On Apr. 2, the Supermileage Systems Enterprise at MTU will travel to Indianapolis for the Shell Eco-marathon Competition. Supermileage is a form of student competition between universities where students design, build, and compete with cars made to maximize fuel efficiency. At MTU, Supermileage Enterprise is one of the four enterprises in American Motorsports Enterprise (AMS) along with Blizzard Baja, Formula SAE, and Clean Snowmobile.
Supermileage has been preparing for this spring competition for a year. However, the road to competition isn’t always a straightforward one. Third-year mechanical engineering student and CEO of Supermileage, Brennen Gali, said,“It’s a long process for our team to get to competition. Thousands of hours of design, manufacturing, and testing are put in, starting at the beginning of the Fall semester leading up to the Shell Eco Marathon.”
One thing that the members of Supermileage pride themselves on is continuous improvement and a mindset of learning. Last competition, MTU Supermileage averaged 631 miles per gallon at competition. This year they are shooting for 1,000 plus. James Halverson, a fourth mechanical engineer and chief engineer at Supermileage said, “As we get closer to competition, it’s down to the fine details. We have some work to do, but our team is prepared and motivated to see it through. Supermileage is a team full of learners and achievers; we have learned from our mistakes last year, have addressed them this year, and we will bring results. All gas, no brakes.”
Gali closed by saying, “We are tying up the loose ends of the vehicle and preparing to take off to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in just over a week! We’re looking to put up some numbers and hopefully take home some hardware!”
