On a bright and windy April day, against a gorgeous mountain backdrop, a little blue wedge zipped around the Shenandoah Speedway in Shenandoah, Va. It averaged a conservative speed in the mid-20 miles per hour, but the most striking feature of this car was its fuel consumption. In its best trial run, it got 204 miles to the gallon.  

The car was built by a team of ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř (EMU) students who’ve been on a long and winding road to get it to a track. Under the leadership of mechanical engineering major Ben Bontrager-Singer, the group began designing and building their supermileage car in the fall of 2019, with the expectation of competing in the 2020 Shell Eco-marathon held at the Sonoma Raceway in California. 

Of course, that was cancelled due to the pandemic. The team then planned on fine-tuning their creation and competing in the eco-marathon this year, thinking that surely COVID-19 would have been a distant memory by now, and – cancelled again. 

So the roadster’s maiden voyage was to the speedway, where Bontrager-Singer and his team had planned to hold a tĂŞte-Ă -tĂŞte with James Madison University’s eco-marathon team. However, the Dukes’ supermileage car was undergoing technical difficulties, and they weren’t able to attend. So, after more than a year of planning, building, calibrating, and re-planning, the Royals’ supermileage car was finally run through its paces, albeit sans contender. 

“It was extremely satisfying to get to this point,” said Bontrager-Singer. “I always knew that we would eventually have a ‘finished’ product but it really never felt close until we were actually at the raceway – although it does feel a little funny to use the word finished. We are in the prototype category of the Shell Eco-Marathon competition and indeed this was our first prototype … this is really just the tip of the iceberg.” 

The car did achieve a gas mileage of 204 per gallon on its final test run of the day, although to achieve that mind-boggling number, driver Caleb Hostetler used a coast-and-burn strategy of accelerating up to 25 miles per hour and then cutting the engine and coasting down to 5 miles per hour. On the two previous trials, when Hostetler and Tessa Waidelich maintained their speed in the mid-20s, they still got over 135 miles to the gallon.

Bontrager-Singer wasn’t surprised, though. He knew what they had. 

“I was very excited and proud of our performance on Friday,” he said. “It certainly was satisfying to see it really be as effective as we had hoped. We hadn’t had enough time to really test the strategy before getting to the track so it was exciting to see it be so effective. It was also really nice to see so many people make the trip to Shenandoah to watch.”

In addition to driving, Hostetler is also on the engine and electric fuel injection team.

“This part of the car has been frustrating but also satisfying for me, as electricity, microcontrollers, and computers are the things I have some experience working with,” he said. “When we began this project two falls ago, I also signed up to be one of the potential drivers. That may or may not still happen depending on when the competition happens, but I am still having a great time working on this project.”

Even without the opportunity to test their ride against the hundreds of others that would normally compete at the Eco-Marathon each year, the team has already identified improvements they’d like to make before their first race, whenever that may be. Bontrager-Singer’s excitement for the car’s future has not wavered despite the many setbacks the pandemic has posed.

“Most of our team is only sophomores and freshmen at this point so we have time to do a lot more,” he said. “Just for next year, there have already been talks about going electric or completely building a custom drivetrain. Most likely we will have to build a new body to improve driver visibility. I think a reasonable goal for next year would be to double our fuel economy.

Waidelich said the teammates have become close friends through this project.

“In my opinion, one of the coolest things about this project is how well the group works with each other,” she said. “When we run into problems or an idea goes south, we reconvene and listen to each other’s ideas to come up with a new plan.”

Bontrager-Singer lauded his teammates for their commitment to the car. By his rough estimate, they’ve collectively put 2,300 hours into the vehicle so far.

“I am so proud of our team and all that we have accomplished. Being in Super-Mileage Car is a huge commitment and can be tiring and frustrating. Every team member demonstrated supreme commitment and perseverance to get to this point,” he said. 

Tucked away in a garage on ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř’s campus sits a metal frame made of chrome moly tubing, an extruded steel alloy. Various tools, plywood, and parts of a gas-powered motor lie around. The frame is narrow, and low to the ground, like the chassis of a drag race car. And it will be a race car – but if it’s to win the Shell Eco-marathon, it will have to be by fuel efficiency, not speed.

Mechanical engineering major Ben Bontrager-Singer is leading a team of nine other students to build the car for the Eco-marathon at the Sonoma Raceway in California. They had planned to compete this April, but the eco-marathon this year was cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Bontrager-Singer said they will continue to work on the vehicle in preparation for the 2021 marathon, which they had already planned on competing in after this year’s race.

“We will have to work a little harder to do research and find ways that we can improve without the experience of the competition,” he said. “We made a tremendous amount of progress this year and we will just continue that progress … we will have more time to do some testing and improve the car now that it is much further along, considering that we only had a few pieces of metal and some tools at the beginning of January.”

To compete, the car will have to pass rigorous safety and quality inspections and drive at least 15 miles per hour. To win, it has to complete the course using the least amount of gasoline.

“We want every ounce of fuel that goes into the combustion chamber to be used,” says Bontrager-Singer.

The students are converting a small, 50cc moped motor to electronic fuel injection for the car. Bontrager-Singer expects they’ll be able to reach a top speed of about 30 miles per hour, but will drive slower to maximize their fuel efficiency beyond 100 miles per gallon.

What’s their strategy to win against dozens of teams from across the country, many of whom spend thousands of dollars on the highest-tech, lightest-weight materials? 

“We could beat them if our car runs and theirs doesn’t,” Bontrager-Singer says with a chuckle. Many of the vehicles fail inspections once they arrive, or malfunction in transit to the raceway and don’t start.

So far, the team has raised more than $9,135 of their $9,500 goal through EMU’s crowdfunding platform to purchase materials and tools. The team has put long hours into the project, working between classes, evenings, and sometimes in all-day sessions on Saturdays. Earlier this semester, they spent 11 hours at Excel Steel’s nearby metal shop welding the chassis.

Buddy Wilkins, the group’s faculty advisor, said the students are learning welding, mechanical design, aerodynamics, fluid mechanics, and design through the project.

“The hope is this will be ongoing” from year to year, Wilkins said.

“Really generous people have been very supportive of this project,” Bontrager-Singer said. EMU’s Student Government Association helped get the project off the ground, and local businesses and individual donors have lent their support, too. The group also took a trip to James Madison University (JMU), which has fielded an Eco-marathon team for a few years now.

“They’ve been very open about answering questions and talking about what they’re doing,” said Bontrager-Singer. The EMU team had planned to ship their car to California on a truck along with JMU’s entry.

Prior to this project, the extent of Bontrager-Singer’s automotive experience was changing out an alternator and other minor car repairs with his father. His teammates have a variety of expertise, he said, but all have a general handiness about them.

“I am grateful for the work and learning that my teammates have put in,” he said.

The members of the EMU Eco-marathon team are: 

• Ethan Beiler,
• Ben Bontrager-Singer,
• Caleb Hostetler,
• Jaden Jones,
• Collin Longenecker,
• Taylor Longenecker,
• Douglas Nester,
• Tessa Waidelich,
• Luke Wheeler,
• Aaron Zimmerman, and
• faculty advisor Buddy Wilkins.

The businesses sponsoring the project are:

• Dynamic Aviation
• InterChange Group
• TCW Computer Systems Inc
• The Stanger Group
• Belier-Campbell Realtors
• Jacob Kline Automotive
• Mar-Vo Mineral Company
• East Coast Bike Company
• Excel Steel Works