Winning their category at the Shell Eco-marathon Americas was just icing on the cake for the Warsaw Area Career Center Supermileage team. “There is a lot of competition altogether (down there). It’s almost intimidating. It feels like you’re not going to make it, but when you place, it’s an incredible feeling,” said junior Kyler Pence. “Enjoy the fact you’re there,” he later added. “It’s a privilege to be there.” “It’s an unbelieveable feeling (to win) and be in front of some of the top schools and colleges, like LSU,” said junior Nicales Kuhn. The WACC Supermileage team won first place at the Shell Eco-marathon Americas in Houston, Texas, April 4-7 with its Urban Concept car. The car took the top spot over the weekend at 119.9 mpg, according to the official website. WACC’s Prototype gasoline car took 13th place with 645.7 mpg. The Eco-marathon is a challenge for students to design, build and test fuel-efficient vehicles that travel the farthest distance using the least amount of energy. There are three competitions around the world, with the Americas competition featuring university and high school teams from the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Brazil. Junior Alex Miller drove the Prototype car at the international competition. “The driving, at first you’re intimidated by it,” Miller said. “Once you get on the track though, it’s really fun. For me, driving just came naturally.” He had to drive 10 laps around the 0.6-mile track. Kuhn said they didn’t really have any problems. There were some communication issues during the runs, but the team found ways around that. “You just look at your time for the first lap and you decide if you need to go faster or slower,” Kuhn said. “You’re mainly coasting, but speed is mainly the issue because the track is curvy and bumpy. Two of the turns had pot holes and you can’t help but hit them.” With the Prototype car, Kuhn said the air filter came off the carburetor and jammed into the tire. Miller said that immediately reduced the car’s speed from 25 mph to 13 mph. “Luckily it was our last lap, but we didn’t end up qualifying for that lap. It was our only mistake because we didn’t tighten down the filter. But mistakes happen, and you just go on. There’s always room for improvement,” Kuhn stated. Teacher Joe Bryan said the horn died on the Urban and that could have cost them their win. Kevin Cousins, owner of JEM Transport, drove three miles into a bad part of Houston to get a replacement part for the students. “Of all the things that could have gone wrong, it was the horn,” joked Bryan. Cousins also provided transportation for all the cars from Warsaw, Wawasee, Fairfield and Goshen. Bryan said Cousins did that on his own dime and it was greatly appreciated. Pence and Mitch Shriver drove the Urban Concept car during the competition. “There were more cars on the track for the Prototype on the second day,” Kuhn said. “Other than that, there were no major differences (between the Prototype and Urban Concept races).” He said many cars from other teams broke down everywhere. However, Kuhn said he learned “just to help people out when you can. Don’t stress out. Don’t rush through it.” Miller, Kuhn, Pence and Bryan said none of it would have been possible without the generous sponsors. “They make this possible,” Pence said. Sponsors for the WACC cars include Purity Cylinder Gases, Silveus Insurance Group, Derry Electric, Toyota of Warsaw, Explorer Van, Warsaw Welding Technology, Warsaw Machine Tool Technology, Traihouse, VXB Bearings, Warsaw Engineering & Fabricating Inc., LouisDreyfus Commodities, Alienation BMX, Chi-Town Race Products, Splendor Boats Inc., Supreme Corp., Martin Motors, Quality Glass, Pendry Powder Coating, NAPA, DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., Roberts Signs & Apparel, JEM Transport, RiSlone, Indiana Vac Form Inc., Elliott’s Trailers & Carts, Mavron and Colbin Tool Inc.
