| Louisiana Tech University

our final progress blog for our trip to california has taken a little bit longer to write then all the rest. we’re hesitant to say “final” blog because truthfully, it never really is finished, its more like “until next time” (aka 2 or 3 weeks from now after we all recover). our final day at the aaa autoclub speedway was best described as a stomach full of butterflies. while we’ve been in california, both prototype and urban have seen their fare share of troubles – each of which could have been crippling blows – but the team persevered and made it to the end. on saturday morning the urban started its last chance of the contest to complete a valid run – and boy did we complete it. not only did we drag our rear hatch across the finish line we also finished 8 minutes under time and achieved 150.6 mpg! it was an exciting hour watching the car run but most exciting watching it cross the finish line under its own power. the prototype car ran several more times in the day and with each run came better performance. at the last possible moment – we entered the track and had the best run when it counted the most – the end of the contest. our prototype car achieved 696.7 mpg in 38 minutes and 34 seconds over roughly 10.5 miles. enough cannot be said about how hard our team has worked this year and how much we’ve grown as individuals. chris warshaw is the team lead for the urban concept car this year and was hands down a big factor in our success. there are very few people on the team who have put in as much time and effort into this project as he has and he deserves so much credit for managing and building such a great team. if it needed to be done – chris was willing to take it on. phill tucker is the team lead for the prototype car this year and was without a doubt the life of the party at the eco marathon. phill’s knowledge of bikes and bike part quality really gave us a leg up in the designing of the prototype car. all though he is currently working in shreveport in a co-op he still would drive in on the weekends to work on the cars - he also barks better then anyone in the state of california (see video section) tyler miller started the year out as the quiet, hard working, intelligent and very dedicated individual. he is still harding working, intelligent, and dedicated but not as quiet. tyler modeled the entire prototype car by himself – frame and body – and put in the most time shaping and building the body. he is without a doubt the definition of leading by example. tyler’s the type of guy that everyone wants to work with – he gets along with everyone he meets. nick whitson is the man with the plan when it comes to engine tuning. we spent most of the year adjusting and retuning our fuel injection system and nick was one of the main guys at the helm. nick is a good guy to have in your corner – solely because he has hands on experience in so much of what we’ve worked with – engines especially. if a problem arises – it usually doesn’t take him long to come up with a suggestion – and in crunch time – that’s a good trait to have. paul lemaire is our resident machinist. paul has spent time working in a machine shop and that knowledge was crucial in frame fabrication. paul spent a lot of this year working on a mill, making spindles and whatever else we could dream of. he’s always willing to lend a working hand to anyone who needs it and is just and over all nice guy to be around. matt myers is one of the few returning team members from last year and needless to say, it was nice having someone’s input who had done the contest before. matt spent a lot of time working on 3d modeling for us this year as well as putting in many hours of body work in on the urban and prototype cars. jacob hobbs is one of two double e’s (electrical engineer) that was working on this project. jakes main tasks were wiring up both cars and tuning the fuel injection system. our two double e’s pretty much had to learn two completely new computer programs and then tune an engine that they knew very little about to begin with, not exactly an easy task, at least for normal people anyway but they did it anyway colin hosli is our second double e on the team and he also spent most of his time wiring up both vehicles. if you were to look up intense in the dictionary – you’d see a picture of colin. this guy is crazy nuts when it comes to getting the job done – wont rest until it is finished – not to mention his crazy dance skills. colin and phill definitely made everyone at the contest smile and relax some. jake carpenter is one of the most diverse members of the team in the fact that he was willing to try anything. any job you asked him to do, he was willing to give it his best shot, all year long. jake is also our teams biggest nascar fan – so being at the aaa autoclub watching cars run around the track was pretty much his heaven on earth. jake was also our checkered flag waver – see photos – and needless to say, there was no one else there who could fly that flag near as well as he did adam holden can do some amazing stuff with cardboard and cameras. adam spent a lot of his time making models out of cardboard for various parts of the car – ie the dash - and spent just as much time behind a lens of a camera. a lot of the pictures you see on the website came from his camera. adam is a guy that pays attention to detail in everything he does and makes sure that he gets the job done right the first time, something every engineer should strive for. allie de leo is our driver for the prototype car this year and our resident seamstress. allie joined the team just after the new year but since she came aboard she’s put in a lot of time working on posters, making seats for the urban car (see photos) and figuring out our travel information. before the shell eco marathon, allie never drove the prototype car – her first real time behind the wheel was lap 1 on the race track. her driving skills improved so much that we jumped from 512.4 mpg to 696.7 mpg with no adjustments to the engine. she always had a smile on her face and was always willing to jump in and help. nyssa briggs is not only our driver for the urban car this year but she also shifted her focus to helping fabricate the lights for our urban vehicle. like allie, nyssa’s first chance at driving the urban vehicle was on lap 1, and she showed some serious skill in driving the course. up until the eco marathon, no one on the team had ever seen her drive a car before, but once we arrived at tech inspection and saw her drive through the figure 8 and skillfully navigate her way through a crowd that was on the course, we knew she could handle it just fine. she achieved 150.6 mpg with roughly 8 minutes to spare over a 10.5 mile course. kelly crittenden is one of the three faculty advisors for the eco car team. dr. crittenden has some serious skill when it comes to pin striping, painting and most other aesthetic qualities dealing with cars. he gave us some great tips and advice when we were shaping the bodies for each car that really helped us save some time. at the eco marathon he was johnny on the spot with lap time updates and showed a very impressive ability in guessing our mileage after the race. michael swanbom is another one of the three faculty advisors for the eco car time. dr. swanbom has extensive experience with small engines and fuel injection systems with proved invaluable to the team. dr. swanbom has a unique personality to say the least – maybe that’s why he fits in so well with the team. he has always lended a helping hand and has become a great sounding board for voicing ideas and opinions. heath tims is the last faculty advisor for the eco car team. dr. tims took the eco car challenge as a chance to build some really cool cars while getting to work with some of the best tech engineering students. dr. tims spent most of his time designing parts in solidworks and helping the team trouble shoot design issues. dr. tims took an apprenticeship mentality with this project. dr. tims pushed us to our full potential and gave us the unique opportunity to create something unforgettable for the entire team. we’ve had a great time working on this project with our fellow peers and faculty advisors. we’d also like to take some time to thank our sponsors – without them this project wouldn’t have been possible. we were given a unique opportunity to meet new and kind people through this contest – like the folks from mater dai high school in indiana – our only competition in the urban category – and they were our biggest help while at the contest – a big thanks and congratulations goes out to their team. thanks for keeping up with us this year and be sure to come back to the website – we’ll be continuing to update pictures and videos from the contest. thanks again!