Unlimited Class Winner, William Henry Harrison High School, Lafayette, IN
Posted on 04/25/2006 2:38:51 PM PDT by ajolympian2004
Mater Dei wins second straight gas mileage contest at IRP
Indianapolis, April 25, 2006 - Evansville Mater Dei won its second straight Super Mileage Challenge at Indianapolis Raceway Park Monday, averaging more than 1,200 miles per gallon of gas.
The car was designed, built and driven by its student team members.
The contest was sponsored by the Indiana Mathematics, Science and Technology Education Alliance. Mater Dei won the stock class for the second straight year, improving its fuel efficiency by more than 200 miles per gallon from last year. Lafayette Harrison won the unlimited class, averaging almost 11-hundred miles per gallon.
Winamac received an award for best integration of math, science and technology, and South Spencer won for best design. Other awards went to Eastern Greene, for tenacity; Northview, for sportsmanship; Frontier, for closest to projected mileage; and to Bellmont as the "people's choice."
Pictures of the winning teams/ vehicles here -
http://www.imstea.org/page11.html
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060424/LOCAL/60424048/-1/rss
If there were a headwind of 10 mph would this creation get any miles at all?
But where did Reitz place (Mater Dei cross town rival, where I went to school)?
Who knows???
What I take from this story is that our high school students are busy tackling the problem of America's dependency on foreign oil. Maybe they'll apply their learned knowledge into producing a very fuel efficient ethanol based vehicle. God knows that our country can produce more than enough corn for to make a significant dent in the amopunt of oil we import from the Middle East.
Those look practical for a family of 4 or 6.
They make ten laps at 15 mph and then mathematically figure gas mileage. They dont really travel 1100 Miles.
At this rate it would take 3 days to run the Indianapolis 500 if it werent stopped for wrecks and caution flags.
Pretty sure they stay close to the line at the bottom of the track.Hitting the wall at 15mph could be dangerous.
While American Universities continue with the "gee-whiz" games, other countries are developing vehicles for the real consumer.
Do they comply with federal crash regulations?
Sorry, I just realized it was a bunch of teenagers. This certainly beats getting stoned and playing vidoe games. Good job.
These are high school students...
I am just jealous I wasn't able to participate in something like this in High School.
Would it?
I've heard that one before. Usually from government officials.
Hey, it's great seeing kids use their heads, make things, and compete with each other. Time we bring that stuff back.
The cars were on a .686 mile oval racetrack. Presumably the headwind on one stretch became a tail wind on the opposing stretch.
Really? Do you know how much corn it would take and how much land that corn needs to grow? What do you consider a "significant dent"?
Ok, I'll bite. Other than making a light weight and aerodynamic body, with the smallest and lightest student the school can provide; what did the students do? I mean, if they used ultra-sonics to help vaporize fuel, that would be one thing; but the article was poorly written in telling what was tried, and what worked. Solar power assist? Fly-wheel for energy storage, or just running the chain-saw motor on a really lean mixture?
Unlimited Class Winner, William Henry Harrison High School, Lafayette, IN
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