Wawasee Competes Internationally With Super Mileage Vehicle
Wawasee Competes Internationally With Super Mileage Vehicle
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Wawasee Competes Internationally With Super Mileage VehicleSYRACUSE - Eleven Wawasee seniors will be competing in an international race in Houston, Texas, this month.
Before they take their car to Indianapolis in late April to compete in the Super Mileage Challenge, Wawasee students in Allen Coblentz's Engineering Design & Development Class will run their car in The Shell Eco-marathon Americas. The competition is March 25-28.
According to the official Web site, "high school, university, and college students test vehicles they have designed and built to see which can go the farthest distance using the least amount of fuel."In an interview Tuesday morning, Coblentz said the event takes places on a street course. Events like the Super Mileage Challenge take place on a racetrack. More than 60 teams will be competing, representing six different countries.
Coblentz said they applied to take part in the international endeavor. The competition is available to high school and college/technical school students. Only 18 of the teams will be from high schools, he said.
Previously, the Shell Eco-marathon was held in California on a track.
At the beginning of the year, the group of seniors in his engineering class made the commitment to take part in the event, though it was a full month sooner than the Super Mileage Challenge. Wawasee has participated in the Challenge for the past 11 years.
According to the shell.com, "Shell Eco-marathon student teams create fuel efficient cars in two categories: 'Prototype,' which focuses on streamlined vehicles that maximize fuel efficiency through innovative design elements, such as drag reduction, and 'Urban Concept,' which focuses on more 'roadworthy' fuel-efficient vehicles that are closer in appearance to the higher-mileage cars seen on roads today. For both categories, teams can use any conventionally available energy source - including fuels such as diesel, gasoline and liquid petroleum gas, as well as alternative fuels such as hydrogen, biomass and solar."
The Shell Eco-marathon began in 1939 at a Shell research laboratory in the U.S. as a friendly wager between scientists to see who could get the most miles per gallon from their vehicle. The winner of that contest barely achieved 50 miles per gallon, according to shell.com. In 1985 in France, the Shell Eco-marathon, as it's known today, was born. In April 2007, the Shell Eco-marathon Americas event was re-launched in the United States, and this year the inaugural Shell Eco-marathon Asia will be held.
In the Super Mileage Challenge, cars get about 1,800 mpg, Coblentz said. At the Houston contest, cars will get more than 3,000 mpg. Though it would be nice to win, Coblentz said they don't expect to win. Instead, it's a learning experience.
"For me," he said, "I want to see what people who are studying to be engineers come up with."
Teams from schools like Purdue and Rose-Hulman will be competing in Houston, he said. Some of his seniors in his class will be going to schools like those to study engineering, so the competition will be of help to them.
Jose Mejia said they are making their car so it will go as far as it can. They want to make it as aerodynamic as possible.
His "specialty" on the car, Mejia said, has been working on the windshield. Spartech helped with the windshield, he said. The Warsaw company heated up the plastic to a certain degree and then placed it on the mold Mejia made. The plastic then took the shape of the windshield he wanted. The Wawasee students had to do some trimming to fit it on the car.
"It's definitely a good experience because that's what I want to study in college - engineering," said Mejia.
Caleb Buyer helped make the body of the car using a resin fusion process. Buyer said he and Matt Rensberger also made the drivetrain for the car. Tuesday, he was working on attaching the engine to the drivetrain.
"I'm really looking forward to that," Buyer said of the Houston competition. "It's going to be a blast. Using what we've been building this entire experience is going to be a blast."
Besides also working on the windshield, AJ McKee helped create the mirrors and different parts of the car.
"It's really interesting," said McKee of what he's learned. "If we can't do it, we go out and find someone to help us do it."
As a group, he said, if one of them doesn't know how to do something, they can ask another person in the class.
Going to Texas, McKee said, is something they have never done before.
"I just think it's great we can do that," McKee said.
Coblentz said the students have had a tremendous amount of support this year. Besides Spartech's assistance, Biomet machined a gear for them. Technical Services, Syracuse, also helped with the fuel-injection system.
The trip to Houston will require additional financial support. The class is having a spaghetti dinner Saturday from 4:30 to 8 p.m. at American Legion Post 253 in North Webster.
"We've had so much support from a lot of companies and sponsors," said Coblentz.
Students in the class include McKee, Mejia, Buyer, Rensberger, Jeff DeLeon, Nick Shepherd, Daniel Ream, Tyler Guyas, Nick Thystrup, Chris Sausaman and Seth Fiddler.
