U.K. Teen Drives Concept Car Nearly 2,000 Miles on One Gallon of Fuel

On June 23 in the UK, students from regional schools and universities competed in the annual Mileage Marathon Challenge near Leicester, England – each team vying to set a new gas mileage efficiency record in a race around a track. Cars were allowed to coast, but had to maintain a minimum speed of 15 miles per hour. Students worked on the vehicle prototypes, many in partnership with design and engineering firms.

The winner of the 20-team competition was a vehicle driven by 14-year-old Sam Chapman-Hill, which reached 1,980 miles on a single gallon of fuel. The car weighed just slightly more than its driver – a trim 100 pounds to Sam’s 70-pound frame – and was made mostly of plastic reinforced by glass. The aerodynamic car was built by students at Kingdown School, a co-educational comprehensive school for students age 11-18 located in Warminster, England.

David Leater, a design and technology teacher at Kingdown, said that watching the vehicle in action was “absolutely stunning.” In 2009 Kingdown School claimed first and second place in the Shell Eco-marathon Schools Initiative Class.

One even younger driver, 11-year-old Kitty Foster, completed her race in a  three-wheel concept model that used a super-efficient Cambridge Design Partnership oxygen concentrator and micro-diesel engine to reach 1,325 miles per gallon.

Earlier this year, Cambridge Design Partnership had been awarded a project by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) that required the firm to create an oxygen-generator system to deliver oxygen to injured frontline soldiers. This system, powered by an innovative micro-diesel-engine, made it unnecessary to take heavy and potentially explosive oxygen canisters onto the battlefield. When the firm began designing the Challenge car, the team decided to re-use the same engine.

The car also used an advanced GPS system called “Go“ that literally tells the driver when to accelerate and when to lay off the gas and coast, keeping fuel consumption to an absolute minimum. Young Kitty Foster simply listened to the Go system, made a few minor adjustments, and was able to complete the historic run without issue. Spectators with smart phones were encouraged to track the car’s speed and location during the race.

“When I told my parents how far this car could go on a gallon of fuel they were absolutely amazed!” Kitty commented. “Actually, it wasn’t too hard. The Go system helped me use as little fuel as possible. It monitored the car’s performance which helped us know when to stop the engine and start coasting. The GPS information made a big difference and added 150 mpg. The whole car was great fun to drive. It’s good to see cars getting more environmentally friendly, and I’m really pleased we’ve done so well in the challenge.”

“This is about more than just an ultra-eco-friendly car,” commented Stephen Lamb, the MoD project leader from CDP. “This supports what our technologies can achieve. We quickly realized that our R&D work for the Ministry of Defense, creating an Oxygen generator, was highly applicable to the Mileage Marathon Challenge. Both required an extremely efficient system that used very low power and could run off diesel. Now I just need to figure out how to make my own car get the same kind of mileage!”

The annual Mileage Marathon challenges student teams to design, build and test energy-efficient vehicles.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.