Don't use file_get_contents() for contacting the Solr server

I'm trying to get this to work using HTTP authentication with a multi-core solr server on a different machine. The apachesolr module with the identical settings can reach the solr server okay but the search api solr module keeps saying The Solr server could not be reached.

My settings look like this:

Service options

    Solr server URI
        http://192.168.168.80:8080/solr/www.idee-europe.org
    Basic HTTP authentication
        Username: www.idee-europe.org
        Password: ******** 

Looking at my jetty log there aren't any entries. I added one dsm to the module and it gives me this before doing the ping:

... (Object) SearchApiServer
      id (String, 1 characters ) 3
      name (String, 9 characters ) Resources
      machine_name (String, 9 characters ) resources
      description (String, 0 characters )
      class (String, 23 characters ) search_api_solr_service
      options (Array, 5 elements)
            http_user (String, 19 characters ) www.idee-europe.org
            http_pass (String, 8 characters ) ********
            host (String, 14 characters ) 192.168.168.80
            port (String, 4 characters ) 8080
            path (String, 25 characters ) /solr/www.idee-europe.org
      enabled (String, 1 characters ) 1
      module (NULL)
      status (String, 1 characters ) 0

Any help very much appreciated.