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A team from Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire have organised a new annual competition to boost hybrid technology interest. Formula Hybrid™ invites teams of college and university students to design, build, and race formula racecars with gas-electric hybrid drivetrains.
In addition to Dartmouth, a number of schools around the country have already registered to take part in the inaugural event. The first annual Formula Hybrid competition will be held May 1-3, 2007, at New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon, NH. Along with inspiring students to pursue careers in hybrid-engine technology, the competition could lead to innovations in the field, said Formula Hybrid Director and Thayer School Research Engineer Douglas Fraser. "Students are notoriously able to come up with novel solutions. They don't go in with preconceived notions. They sometimes launch off in directions that you think, 'My God, that won't work,' and, lo and behold, it does." Formula Hybrid is an offshoot of the Formula SAE® program, established in 1981 and sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, which challenges collegiate teams to design, build, and compete with formula racecars. Formula Hybrid had its beginnings in 2003 when Dartmouth engineering students began researching their first hybrid racecar in hopes of entering it in that year's Formula SAE competition. However, the Formula SAE competition rules changed that year to disallow hybrid entries, thus inspiring the students to develop a hybrid competition. Both the SAE and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers are sponsors of the program. The May event will include a design competition as well as three driving events testing the vehicles' acceleration, handling, and endurance (how far and fast the vehicle goes on a certain amount of gasoline). More information:
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