SYRACUSE – Students in Allen Coblentz’s Engineering Design & Development Class at Wawasee High School made the decisions on their Super Mileage car themselves. Coblentz just acted as a facilitator and resource. The decisions the students made paid off April 14-17 when the class’s diesel car, “Diesel Weasel”, won first place at the Shell Eco-marathon in Houston, Texas. With the victory, the team won $1,000 from Shell, according to junior Christian Henn. “This year they really took ownership,” Coblentz said of his students. “This group was really good at making it theirs.” Wawasee’s gasoline car placed ninth out of 33 participating teams in its respective category. The top three teams were Université Laval, Canada; Mater Dei High School, Evansville; and Rose-Hulman, Terre Haute. According to the Shell website, “The Shell Eco-marathon challenges high school and college student teams from around the world to design, build and test energy efficient vehicles. With annual events in the Americas, Europe and Asia, the winners are the teams that go the farthest distance using the least amount of energy.” With the gasoline-powered car, junior Chris Lackey said, they tried to get the car rolling the longest they could because the more it rolled, the better mileage it got. Henn said the gasoline car used the same body as last year’s car, but it had a different engine in it. The driver would get the car up to 26 miles per hour, turn the engine off and coast as long as possible, turn the engine back on and repeat the process, Henn said. The diesel car, senior Evan Caldwell said, was a new car they built this year. “We did everything this year,” Caldwell said. The class started with a model, then made a carbon fiber body and then the framework. Once the frame was done, he said, they tuned it and worked on meeting the safety requirements. “The gas car had a lot more bugs from last year,” said Caldwell. “The diesel was easier than the gasoline because we didn’t have bugs with the engine.” The diesel got 575 miles per gallon, he said, with the gasoline car getting 879 mpg. Senior Jeremy Sorensen said the diesel got first place out of six teams that competed. It set the course record for diesel. “I was pretty surprised because the diesel was something we never competed in before and we took a win,” said Matt Bruder, junior. Though the gas car was ninth, Sorensen said, the team was happy with the result because there were a lot of colleges down there competing. “That was really cool,” Henn said of the gasoline car’s result. “That was the best we’ve done with that car.” “I’m really surprised how well we did because a lot of teams there were colleges,” Lackey said. Winning the $1,000 was a nice surprise, Henn said, and the money will go toward next year’s car. “It’s nice to see all the hard work awarded,” Henn said. Caldwell agreed, saying, “I was happy because all the work came out as a win. It’s nice when your efforts bring something back.” He also said, “I was surprised with the gasoline (car) more because we ordered our engine a couple weeks before the race and threw that car together at the end.” Sorensen said, “It was really exciting. Winning with our diesel was the best we could have done.” He plans to attend Purdue University next year, and Sorensen said he hopes he can get on the school’s Super Mileage Team because it’s a lot of fun. “A big part of this class is improving on last year’s design and then, once in a while, build a new car and work on this one,” Sorensen said. Bruder said they will try to get smaller engines for next year to save further on fuel efficiency. The body on the diesel also melted in the Texas sun, so next year’s team will have to deal with that issue, he said. Bruder handled the financial aspect of the cars this year. Beginning in August, he gathered sponsorships and donations. “It was pretty easy,” he said. “Just had to write letters, tell them what we do and ask really.” Wawasee’s top sponsors included Beyer, Technical Services, Lakeside Fitness, The Papers Inc., Reisa Rinker, American Legion Post 253 and the Northern Indiana British Motor Club, he said. Coblentz said his class really worked hard this year. He was excited about the results, but overall, the students really put a lot of effort into the two cars. The group did a really good job from start to finish, he said. The community continues to be great supporters of the students, Coblentz said, and everything came together. As for the $1,000 prize, Coblentz said, “We always talk about teams passing on to the next one, so the $1,000 will pass on to the next. Shell is amazing how they put together this competition. They do a good job of encouraging and awarding the kids for the effort they put forth.”
