2008 clean snowmobile challenge

Houghton, Mich. - Sixteen teams of college students from the US and Canada will put their sleds to the test at the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, set for March 10-15 this year at Michigan Technological University's Keweenaw Research Center.

There's a little bit of a change this year though, all the snowmobiles in the internal-combustion engine division must run on biofuel. Some entrants have fired up with ethanol and biodiesel in previous challenges, but this year, it's a requirement.

Four teams have entered the zero-emissions division, running their snowmobiles on batteries alone.

Teams from Ontario, Quebec, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, Idaho, Maine, South Dakota and Minnesota have signed up.