Cool News

College students participating in the Clean Snowmobile Challenge traveled 65 miles on flex-fuel yesterday during the Endurance run in Michigan, according to a press release from Michigan Technological University.

"It takes more than a few days of sunshine to melt 260-plus inches of snow, which turned out to be a St. Patrick's Day blessing for contestants," said Michigan Tech's representative.

Successful contestants traveled 30 miles on the Keweenaw Research Center and 35 miles on boggy snowmobile trails to Twin Lakes.

Five teams completed the Endurance Run: the University of Idaho, Clarkson University, Michigan Technological University, the University of Maine and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

The Clean Snowmobile Challenge is a collegiate design competition of the Society of Automotive Engineers at Michigan Tech's Keweenaw Research Center from March 16 to 21.

 
Participating schools engineer students took stock snowmobiles and redesign them to reduce emissions and noise while maintaining or boosting performance, according to Michigan Tech's representative.

This year, the sleds were running on flex-fuel, anything between 10 percent and 85 percent ethanol.

Participants were not aware of what was poured into their fuel tanks.

"There were no problems," said Mike Lovett of the University of Maine. "It ran better on flex-fuel."

Matthew Mastro, who drove the Clarkson snowmobile, said the trails "pretty decent."

"The only problem was cooling the sled," he said.

"But we have more miles on our machine than we did in the past,"Blough said. "We'll see. Our hopes are high."

Event co-organizer Jay Meldrum said the Endurance Run went well.

"Twin Lakes has the best snow this time of year," he said. While road crossings were essentially bare, the participants picked up plenty of snow for a successful ride.

Gage Products, a major sponsor of the Challenge, provided fuel for the run, which also tests the entries for fuel economy.

Throughout the competition, sleds will be fueled by any of three mystery blends, each with a different concentration of ethanol.

The public is welcome at several events during the Clean Snowmobile Challenge. On Wednesday, March 18, between 6 and 8 p.m., all the teams will have their snowmobiles on exhibit at the Copper Country Mall.

On Saturday, March 21, the public is welcome at the Polaris Acceleration and Handling event, set for 10 and 11 a.m. at the Keweenaw Research Center test course, near the Houghton County Memorial Airport. Dress warmly; no seating is provided, and visitors must walk in to the course from the road.

These battery-powered snowmobiles are specially designed for use by researchers studying pollution in remote arctic terrain. The teams receive support from the National Science Foundation.

The SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge is sponsored at Michigan Tech by the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics and the Keweenaw Research Center.

For more information on the Challenge, click here