Tour de Sol

The rally was conceived as a kind of race with the winners being those using the least time to travel the set course each day.

The course was on unclosed public roads and the drivers were required to adhere all traffic rules and speed limits.

The first events were very popular with thousands of spectators lining the roads and visiting the camps where the vehicles stopped each day.

In 1988 the Tour de Sol also held the first race for solar powered boats on July 1 at Estavayer-le-Lac.

Solar engineer Josef Jenni is credited as the inventor of the event and Urs Muntwyler developed and led it for most of its years.