[Update October 21th, 10:45 UTC / October 21th 20:15 NT time]
Imagine's driver is okay and smiling!
One of the Umicore Solar Team members took the time to write me an e-mail explaining in detail what happened to their solar racing car Imagine today.
According to the e-mail Imagine started the race in a drizzle and by the time the team reached Port Augusta the weather was like an autumn day in Belgium. After having overtaken both Ashiya and Twente (!) suddenly smoke came out of the solar car. The driver exited Imagine immediately, the team took the solar panel off the car, quickly removed the soldering – not burning – battery and attacked it with all available fire extinguishers to neutralise it.
The driver and six other team members had inhaled some of the smoke but felt fine. Just to be 100% sure they were taken to a hospital but after a check-up they proved healthy.
At first the team thought the race was over for them, and Imagine had to be trailered to Adelaide. However, this is not the case. The WSC organisation declared their vehicle safe and the team can drive to Adelaide tomorrow with their spare battery pack. This does mean they’ll incur a time penalty because they swapped the battery pack, but of course after having come this far (approximately 200 km to go, depending on where the team is now) it’s become a matter of honour to finish the race under their own power.
Thank you very much, Joost, for taking the time to inform me.
Update: The story has also appeared on the team’s website, with a few photos of the event.
It looks like Principia trailered in to Adelaide. With the bad weather, the distance was just too much. Bochum also has made it to Adelaide, but could not be under solar power. The WSC trackers still show some teams out on the course, but as the trackers are in the chase cars, that may not mean the solar cars are still on the road.
From WSC trackers, it appears Stanford is in or near Port Augusta. Not clear whether they intend to drive the rest of the way or not.
Good to hear all Umicore’s team members are okay. But one photo on their blog made me wonder, are they actually trying to put out a lithium fire with a water/foam fire extinguisher? (http://www.solarteam.be/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/IMG_9576.jpg)
@ErikH: The battery was never on fire. The cells probably just overheated and possibly burst open, but the heat of that process made all the other materials in the pack smoulder and smoke – and that’s what they extinguished with the fire extinguisher.
Hmm, still i would use a shovel and trow some dirt on it instead.. just to be safe
I have a love/hate relationship with Lithium batteries. Would really love to see the option of ejecting the battery pack out of the car. Just open a hatch underneath the car and let it fall on the road. Chase car can then deal with it. Somehow reminds me of the Star Trek series where they would sometimes eject an overheated core from Starship Enterprise 
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