Students design fuel efficient race cars for Thayer School competition
Founded and run by Thayer School
of Engineering at Dartmouth, the second annual Formula Hybrid International
Competition took place May 5 through 7 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in
Loudon, N.H. Sixteen teams participated in the competition that features
high-performance hybrid race cars built by teams of undergraduate and graduate
engineering students. As Vox went to press, Dartmouth had won the
hybrid acceleration, electric-only acceleration, and marketing events, with the
competition still underway. Final results are available at Formula Hybrid.
Dartmouth students designed, built, and competed this hybrid race car. (Photo
by Doug Fraser)
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Thayer School modeled the event after the Formula SAE® competition, in which
teams of students conceive, design, fabricate, and compete with small
formula-style racing cars. Dartmouth students have competed in that event for
more than 10 years. The main difference in the Formula Hybrid competition is
that teams must consider fuel efficiency in the design and construction of
their car.
“In the Formula SAE® competition students can use as much gas as they want,”
explains Doug Fraser, research engineer and director of the Formula Hybrid
project. “In the Formula Hybrid competition, if there is gas left over at the
end of the competition then they’ve wasted it. Ideally, they want to run out of
gas right at the finish line.”
Like Formula SAE®, students must also consider the design, acceleration,
handling, and endurance of their vehicle, and abide by competition rules that
include many design specifications.
“The rules are always a work-in-progress,” says Fraser, “because students
keep asking new and different questions that lead to new rules, and eventually
to new technology.”
In addition to the engineering component, collaboration is essential within
and among the teams.
“It’s amazing,” says Wynne Washburn, the project’s deputy director, “in the
garages you can hear the teams communicating among themselves—Yale asking Embry
Riddle questions, Dartmouth asking Illinois questions. The students are really
open to sharing technology, and that’s what makes it better.
“One of the biggest excitements of the program is bringing together
electrical and mechanical engineers. It’s great to see two groups of people who
study fundamentally different fields work together towards a common goal. The
cross-disciplinary learning is invaluable.”
The purpose of the event goes beyond winning competitions. “We encourage
teams to go further and really push the envelope of hybrid car technology,”
says Fraser.
“The Dartmouth car is amazing to watch,” says John Collier, Thayer School’s
Myron Tribus Professor of Engineering Innovation and the hybrid team adviser.
“The acceleration is incredible, and it’s quiet!”
“Last year was the very first year of the competition,” adds Charlie
Sullivan, associate professor of engineering and another faculty advisor to the
Dartmouth team. “Everybody was just starting to get things to work.This year
we’re seeing a lot more sophisticated design and creativity.”
The competition also offered an educational program to inspire interest in
middle and high school students in hybrid and other alternative technologies.
Sponsors included the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Plug In America, Toyota, General
Motors, and Chrysler.
By CATHARINE LAMM AND MARLEY MCMILLAN ´09
Learn More
Visit the Dartmouth Formula
Racing - Hybrid Team website.
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