Darwin, the 8^th World Solar Challenge a smart fortwo diesel, driven by model, TV host and friend of the environment Annalise Braakensiek, has bettered every other hybrid vehicle in Australia in the race for top fuel efficiency honours.  And that’s with the airconditioning on.

The thrifty smart was competing in the Greenfleet class of this year’s World Solar Challenge which ran over eight days from Darwin to Adelaide. The objective was to put the latest ‘green’ and low emission production vehicles through their paces and show that vehicles that reduce environmental impact can also be practical.

Even though the smart team had no professional drivers onboard, the fuel consumption results were even better than the factory statistics for the car.

After covering a total of 3,830 kilometres, the smart fortwo diesel had used just 128.22 litres of fuel. This equated to 3.34 litres / 100km, making it the most fuel-efficient of the twelve entrants in the Greenfleet class.

Part of the car’s success was thanks to the Mobil 1 synthetic oil it was running on for the long journey. Mobil Oil, one of DaimlerChrysler’s global partners, sponsored the little car which almost literally ran on the smell of an oily rag. Sam Tabart, Senior Manager, smart said “Both smart and Mobil share synergies of superior technology in their automotive products so it is a natural fit.”

While the diesel car used is not yet available in Australia, the available petrol version is also a little fuel miser, consuming only 4.0 litres / 100km in a highway traffic cycle.

As a comparison, Australia’s top selling family car uses 11.1 litres / 100 km