Cal Poly took a top spot at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana this weekend in a race that tested not speed, but longevity.
The university earned second place out of 44 participating schools in the 2009 Shell Eco-marathon Americas, an annual competition where student-built vehicles compete to achieve the longest distance using the least amount of fuel.
The College of Engineering Supermileage Team, with its prototype vehicle the Black Widow, got 2,358 miles per gallon. This year’s $5,000 grand prize went to Laval University, of Quebec, who reached 2,757 miles per gallon.
“The guys did great,” mechanical engineering associate professor and team advisor Tom Mase said. “It makes me proud to see how they represented Poly, from the registration of the event to talking with the media. They are incredibly professional and it’s great to see students organize and perform so well in an event as big as this.”
Even though the competition was higher this year with more schools participating in the event, no team was able to meet the record of 2,843 miles per gallon set last year by Mater Dei High School, of Evansville, Ind.
The Shell Eco-marathon is an annual international competition where students design, construct and test vehicles to achieve the highest possible fuel-efficiency. The competition is held globally each year and participants include universities, high schools, amateurs and even motor manufacturers.
It features participants from both North and South America. This year’s roster included 44 teams from 29 universities and six high schools from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil, as well as a guest team from India.
The Prototype competition featured 28 combustion-engine vehicles, five using fuel cell and hydrogen technology, three using liquefied petroleum gas, another three with solar power and two using diesel fuel.
The 2009 Eco-marathon also included for the first time an UrbanConcept category. As opposed to the Prototype category, where vehicles are designed specifically for maximum fuel efficiency and feature streamlined bodies for drag reduction, entries in the UrbanConcept category are designed as more “roadworthy” fuel-efficient vehicles and are closer in appearance to cars.
Grand prize for the UrbanConcept category went to the 2008 Prototype champs, the Mater Dei Supermileage Team, whose vehicle, Street Buggy, won them $5,000 with a mileage of 433 miles per gallon.
Other categories included best prototypes for Fuel Cell/Hydrogen and Solar Power vehicles; a best Eco-Design award, recognizing the team that incorporated recycled and eco-friendly materials into the production of their vehicle; a Safety award for those that best met the safety regulations of the Eco-Marathon; best Technological Innovation, in which Cal Poly earned third place; best Design, rewarding originality and an overall cohesive design; best Communications, for the team that best promoted the competition; and best Team Spirit, this year going to George M. Schurr High School, who actually lent one of their vehicles to another team whose prototype was not able to compete.
This year also included the Perseverance in the Face of Adversity award, which went to Chitkara Institute of Engineering & Technology in India and Louisiana State University, who overcame a death in the team to compete in the marathon. LSU named their vehicle Ellen, after their teammate.
“The Shell Eco-marathon is a platform for students to let their imaginations run wild,” said Mark Singer, global project manager for the Shell Eco-marathon, in a press release. “By encouraging these students to build vehicles with greater energy efficiency, we hope this will help inspire others; and together we can find solutions that will help meet the global energy challenge.”
This was the third consecutive year the Cal Poly Supermileage Team’s participated in the event. In 2007, the Black Widow earned them the grand prize, with 1902 miles per gallon. Last year, the team placed second in the competition, while improving their mileage to 2,752 per gallon.
According to mechanical engineering freshman and Supermileage Team member Gabriel Mountjoy, although they did not reach last year’s mileage, the team was “very pleased.”
“It went extremely well — better than we expected, you could say,” Mountjoy said. “I mean, we placed first for all the American teams.”
Mountjoy said the design of this year’s track contributed to the lower mileage with twice as many turns as last year, forcing the Black Widow to burn more gas while cruising less.
“We burned through twice as much fuel this year,” he added. “But, overall, the race went really well … We’ll definitely be participating next year.”
In addition to competing in the Prototype category, Cal Poly is expected to enter a vehicle into UrbanConcepts for next year’s competition.