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updated March 29, 2010
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Rose-Hulman Teams Shine in Fuel Efficiency at Shell Eco-marathon
Americas
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Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology students showcased their abilities
to race fuel-efficient vehicles by placing two vehicles among the
leaders in this year's Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition at
Houston’s Discovery Green Park.
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Off To The Races: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's efficient
vehicle, driven by Bethany Brisco, completes a lap during the Shell
Eco-marathon Americas competition in Houston. (Photo provided by Shell
Eco-marathon) |
Achieving an impressive 1,803 miles per gallon, Rose-Hulman’s efficient
vehicles team placed third among gasoline-powered futuristic
prototype-streamlined cars that focused on maximizing fuel efficiency
through innovative design elements. The performance was first among U.S.
colleges and universities in the fuel division.
A second Rose-Hulman team finished a strong fifth during the weekend at
1,454 mpg.
“Having two teams at the top of the competition showcases the strength
of our supermileage program,” stated Faculty Advisor Allen White,
assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “We were running and
improving throughout the two days of competition. The students did a
great job getting the most out of their vehicles. They were very
satisfied with this year’s performance.”
Team Leader Blaine Castongia added: "The key to our success this year
was the fact that we were able to get practice and make the number of
competition run as we did. The drivers became very comfortable
with the track and were able to find a line that worked for them."
The efficient vehicles team is part of Rose-Hulman’s alternative
transportation systems academic initiative.
For the second year in a row, the student team from Laval University of
Quebec, Canada took home the grand prize after getting 2,487.5 mpg in
the gasoline prototype division. Mater Dei High School of Evansville
took second at 1,892 mpg.
Rose-Hulman’s vehicles were identically sleek, lightweight and
aerodynamic three-wheeled vehicles powered by a carbureted Honda GX 25
engine with a sprag clutch. The vehicles featured an aluminum honeycomb
composite chassis that’s eight feet and four inches long, 26 inches wide
and travel one and one-fourth of an inch off the ground. The drivers lay
flat on their back and steer the car by adjusting independent front
wheel mechanisms, while being enclosed in a clear plastic body shell.
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Among America's Best: Members of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's
efficient vehicles race team placed third among gasoline-powered prototype
cars that competed in this year's Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition.
(Photo provided by Shell Eco-marathon) |
Bethany Brisco, a senior mechanical engineering major, drove the
third-place Rose-Hulman vehicle, while the fifth-place car was
controlled by junior biomedical engineering major Cheyenne Arrowsling.
Both were third-year drivers and among the most experienced competitors
at the event. However, this year’s track was a road course in a
metropolitan area of Houston, instead of the past California Speedway
competition site. The road course required more driving skill.
"Every time I went out on the track was a chance to tweak the car to get
a better performance," noted Arrowsling. "I would try to avoid all
the potholes and cracks in the road to increase mileage and also not to
blow out a tire (three were blown between the two drivers). Also,
I would try to figure out during our runs which places on the track to
'burn' to maximize my car's distance before having to burn again . . .
From a driver's perspective, the keys to doing so well this year were
that we got to practice with the cars before showing up in Houston.
Having two seasoned drivers helped overcome the change in race track
conditions (from the past two years). We knew what to look for and
what to avoid. This year's team was really focused and stayed on
task the entire time -- before and after we arrived in Houston."
Learn more about the challenges that Brisco and Arrowsling overcame
while driving Rose-Hulman’s vehicles in Andrew Moseman’s Discover
magazine blog:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2010/03/28/shell-eco-marathon-how-to-drive-the-car-of-the-future/.
“Duplicating last year’s 1,800 mpg performance is a remarkable
achievement considering the different track conditions,” White stated.
“The team’s results were obtained through multiple successive runs,
which are very difficult on the drivers as it requires them to get out
of a very hot vehicle after one run –- only to get back in minutes later
for another run –- for hours. Each run consisted of 10 laps of driving
over a very harsh track.”
With the exception of the two drivers, Castongia
pointed out that Rose-Hulman had one of the most inexperienced teams in
the competition. Castongia is a sophomore mechanical engineering major
that was attending his second Shell Eco-marathon event. Other team
members were James Allen, Cody Van Buskirk, Matthew Devonish, Zakari
Eckert, Kullin Erickson, Jesse Garcia, Paul Himes, James Mayfield and
Stephen Sakai.
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Tight Fit: Members of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's efficient
vehicles team prepare driver Cheyenne Arrowsling to compete one of the
10-lap competition runs during the Shell Eco-marathon Americas event.
(Photo provided by Shell Eco-marathon) |
"This was a year of firsts for this team," Castongia stated. "We
were able to get both vehicles through technical inspection on the first
day. This was also the first year that we were able to get onto
the track to practice. Finally, this was the first year that the
program has not had a member from the original team present and we were
able to break out personal Shell Eco-marathon America's record of
1,800.4 mpg. This year is a new chapter in the program's book and
I expect nothing but great things in the years to come. I am very
excited about what this team has accomplished so far this year and look
forward to seeing what else is in store."
The Shell Eco-marathon had 42 teams from 28 universities and nine high
schools from across the Americas. A total of 28 vehicles were powered by
combustion engines, five by fuel cell/hydrogren technology, two by solar
power and two by diesel fuel.
Other colleges joining Rose-Hulman in this year's competition were
California Polytechnic State University, Cedarville University, Colorado
School of Mines, Dalhousie University (Canada), Ecole de Technolgie
Superieure (Canada), Lamar University, Louisiana Tech University, Loyola
Marymount University, North Carolina A&T State University, Northern
Arizona University, Penn State, Polytechnic Institute of New York
University, Purdue University, University of Arizona, University of
British Columbia (Canada), University of California-Berkeley, UCLA,
University of Colorado, University of Houston, University of Illinois,
University of Missouri, University of Ottawa (Canada), University of
Texas El Paso, University of Toronto (Canada) and Wright State
University.
This annual educational project inspires engineering students to develop
new approaches to sustainable mobility, and gives young people
interested in technology, energy and transportation a unique, hands-on
opportunity to showcase their innovations by designing, building and
driving the most energy-efficient vehicle.
“It's all about the students . . . the brains of the future,” said Mark
Singer, the Eco-marathon’s global project manager. “We want to see them
break the boundaries of efficiency.”
Learn more about the Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition at
http://www.shell.com/home/content/ecomarathon/americas.
Rose-Hulman’s efficient vehicles team will now re-tool its vehicles to
compete in the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Supermileage event on
June 10-11 at Eaton Corporation’s proving grounds near Marshall, Mich.
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