Alden-Conger’s ethanol car, called “The Corn Burner,” competing at the Shell Eco marathon Americas in Detroit.
After another strong showing at the Shell Eco marathon Americas in Detroit, Alden-Conger is ready for the Supermileage Challenge in Brainerd.
The best way to describe the Supermileage Challenge is this: Teams of high school students design go-kart type vehicles and modify the engines so they travel as far as possible on a single gallon of fuel. Classes of competition include E85 (a blend of 85 percent ethanol fuel and regular gasoline), electric, stock, modified and experimental divisions.
The event is proudly sponsored and supported by the Minnesota Corn Growers Association (MCGA).
It’s probably best to look at pictures to better envision what the Supermileage Challenge is like. Here are photos from Supermileage in 2014. Here’s a video from last year.
The 27th annual Supermileage Challenge kicks off Monday at Brainerd International Raceway. This year’s competition features 17 entries in the E85 class from 15 schools across the state. After sitting out the E85 competition last year, the team from Alden-Conger High School in southern Minnesota plans on running next week.
On April 10-12, Alden-Conger traveled to Detroit for the Shell Eco marathon-Americas, an event similar to Supermileage that attracts teams from major universities and schools throughout North and South America.
Alden-Conger beat them all, taking first place in urban concept diesel, first in E100 urban concept and third in prototype diesel. Their mileage in urban concept diesel and E100 of 507 and 282, respectively, are both American records.
The team of 21 kids also won best vehicle design in the E100 urban class and was offered an opportunity to visit Roger Penske’s shop in North Carolina. Penske is a widely successful auto racing team owner.
The team also represented corn farmers and ethanol at a Harvard workshop, held during the Shell Eco marathon-Americas, where the future of biofuels was debated.
Supermileage is becoming quite the tradition at Alden-Conger high school. The team was welcomed back home with an assembly at the school and continues to receive accolades and recognition.
“I tell the kids we come here to do our best,” said team advisor David Bosma. “The other teams recognize that. They comment that we’re always working, always getting prepared and trying to improve.”
A team from Braham High School in northern Minnesota also traveled to Detroit for the event and won the perseverance and team spirit award.
Come back next week to MinnesotaCornerstone.com for a full report on the Supermileage Challenge event in Brainerd.