“I can’t count the number of hours we put into this. Overall, I think we had a good idea, good design and good team,” said Julien St. Hilaire, a Université Laval team member. “We really like this event and our school recognizes it as an important part of our engineering program. Eaton’s test track is awesome. It’s really smooth and allows us to get the most out of our vehicles.”
Jim Gluys, an engineering specialist at Eaton, said that the results of this competition have the potential to be applied in the real world automotive market. The competition is in its 37th year and is held to generate public awareness for high-mileage, fuel-efficient vehicles and encourage students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Participants are encouraged to use advanced materials and technologies, such as composites, as well as design creativity and imagination, to optimize the fuel efficiency of their vehicles as they travel around Eaton’s 1.6-mile test track.
“Fuel economy is a big emphasis of this event,” said Gluys “The students interested in this are going to put us in 50 mpg cars. They are the engineers of the future.”
