Speed Bump: Formula Hybrid Competition Student Engineers Tripped Up by Complexity [Video & Slide Show]

At this year's fifth-annual Dartmouth Formula Hybrid showdown, many teams struggled to translate ambitious gas-electric designs into to reliable racing vehicles

SWEDES ENDURE: The team from Sweden's Lund University ran the endurance test's first 20 laps on fuel and the final 20 laps on electric power. "This was a nice demonstration that both systems work," Collier says. Lund received the competition's highest score for endurance, even beating overall competition winner Texas A&M. COURTESY OF KATHRYN LOCONTE LAPIERRE
TIGHT ON TIME: The Dartmouth team's car made it through inspection on the final day of the competition just as the endurance test was winding down. Dartmouth was able to complete only 21 of 40 laps before time expired. COURTESY OF KATHRYN LOCONTE LAPIERRE
WHO NEEDS A BATTERY?: The Dartmouth car uses capacitors rather than a battery to store energy. This makes the car lighter, but there is a trade-off: the maximum charge lasts only about 15 seconds. The idea is to use capacitors to store energy every time the driver applied the car's regenerative braking system as it rounded the track's curves and then tap that stored energy to accelerate out of the curve, Collier says. COURTESY OF DOUGLAS FRASER
AUTO-CROSSED UP: Day 2 featured the autocross event, which tested the cars' maneuvering and handling. Only a handful of teams participated because the others had not made it through electrical safety inspections and braking tests. The University of California, Davis, team pictured here placed second in autocross. COURTESY OF KATHRYN LOCONTE LAPIERRE
Advertisement
INSPECTION ISSUES: During inspection, judges check to ensure that electrical components are shielded, insulated, waterproofed and controllable. Pictured here is Brigham Young University's racer. COURTESY OF KATHRYN LOCONTE LAPIERRE
COMPETITIVE, BUT NOT COMPATIBLE: "I think a lot of the cars were really complex," Dartmouth College engineering innovation professor John Collier says. "That's the problem that you get into with hybrid [technology] that all of the car companies have finally sorted out. But they've sorted it out with proprietary systems, whether it's Ford, Toyota or Chrysler." Pictured here is Texas A&M's racing team, which won last week's Hybrid Formula competition. COURTESY OF KATHRYN LOCONTE LAPIERRE

Reanimate Your Brain