We have used more electricity in the last couple of years.  It is simply because the Senior Cat has reached an age where he finds it more difficult to keep cool in summer and warm in winter. Even with that I know our bills are nothing like the bills of some people. But, the solar panels are supposed to help to reduce the bills we get. I  suppose they do.
But there is something in all this that bothers me. We need to manufacture those solar panels. Are they really as environmentally friendly as people claim?
I suppose when they first tried to put wheels on a cart and the wheels fell off others said it would not work. Perhaps those solar powered cars are in the same category and, like wheels, solar panels will end up being environmentally friendly. 
Right now though I think I will stick with pedal power.