Students create vehicles for mileage competition

With gas prices above $2 per gallon, consumers are doing everything they can to get better gas mileage.

So are three West Fargo High School students who will compete today and Wednesday in "super mileage competition" at Brainerd (Minn.) International Speedway. They'll be driving two compact, three-wheeled cars they built in class.

"We should be able to get 400 miles per gallon," teacher Jerry Heinz said.

"If it gets that," said Heinz, ... "we'll be jumping and dancing," interrupted student car builder and pit crew member Ted Bryans, a junior.

Joining Bryans will be driver Brian Lautt, a senior, and Joseph Karvonen, a sophomore pit crew member.

It takes about two years to build the single-seat cars powered by 31/2-horsepower Briggs and Stratton engines, Heinz said.

The process begins by shaping the car using a large hunk of Styrofoam.

All body, frame and steering parts are made in class using computerized lathes and mills.

A plastic, bubble-shaped gas tank holding less than a pint of fuel is weighed before the race starts and at the finish, Heinz said.

"It comes down to grams (of gasoline used), it's that minute," he said.

One of the cars is a blue fiberglass model with a slip-in and slip-out frame.

The other is a green, see-through model. "We used film that is used on model airplanes" to cover the car's exterior, Bryans said.

"It is actually lighter than paint," Heinz said.

Each car weighs between 80 and 100 pounds, he said. "I would say the green one is a little lighter than the blue one."

The cars will be operated at the Brainerd speedway today and Wednesday. The course is two miles long and drivers must complete 30 miles, Heinz said.

The top speed allowed is 30 mph. "If you go over that, they kick you out of the competition," Bryans said.

Heinz stressed the competition is not a race.

"That's what's difficult to get the drivers to understand," he said. "You and your machine are there to get the most miles per gallon against all the other machines."

The West Fargo students are entered in the stock class event. The only modifications allowed to the new, fresh-out-of-the-box engine is extending the choke and throttle cables, the recoil starter rope and tailpipe, Bryans said.

Ninety-nine cars entered last year's competition, Heinz said.

Drivers must weigh at least 130 pounds. If they don't, weights are added to the car.

Bryans works on the car because he has the opposite problem.

"I can't fit into these things because of my height and shoe size," he said, referring to cramped quarters in the vehicle's cockpit.

At 6 feet 2 inches tall, 220 pounds and sporting size 14 shoes, he was named a co-pit crew chief.

"They really stress safety items," said Bryans. Each car must be equipped with a fire extinguisher and three engine kill switches.

The production processes class allows students to apply problem-solving and critical-thinking skills they have learned in other study disciplines, Heinz said.

"If something goes wrong, they have to figure out how to fix it," he said.

Classroom-learned computer skills also come in handy when researching the Internet for materials and writing letters to sponsors.

West Fargo students enter the Minnesota competition because there is none in North Dakota, Heinz said.

In the past, one car achieved 1,005 miles per gallon in the experimental coast and burn class, he said. The high mileage was achieved by accelerating, turning the car off and coasting, and repeating the process from course start to finish.

Like everyone else, Heinz' students are paying high gas prices to operate their personal automobiles.

They talk in class about driving habits and what can be done to improve gas mileage.

"We discuss the impact that it has on the economy," Heinz said.

Readers can reach Forum Business Editor Craig McEwen at (701) 241-5502