Wawasee Engineering Design Students Headed To London For Competition
Posted
Jackie Gorski-jgorski@timesuniononline.com
A Syracuse high school class is on its way to London for an engineering competition.
Wawasee High School’s Engineering Design and Development class competed in the Shell Eco-Marathon Americas competition in Sonoma, Calif., in early April.
Their placement, including a first-place finish, allowed them to advance to the Shell Eco-Marathon Drivers World Championship in London July 1-5.
According to Wawasee High School teacher Allen Coblentz, the competition in California had schools from North and South America, and the three highest ranking advanced to the London competition. The three highest ranking teams from an Asian competition advanced to London as well.
Approximately 106 schools and universities will compete in the London event.
Wawasee senior Marshal Miller said the car the class competed with this year was also used last year in California. However, the class did not win with the car.
Miller said the class spent five days at the competition. While the class goes together, they don’t compete as one team.
“We’re split into different teams,” senior Eric Martinez said.
“But we all help each other,” Miller said.
“The cars run on the track for the first few days and the ones who do the best mileage-wise get to do races on the last day,” he said.
Coblentz said the car that won the race got 682 mpg. With the final race, the team has to use the same amount of gasoline
“You only have a certain amount and you have to make it last,” Coblentz said.
He compared the 6.5-mile race in California and the 10-mile race in London as a tortoise-and-hare-type race, where some cars go really fast in the beginning but run out of gas before reaching the finish line.
To save gas, a simple solution was given.
“We coast a lot with the engine off,” junior Evan Dippon said.
The students said the cars they made run similarly to a regular car with a switch to turn it on.
The students said it takes roughly six months working on the car to get it ready for competition, with some after-school and weekend work.
However, while the students do most of the work on the car, they do get some outside help.
“There’s a previous student that comes in and helps us with the wiring,” senior Luke Weisser said.
Junior Stephen Foy said one of the student’s fathers comes in and does some of the body repair work.
“We do some of the Bondo work, we just finish it off,” junior Bryce Knepp said.
If the class wins in London, Coblentz said they would go to Italy in the fall to visit the Ferrari plant.
To get to London, the class is seeking sponsors for the cost of 14 students and four chaperones to go.
“We ask local businesses and see if they’ll give us money,” Miller said.
The class also has a gofundme.com campaign with a $10,000 goal.
It is called Opportunity of a Lifetime in Europe and can be found at www.gofundme.com/opportunity-of-a-lifetime-in-europe.
