Young minds were hard at work again this year. Idaho University took home multiple honors including the Gage Products Award for Best Fuel Economy, the Polaris Industries Award for Best Handling, the Society of Automotive Engineers Award for Best Design, the Land and Sea Inc. Award for Best Performance and the Denso Corporation Award for Best Ride. In addition, they received the Founders' Award for Most Sportsmanlike Conduct. All this on a 570 lb. sled with a 2-stroke Ski-Doo 600cc engine and a custom chassis. The team adapted an Evinrude E-Tec direct injection (DI) system to the engine. A DI cylinder head with improved combustion chamber design also was fabricated for the engine. Use of DI and the improved combustion chamber greatly reduces exhaust emissions and improves fuel economy. The fuel used was 90 percent gas and 10 percent ethanol, getting 19.6 miles-per-gallon on the 100-mile course at Michigan Tech's Keweenaw Research Center.
McGill University's (Montreal, Canada) electric snowmobile took the National Science Foundation Veco Polar Resource Award for Best Overall in the Challenge's zero-emissions category. It also received the Society of Automotive Engineers Award for Best Design in its class and the Caterpillar Corporation Innovation Award. The sled was only 499 lbs. to boot.
Second place in a tie went to the University of Maine and Kettering University in Flint, Mich.
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