A college project is about the hit the road in a big way this week, and, with all due respect to all of the Prius owners out there, you have nothing on this crew.
Mechanical engineering students at the University of New Haven have built a car designed to get 800 miles to the gallon. The team will take their technical talents to the track at the Annual International Super Mileage Competition in Marshall, Mich., on Friday. Their car, called the “Gen 3,” is a 95 pound carbon fiber and aluminum pod built over the course of two years. It runs on a Briggs and Stratton lawn mower engine.
“We’ve tuned it. We’ve trouble-shot it, just to get it to working condition,” said UNH senior Joe Olenick. “We’ve spent 10- to 15-hour days here just trying to get the systems to work.”
The bright metallic blue car is 9 1/2 feet long, 3 feet wide and stands just 22 inches tall.
Sam Daniels, a professor at the UNH School of Engineering, said, “We’re pretty confident our vehicle will hit 800 mpg in the competition this year.”
The team heads for Michigan on Wednesday, where they will compete against 25 other teams from all over the country.