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This Spring Student Teams From Across North and South America Will Travel Thousands of Miles...Per Gallon

Posted on: Friday, 27 March 2009, 07:00 CDT

2009 Shell Eco-marathon Americas(R) will welcome 52 student teams looking to go the extra mile

HOUSTON, March 27 /PRNewswire/ -- While most high school and college students are busy writing papers and preparing for exams, a select group from across the Americas are taking what they've learned in the classroom and putting it to practical use - building high-mileage, fuel-efficient vehicles for the 2009 Shell Eco-marathon Americas(R). After months of coordinating designs and constructing vehicles, 52 student teams - including nine high schools and 32 universities - are in the final stretch as they work to complete their vehicles for the 2009 challenge taking place April 16-18 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Not only are these students looking to break the nearly 3,000 miles per gallon (1,275 kilometres per liter) record set in 2008, they are providing the world a glimpse into the fuels, technologies and transportation of tomorrow.

"By participating in the Shell Eco-marathon Americas, we have the opportunity to study new fuel-efficient technologies in automotive applications and gain practical experience for the future," said Andrew Ritter, student team leader of the Mater Dei High School team, who set the Shell Eco-marathon Americas record in 2008 with an astonishing 2,843 miles per gallon, equivalent to 1,208.6 kilometers per liter. "Last year, we didn't think our team could compete with such elite colleges, but we ended up breaking the 2007 record in our first run. And that motivated our team to keep pushing the limits of fuel efficiency, both on the track and in the classroom."

This year, student teams will participate in either the "Prototype" or "UrbanConcept" categories. For the Prototype category, teams will enter futuristic prototypes - streamlined vehicles that focus on maximizing fuel efficiency through innovative design elements, such as drag reduction. For the UrbanConcept category, new to the Americas event this year, teams will enter more "roadworthy" fuel-efficient vehicles. Aimed at meeting the real-life needs of drivers, these vehicles are closer in appearance to the higher-mileage cars seen on roads today. For both categories, teams can use any conventionally available energy source - including fuels such as diesel, gasoline and liquid petroleum gas (LPG), as well as alternative fuels such as hydrogen, biomass and solar.

The Shell Eco-marathon(R) is a global mileage challenge and forum for current and future leaders who are passionate about finding sustainable solutions to the world's energy challenge. The event challenges students to design, build and test eco-friendly vehicles that travel further using less energy. From vehicle design to financing, student teams manage their projects from start to finish. The winning teams in both the Prototype and UrbanConcept categories receive a grand prize of US$5,000 for their school. And this year, Shell will also have several "off-track" awards, including the "Safety Award," "Technical Innovation Award" and "Eco-friendly Award" among others.

The 2009 Shell Eco-marathon Americas roster contains 52 teams from nine high schools and 32 universities from North and South America - including Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States. The Prototype entries include 35 vehicles powered by combustion engines, five by fuel cell/hydrogen technology, three by LPG, three by solar power, two by diesel fuel, and one by ethanol gas. The UrbanConcept entries include two vehicles powered by combustion engines and one by solar power.

The complete 2009 Shell Eco-marathon Americas roster is:

Prototype Category:

Combustion Engine Entrants: School Location Team Name Vehicle Name Barstow High School Barstow, Calif. AZ-TECHS Stingray 806 California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly Black State University Calif. Supermileage Widow California State Chico, Calif. Suffrage One University, Chico California State Los Angeles, Calif. CSULA Super University, Los Angeles Supermileage Eagle II Cedarville University Cedarville, Ohio Jackets Slipstream Racing II Cedarville University Cedarville, Ohio GL4 GL4 Centennial High School Corona, Calif. Huskies El Nino Centro de Investigaciones Mexico City, Mexico Nemesis CLRT de Diseno Industrial (CIDI) / Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) Chitkara Institute of Punjab, India TEAM STEALTH STEALTH Engineering & Technology / Punjab Technical University Colorado School of Mines Denver, Colo. Colorado Blaster School of Mines Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Dalhousie Maritime Scotia Supermileage Mileage- machine Design School/ State Belo Horizonte, Team Sabia Sabia 6 University of Minas Minas Gerais Gerais East Los Angeles College Monterey Park, Calif. Huskies Phantom George M. Schurr High School Montebello, Calif. Spartans R7 Grand Rapids Technical Grand Rapids, Minn. G-Rock Fastest School Indian Louisiana State Baton Rouge, La. Tiger Racing Chitty University Chitty Bang Bang Louisiana Tech University Ruston, La. LA Tech De Bulldogs Donderhond Loyola Marymount Los Angeles, Calif. Gen2 Gen2 University Loyola Marymount Los Angeles, Calif. Team RAMROD Tip of University the Spear Mater Dei High School Evansville, Ind. Mater Dei Next Gen Supermileage II Team Monrovia High School Monrovia, Calif. Team Green The Green Machine Northern Arizona Flagstaff, Ariz. Team SAE@NAU Ragnarok University R. L. Turner High School Carrollton, Texas Turner Microsquirt Rochester Institute Rochester, NY RIT X1 of Technology Greenvehicle Team Rose-Hulman Institute of Terre Haute, Ind. R-H RHEV Technology Efficient 74 Vehicles Rose-Hulman Institute Terre Haute, Ind. R-H Efficient RHEV of Technology Vehicles 74++ Summit High School Fontana, Calif. Skyhawks Skyhawk University of California, Berkeley, Calif. Cal SMV Care Bear Berkeley University of California, Los Angeles, Calif. Supermileage The Los Angeles Enterprise Universidad Nacional Mexico City, Mexico Escuderia Ahuicyani Autonoma de Mexico - Puma Facultad de Ingenieria University of California, Santa Barbara, Calif. UCSB Gauchos Gaucho Santa Barbara Mileage Universite Laval Laval, Quebec Alerion NTF 3.0 Supermileage University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo. CU-L.A.T.E.R F-CAT Boulder University of Houston Houston, Texas Team SAECO Phoenix University Of Texas, El El Paso, Texas Miner Dilema Orochi Paso

Fuel Cell Entrants: School Location Team Name Vehicle Name Cicero North-Syracuse Cicero, N.Y. Performance Pure High School Engineering Speed Team Lamar University Beaumont, Texas Rebel 1602 Alliance Los Altos High School Hacienda Heights, Hacienda La Infusion Calif. Puente Unified School District North Carolina A&T Greensboro, N.C. Aggie Aggie State University Penn State University University Park, Pa. Blood Sweat Penn State & Gears HFV

LPG Entrant: School Location Team Name Vehicle Name George M. Schurr Montebello, Calif. Spartans Spartan High School George M. Schurr Montebello, Calif. Spartans Destiny High School George M. Schurr Montebello, Calif. Spartans Mach 1 High School

Solar Entrants: School Location Team Name Vehicle Name Centennial High School Corona County, Calif. Huskies The Blur Purdue University West Lafayette, Ind. Purdue Racing Solar Pulsar Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio OSU Solar Red Shift Firefly 2

Diesel Entrants: School Location Team Name Vehicle Name College of the Redwoods Eureka, Calif. Diesel Diesel Corsair Corsair Wright State University Dayton, Ohio Raider Eco-Raider Engineering

Ethanol Entrant: Los Altos High School Hacienda Heights, Hacienda La HICE Calif. Puente Unified School District

UrbanConcept Category:

Combustion Engine Entrants: School Location Team Name Vehicle Name Louisiana Tech University Ruston, La. Tech EcoCar Urban Car Mater Dei High School Evansville, Ind. Mater Dei Street Buggy Supermileage Team Solar Entrant: School Location Team Name Vehicle Name The University of Tucson, Ariz. Arizona SolarCat Arizona Solar Racing Team

To help ensure the 2009 Shell Eco-marathon Americas is a successful event for all the student participants, Shell is pleased to welcome the 2009 event sponsors, including Autodesk, Michelin, Pennzoil and SKF USA Inc.

With many successful years in Europe, the Shell Eco-marathon came back to the U.S. as the Shell Eco-marathon Americas in April 2007. The Shell Eco-marathon concept started as the Shell Mileage Marathon in 1939 between employees of Shell at a research laboratory in Wood River, Illinois. Today, the Americas event extends to student teams from across North and South America.

In Europe, the 2009 Shell Eco-marathon project will take place at the EuroSpeedway in Lausitz, Germany. The 2008 European event attracted teams from 20 countries, with the winning teams hailing from France, the Netherlands and Sweden. Plans are also underway to bring the Shell Eco-marathon to Asia in 2010.

For more information on the Shell Eco-marathon Americas, please visit www.shell.com/ecomarathon.

Shell Oil Company, including its consolidated companies and its share in equity companies, is one of America's leading oil and natural gas producers, natural gas marketers, gasoline marketers and petrochemical manufacturers. Shell, a leading oil and gas producer in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, is a recognized pioneer in oil and gas exploration and production technology. Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Shell Group, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies, employing approximately 104,000 people and operating in more than 110 countries and territories.

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SOURCE Shell

Source: PR Newswire

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