uwmadison wins the clean snowmobile challenge
Amsnow
The 2006 Society of Automotive Engineers Clean Snowmobile Challenge was won this year by UW-Madison College of Engineering students. Team captain Gary Diehl said that the team tried to do well in everything, rather than concentrate on one or two things.
The event was hosted at Michigan Tech's Keweenaw Research Center March 13-18, 2006. Teams took stock snowmobiles and reengineered them to reduce emissions and noise while maintaining or improving performance.
The UW-Madison four-stroke Polaris came in first place in the emissions category, earning the Lotus Engineering and Horiba Instruments Award, and was competitive enough in all the other events to earn overall top honors. The Badger team earned a gold two years ago with a hybrid gas-electric sled, but the team is now focusing on more conventional technology.