How would you like to drive a car that gets 866 miles to the gallon?

Or if you are concerned about energy independence, you could drive an E85 vehicle-using a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline that goes 3,000 miles before it uses a gallon of gasoline.

In what science fiction universe do such vehicles exist? It's happening right in the here and now, thanks to the Minnesota Technical Education Association's 20th annual SuperMileage Challenge.

Student teams from 50 Minnesota schools gathered on Monday and Tuesday at the Brainerd International Raceway and fielded 92 ultralight vehicles in a competition to see not who could go fastest, but who could use the least fuel.

"Minnesota's corn organizations began supporting the SuperMileage Challenge in the early 1990s, and we have been a major supporter ever since," said Bruce Stockman, executive director of Minnesota Corn Growers Association. "Our first interest was to help create greater awareness of the ten-percent ethanol blend, because at that time, many automotive mechanics had the mistaken notion that E10 was harmful to conventional gasoline engines. Sometimes you can't convince people who are firmly set in their ideas-our hope was to reach the young people, going into car repair and show them how well ethanol works, and show them in a way that they'd never have a doubt about it's performance characteristics."

Stockman, communications staffer Marri Carrow and MCGA Regional Representative Larry Amberg all attended the event, standing in for grower leaders who are all out planting their corn and getting started on soybeans right about now.

The effort to create a new generation without any prejudices about ethanol's performance was a great success, according to Stockman. In the late 1990s, when the Twin Cities became a pilot location for the use of E85, the corn growers decided to add an incentive for kids who would build a vehicle that could operate on the high ethanol blend. This year's $300 prize for the top performing E85 vehicle went to Chisago Lakes High School, whose E85 vehicle got 493 miles per gallon of fuel in its best run, and just over 400 mpg as an average of its nine runs on the Brainerd track.

The challenge requires competitors to drive twice around the 3.2-mile course, maintaining a speed between 15 and 30 miles per hour. The fuel use is calculated by weighing the fuel canister-about the size of a liter pop bottle-before and after the completion of a run.

Alden Conger High School won with the best overall mileage for a modified gasoline powered vehicle which achieved 866.66 mpg on its best run, and averaged just under 600 mpg over the course of ten runs with the vehicle. Dave Bosma was the advisor of the winning Alden conger team. Mike Sandell advised the Chisago High team that garnered a trophy with its E85 vehicle.

"Many students put a whole year into the effort of putting together their vehicles, and it really shows," said Carrow. "We saw some really interesting and attractive designs that achieved amazing performances. With this fuel crisis we are in now, we absolutely need to support programs like this, because conservation is essential-it will help all of us."

Armstrong High School won in the stock category, where students take the Briggs & Stratton lawn mower engine and use it without modification, in their vehicle. Armstrong got 577.17 mpg on its best run and averaged 418.98 mpg over 14 runs.

"We have found there was a lot more value in the SuperMileage Challenge than we at first thought," said Stockman. "For students who don't fit in at school or find an interest that energizes them-these kids have been able to find their niche, and they learn about how to work in a team. There's a real spirit in working together, and a lot of these kids who haven't found that kind of atmosphere in their school sports or academics, find it in SuperMileage. It really gives them a whole new doorway into learning."

Click here - to check out the homepage for MTEA SuperMileage