Granite Falls Urban Concept Car Shell Eco-marathon
This last week the Students from Granite Falls High School participated in the Shell Eco-marthon competition.
The car they entered this year in the Urban Concept division was the only two seater in that division and diesel powered.
Last year was their first year in the competition and they worked long and hard only to find out at the final hour that they were significantly overweight. Shell did allow them to bring the car last year and run it around the track but their results weren't counted. This year they brought the car back and stripped it down and rebuilt it, pulling out weight and improving it where they could.
One of the major parts of the rebuild was a gutting of the steel frame and replacing a significant part of it with a cored carbon fiber tub that incorporated the floor and seat into one unit. They also replaced the steel framed and skinned doors with carbon fiber/foam cored doors, cutting the weight by 2/3rds what they had been.
One of the major parts of the rebuild was a gutting of the steel frame and replacing a significant part of it with a cored carbon fiber tub that incorporated the floor and seat into one unit. They also replaced the steel framed and skinned doors with carbon fiber/foam cored doors, cutting the weight by 2/3rds what they had been.
The result of their hard work was a first place win in their class!!! Congratulations.
Labels: carbon panel, granite falls high school, Shell Eco-marathon
posted by Matthew Weaver @ 3:07 PM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
The carbon fiber parts got a lot of attention and will lead to great future education opportunities - you should see the kerf-bent seat
Thank you Matt for all you did for us
Concept cars are the hope of the future. We need to support eco-marathon events like this if we want planet Earth to last a little longer.
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You're right, Michael, though it's hard to fathom at the moment that carbon fiber will become a standard in car manufacture. Maybe future generations will benefit from this ingenious concept.
Actually carbon fiber is becoming more widely used in car manufacturing. Currently BMW is building their own fiber plant here in Eastern Washington so that they will have a fiber supply for building parts with and UW engineering is working with Lamborghini on research and development, part of which is a carbon fiber A-arm which I have actually held. Yes these are higher and high end cars but it does signal a shift.
I agree with Michael. After all, those high end cars are going to be cheaper someday anyway. Also, carbon fiber technology can be passed down to cars in the lower price range.
BMW is building their own fiber plant here in Eastern Washington so that they will have a fiber supply for building parts with and UW engineering is working with Lamborghini on research and development.
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