three teams of young engineers battle to buildsome of the world's most fuel-efficient cars, high tech vehicles that can do thousands ofmiles per gallon. they are pushing technology -- and themselves- to the limit. who will succeed when the teams go head tohead? who will face disaster?
Offshore Job Brazil, this is the world of shell eco-marathon. the eco-marathon is a competition to findthe world's most economical vehicles. it's open to student engineers as a way toinspire them to design, build, and race the next generation of automotive technology.
with oil running out and the number of vehicleson the planet set to double to 2 billion by 2050, these tiny cars offer a glimpse of thefuture. today, shell's eco-marathon is a global seriesof events held across asia, europe and the americas. in spring 2013, 150 student teamsconverged on downtown houston, texas to battle for the americas title. this is the story of three of those teams. its mid-february in canada, with just 7 weeksuntil the big event. and a team from universitã© laval, quebecis getting ready for this year's challenge, after a nightmare last time out.
my name is philippe bouchard. i'm the generalmanager of alerion supermileage team from laval university, quebec, canada. we won shell eco marathon three years in arow but last year we had a disaster when our car wouldn't start. so this year we changed things a little bit.we made smaller teams that work on specific areas of the car. among them you have louis-davidwho works on the electronics. you have guillaume who designed the shell. and we have lucas who is in charge of theclutch system. last, but not least we have audrey our driver.
i'm training because i want to lose some weightfor the competition. one of the keys to winning the eco-marathonis to keep the all in weight of the car as light as possible. so, audrey is trying toget as close as she can to the minimum driver weight allowed, 110 pounds. to minimise weight further laval uses an ultralightweight carbon fibre body. the car category is called a prototype. theseare single seat, 3-wheeled cars. the two wheels at the front of the car are for steering,the rear wheel is for drive. the canadians compete in the highly competitivegasoline fuel class. their motor started life as a single cylinder,3.5 horsepower lawnmower engine, but it's
been heavily modified to improve fuel efficiency. this package is a winning formula. laval currentlyholds the all americas gasoline prototype record of 3168 miles per gallon. it's a good occasion to prove ourselves tothe world, what we can do, what we can accomplish as young engineers. at the shell eco-marathon in houston, eachcar is supplied with an identical amount of fuel - the fuel-efficiency is then calculatedover 10 laps of the 0.6-mile circuit. but, completing the 6-mile distance isn'teasy, as the canadians know only too well, from last year.
i tried and tried to start the engine by pushinga little button more than ten times but it never worked so it was very frustrating. getting such a fail last year, we feel wehave to get back on top. now, with just 7 weeks until the competition,there's intense pressure on louis-david and his team to redesign the engine managementsystem so that the motor runs consistently. but so far, they haven't even got it started... holy... the bolts we were using to the crankshaftposition just snapped off. it was so close to starting.
we have some combustion so the force justbroke our three plastic bolts so we've got to replace them. meanwhile, 860 miles south, in the unitedstates, there's growing excitement among the students of james b dudley high school. how you doing? i'm terry wallace. my name is nazih magao. hey, i'm brayan cruz and i'm captain of thedudley motor sports. my name is zachary apple. i'm rochelle musebed and i'm the driver.
who are we, dudley, who are we, dudley.....oooooaah. for me being in this competition is just veryexciting. i just can't wait to get there. i love this, this is the best thing i haveever done with my life so far... it's a life changing opportunity. and we're ready to win. these high school students come from a deprivedneighbourhood of greensboro, north carolina... the team here at james b dudley high schoolis unique... they're from about 5 to 6 different countries... and speak about 10 differentlanguages. they're just learning english, they don'tusually have a lot of money, a lot of them
have come from refugee camps, so of coursethey don't have anything when they get here. resources in the school are also stretched,so the students are forced to build their cars on virtually no money. red flip the switch... it's on flip it the other way, it's backwards. in two years competing at houston, the dudleypanthers have failed to record a single valid result. this year, they're hoping to double theirchances of success by entering a car in both
eco-marathon vehicle categories. their first car is in the prototype category,the same as the canadians, if a little more basic. their second will compete in the urban conceptcategory. this is a more practical vehicle -- among other things it must have headlights,turning signals and 4 wheels - closer in design to the cars you see on the road. there are also six fuel categories to choosefrom - the panthers have opted for battery/electric, for both cars, due to the lower developmentcosts. their lack of cash has also forced them toapproach their builds very differently to
other teams - both cars are made entirelyfrom junk. we just don't have enough money to buy newthings for the car. we always have to recycle. this back here they're from the umbrella froma picnic table. let's see... this right here come from a treadmill, theseright here are vacuum poles, this is a child booster chair. and that's where the engineering comes wherewe find something in the shop or find something in the road and we need to think about howwe can apply it to the vehicle. and it works a little bit! in the brazilian surf mecca of florianopolis...there's trouble in paradise for team e3...
last year, the brazilians finished 7th inthe same category as the canadians. this year they're aiming for a top three place. time is their greatest challenge. due to thedistance from texas, the boys and girls from brazil must freight their car to houston aweek earlier than the teams in north america. this means a week less to build and test thecar, and with just a month to go, there's only a frame and a pile of parts. we need to get the car ready this week... it means hard work and some late nights... it's almost midnight and we're still here.we have to finish it tonight otherwise our
schedule will suffer a big delay. new driver, christina is worried. she's onlyjust joined the team and is desperate to test-drive a completed car. i'm really nervous because i'm still goingto learn how to drive the best way. last year our driver crashed and i really hope i don'tdo this. the team have to assemble everything beforetrying to run the engine for the first time. they work into the early hours to get it done,but fatigue sets in... we forgot about the oil in the engine so thatwould be bad. finally, at 4am they're ready to start theengine.
well we started the engine but we couldn'tkeep on moving, keep on working. we actually don't know why but then we had some problemswith the starter of the engine. at least the horn is working. for the dudley panthers in greensboro, northcarolina, building two cars from scrap is proving time consuming. as the houston deadline looms their 'to do'list is daunting. so what we got to do is get the wires straight,on top of that we also need to work on the bodythe roof the steering.our doors.
we need to make sure that the brakes work.engine. yeh, but not only that, it's like unorganised. they are way behind schedule -- head of automotivemechanics, ricky lewis, calls a crisis meeting. if they can't get their act together theywon't be going anywhere. i worry about y'all, you guys gotta be aboutit, you got to get focused attention to what you're doing. i guess who wants to go to houston? but yougot to show enthusiasm energy work your butts off out there. okay? no standing around. work! this is one shot, one shot guys!it's a once in a lifetime thing and if you
guys think sat around just thinking you'rejust going and if you think you can't win you've lost already. guys, weve got to dig in. we go back out thereand say were going to be successful. thats what we want you to dowe want you to be successful. let's knock it out guys. mmm, mmm, work, work, mmm. comeon. what he said it was very, very, true. i didn't really like it but you know it needsto be done. in brazil, after failing to get the enginerunning last night, the team makes final adjustments before trying again...
we just broke our engine. they must strip and re-build it from scratch. the team has badly misjudged the time it takesto assemble a car and the broken engine forces the co-captains to make a critical decision. i think the best would be to postpone thetest with the car for 2 weeks. this new schedule allows them more time tore-build the engine, but little time to test-drive the completed car... the time christina thought she had to perfecther driving style has just disappeared. in 2 weeks, the car must be shipped to houston.
let's hope that my part is ok, too. i haveto practice. in canada, the winter weather drasticallyrestricts testing. quebec is known for having one of the worstwinters in north america. we get snow and ice. it's pretty much freezingall through the winter so that's a big problem for us because we can't test the car outside. but the canadians have planned for this... the kind of innovation that we need to developto overcome the weather are a dynamometer like the one we have right here which allowus to make some engine tests inside. we can know our fuel consumption and also the torquethat we develop during the winter.
on the track, the laval team will use a craftydriving technique. when the car reaches 18 miles per hour they switch off the engineand the car coasts to save fuel. the engine is restarted when the car's speed drops to10 miles per hour. it's called a run-kill strategy. with this strategy we can go really far becausewe're not running the engine all the time. so, we save fuel. the winter weather also prevents team driveraudrey from driving the car outside until she hits the track in houston. this is her first and last opportunity tosit in the car, to check out her driving position
and practice the run-kill procedure. when i want to turn off the engine i turnthe switch like this to off and when i want to start the engine again i push the start...like this and we don't do it now. in the usa, the dudley panthers are turningthings around. their car might be ready for a test drive but their driver isn't... i'm a little nervous... i feel fat. this is the moment of truth... when the panthersfind out if their hard work has paid off. ok we gotta go now. watch your heads. i thinkwe're going to do it right in here for now. but there's a problem... driver rochelle isa driving novice.
ok just go real easy, wait wait wait wait,woah hey guys. ok, the faster you go the easier it is to turn. so come on round. hey guyssee the wheel went down. slow it down a little bit. don't go too fast there. got to get youused to it. is she alright? ....is she alright? no i'm good. you sure? ok. i kind of flipped the car over a little bitbut now i've learned what mistakes i did wrong and i'm going to do better.us dudley panthers we're not going to let nothing stop us.
very good, great day. back in the brazilian workshop, the team haverepaired their engine. it starts first time. it looks like their worries are over. yah, i'm the guy! brener spoke too soon... the engine breaksagain. it's not just the engine that's destroyed.their schedule is also in pieces. they have just 3 weeks until the eco-marathonin houston, but they need at least a week to ship the car there.
this leaves them just 2 weeks to rebuild theengine for a second time and get the car race ready. time is running out, fast. it's very bad our situation right now. weneed like plan b. for me plan b is to leave all the power trainhere, ship the car without it and so we then have three more weeks to work on it. rodrigo's radical plan involves freightingthe car to texas without the engine. this would give them 3 more weeks to fix the motor,before they reunite car and engine at the competition. we won't have any test but at least we cantry to work with the fuel injection here,
we can try to do something. that's my planb. that's not my problem. in quebec, the canadians replace their brokenengine bolts and with some encouragement from a heat gun, try to start up the engine again... but engine reliability isn't the only elementthey must improve to beat their all americas another key factor is how the car cuts throughthe air. this year, they are modifying the aerodynamicsto reduce drag by nearly 14%. having a really aerodynamic shell is our biggestadvantage compared to our opponents. we are way ahead compared to all the other teamsin america.
in the united states, the students from jamesb. dudley high are also working hard to be ready for texas. three weeks to go and theirvehicles are shaping up nicely... very good guys. but like the other competitors, their carsmust conform to a strict upper weight limit. the panthers are confident their prototypeis fine, but their urban concept car is much heavier and to weigh it accurately, they headto a local salvage yard to use the giant scales. ok, so somebody get in. the maximum weight in this vehicle category,excluding driver, is 450 pounds. so now we got to get off of this here right.and you said we got to be how much?
450.ok. 400 pounds on the money, ain't that something. ok so we're good. the team make the most of their time in thescrap yard, by cashing in some of the unused junk from their workshop. look at that, 4 dollars and 20 cents. lookat that. thanks a lot, i do appreciate it. thank you. on their shoestring budget, every dollar counts... down in brazil, co-captain rodrigo has a newplan to make up for lost time... we told all the guys that the car is goingto be shipped earlier than it was supposed
to be shipped. we're just like lying to thembecause they usually work better on a tight schedule. the deceit works. lead engineer, pimba hasrepaired the engine and for the last 2 weeks, the team have been working all hours to getthe car ready so that christina can have a test drive before it's shipped to houston. with the shipping deadline in 2 days, finallyeverything seems to be going right... except... the weather. unbelievable, unbelievable. we were supposedto test drive the car today. i guess not. the whole of the ground floor of the engineeringdepartment is underwater, but thankfully the
car is ok. if we were in this corridor the project wouldbe lost totally. for team driver christina it means at leastanother day's wait to test drive the car. she's beginning to think it's never goingto happen... i'll actually have to practice in an imaginarycar. in north carolina, the dudley panthers arein good shape. they have two cars built and ready for test-driving. sharing time behind the wheel, with rochelleis new recruit, muzdalifa. the seat fits, the car fits, i can reach everythingso it's good.
i'm kinda nervous. let's do it. the girls driving styles could not be moredifferent. slow it down, slow it down, slow it down,slow it down! whereas muzdalifa is overly confident.... stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. rochelle has lost her nerve, following hercrash the previous week. c'mon, c'mon don't stop c'mon. she's losingher confidence again. we're going all the way around, make you a big circle. ok, let'sgo.
to maximise fuel-efficiency, eco-marathonrules state that drivers must average 15 miles per hour over their 10-laps. teacher ricky is looking for both girls todrive at a constant speed. ok, that's what i want right there, she gotit. much better you didn't go as fast. c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon...c'monthere you go that's what i want. for rochelle in particular the extended seattime gives her a crucial boost. alright, alright, alright how does it feel?it feels good. you ok, you ok, alright. i felt good because i didn't do the mistakethat i did the last time. i am really confident
about it because you know we've worked reallyhard for this project and i'm pretty sure it's going to pay off. i think it was very successful, we're leapsand bounds from where we were last year. the vehicle looks pretty good, it drives prettygood and i think we're in good shape. the kids from dudley high have pulled it off. yeah. after days of bad luck, the brazilian's caris finally ready for its first test drive among the flood debris... with just a week until houston, they mustfreight it tomorrow or it won't arrive in
time for the competition. if something goes wrong i'll be devastated. it's a big moment, driver christina isn'ttrusted with the car's maiden voyage, instead chief engineer pimba, is given the hot seat. the engine runs perfectly... but there's no power to the wheels. the rear wheel broke and now we're going tohave to take the car back, sit and have a pleasant conversation. we are students. if we don't break anythingwe don't learn from it. so we're supposed
to break things. this time the screws connecting the drivetrain to the rear wheel have snapped. they have just 12 hours to fix the problembefore the car is shipped. we had two screws and both of them broke andnow we are adding four more screws and replacing the two screws that broke. pimba pulls off another miracle and they areset for a second attempt. christina is finally given the driving seat- her first and last chance to drive the car before it's shipped tomorrow. they told me to go slow first time just totest.
it was really, really great. i'm looking forwardto doing it in houston. it's been an almighty struggle but they'vedone it. with a week to go, the canadians are fine-tuningtheir engine. everything has done its job and we put ittogether tonight, bench it, test it and it worked. what a night. we also succeeded in starting the engine everytime so that's a good thing for us because usually the reliability of the engine is themost important part. i think we're in a good way to reach a winat shell eco marathon. with testing complete, the team pack up forthe 1700 mile drive to houston, texas.
houston, texas and the shell eco-marathon2013 is in town. over the next 4 days, 150 student teams willfight to have their eco-car crowned the most fuel-efficient on the planet. competition takes place in two vehicle categories-- prototype and urban concept - within each, there are multiple fuel classes. the teams race repeatedly to improve theircar's fuel-economy. eventually, the car that completes 10 lapsof houston's 0.6-mile street circuit, using the least amount of fuel, wins. and the canadians arrive looking confident.
the brazilians still have work to do, if theyare to challenge for the gasoline prototype title. they never completed their electronic fuelinjection system... we just have to finish something, the steeringsystem, then we have to do all the mapping of the fuel injection. er, with the fuel injectionwe can go further. the fuel injection system could improve mileageby up to 30%, but if they don't get it to work properly, the car will actually use moregas. it means working through the night, again,to be ready in time. it's something very big in our project. wespend a lot of money on it, put a lot of effort
into this, it's time to make it work. the dudley panthers leave their arrival intexas until the last minute. and there's dramatic news from prototype driver,rochelle. i was unable, you know, to get a license tobe able to drive, and for safety reasons i don't think it's a good idea to drive. so, teammate huon steps into the driving seatto replace her in the prototype. both cars have arrived in tact, by road fromgreensboro. but once out of the box there are issues withthe brakes on the prototype. we got little problems here. not really bad,some little things we got to isolate.
it's vital both cars pass technical inspection,otherwise they will not be allowed to compete. technical inspection is a series of safetychecks that each vehicle must pass... ...and the canadians are ready for it. we have some fine tuning to do this eveningbut everything will be fine. the team passes all the safety checks, buttheir biggest concern is the weigh in... at this competition, the top prototypes weighan average of 120 pounds. the canadians need to be less than 100, if they hope to win andbreak records. we put a lot of components that are a lotmore reliable, but slightly heavier. 97 pounds. we're a little bit heavier thanlast year but this is not a problem.
at 97 pounds, the car weighs less than theirdriver. it's a great start... and as one of the first teams to pass technical inspection,they can now test their car on the track. for the dudley panthers it's a different story.still worried about their prototype's brakes, they head to inspection. i just really, really hope it's gonna passbecause we worked really hard. at first, everything goes well. you passed it, you're good! awesome. but then it's the brake test...the brakes must hold the car on the slope.
alright, you're gonna have to squeeze man,both hands. yeah, it's not workin' ok. it didn't pass, that's not good. so, it's back to base to fix the brakes. outside on the track, the canadians are readyfor their practice run. their first aim is to break their own eco-marathonrecord, set 4 years ago, of 2756 mpg. last year, they didn't even get over the startline.... will this year bring more heartbreak? the engine starts first time. that's cool. it works. finally it works....
team e3 from brazil have been struggling withtheir new fuel injection system and the clock is ticking. half an hour to pass the technical inspectionotherwise we won't run tonight. we won't run tomorrow morning. with time almost up, they decide to entertechnical inspection without their hi-tech fuel injection system. we always leave things to do in the last minute. technical inspection closes at 5:30 and itslike 5:30 right now. they make it, but yet again there are problems.
the starter isn't working, i don't know why. chief engineer pimba, has just minutes tofix the starter motor. if he can't, they will lose another day on the track. thank god! those are the stickers we have been waitingfor. technical inspection approved, safety inspection approved. we are good to go! on track, canadian driver audrey is goingwell. laval's run/kill strategy is working. shekills the engine... and allows the car to coast so as not to burn valuable fuel.
but it's a tactic that has risks... starting and stopping the engine drains power... ... and this battery has run flat. it should be a simple case of changing it. we are putting the best battery that we have,so hopefully it goes well. but even with a new battery, the car won'tstart... i worry a little bit that i don't know what'shappening with our engine right now. for the moment i have no clue. the team works long into the night.
next morning, after only three hours sleep,the exhausted canadian team gets in line for the first run of the day. it turns out the street circuit rattled theengine's electrics loose, but with everything tightened up, the car is good to go. we stayed up 'til four in the morning to getthe car ready. it's going to pay off for sure. now on the track... vehicle 77 from lavaluniversity. with 10 laps complete, audrey pulls into themeasuring station. everything went well but we have to have thenumbers. the amount of fuel used over the 10 laps ismeasured and miles per gallon computed.
our best score two years ago used 8 millilitresof fuel. we just used 6 point something. seven, seven? oh my god. the canadians break their own eco-marathonrecord, with a new figure of 3000 miles per gallon. next, they're determined to smash their ownall americas record of 3168 miles per gallon. last year, the brazilians achieved 969 milesper gallon to take 7th place. this year they want a top 3 finish, but withouttheir new fuel injection system that seems unlikely. we are hoping a good mileage, not the bestbut our first run so we can feel the car and
see how it's going. the brazilians are also using a run/kill strategy,but at this point, with all the problems they've had, they're more concerned with getting 10full laps under their belt. driver christina crosses the start line...and already there is trouble. the rear body panel is dangerously loose. 'continua, continua'. despite the rear panel falling off, the engineseems to be running well. but when she gets to the back straight, disasterstrikes, yet again. the run kill strategy has failed.
the engine has stalled leaving christina dangerouslyexposed on a blind corner, but track officials mustn't touch the car for 30 seconds to allowher time to re-start it. on the track, other drivers are only seeingchristina at the last second and missing her by centimetres. christina is unhurt... but what about thecar? some people have just told me that some otherteam hit us, that's not good at all. it might have damaged the car in ways we can't repair. as the car returns, without even completinga lap, their worst fears are realized. its over!
the front left wheel has been sheared off duringthe collision. the first lap, yah, that's really disappointing. after months of hard work and sleepless nights,it looks like their competition is over. after two days of working on their car, jamesb dudley high have fixed the brakes and passed tec. inspection. it's now down to new driver,huon, to negotiate houston's corners. the guys really worked hard over the weekend.we were trying to get out here and all the work they done back at school just for thismoment. in their two previous years, the team hasnever completed the 10 laps. good luck.
our goal right now is actually to finish in10 laps. i'm nervous right about now. my baby's beginningto walk. he's right on schedule. he's at 2 minutesand 29 seconds. he's actually doing really well. he's runnin'a good time. lap 6 man, lap 6.i feel very confident. but they're not there yet. lap 8 man. just two more laps to go and they will havemade dudley high history. that's nine. she got one more to go.
yes. yes.first time ever finishing 10 laps and not only did he finish it consistently, he finishedit in style. that's what we wanted. that's what i'm talking about. meanwhile the panthers' urban concept car,is still struggling to pass tech. inspection. team e3 from brazil haven't given up and thinkthey've found a way to reattach the wheel that was ripped off. they're off shopping to buy new materialsto repair the car. they work through the night to rebuild boththe steering system and weld the broken pieces back together, improvising with the few toolsthey have at hand.
it's the last day of competition and finally,the dudley panthers' urban concept car is ready to race. but they are still having problems... the mic is not working we're trying to get the radio working beforewe get started but we need to position ourselves now. with time running out they must get to thestart line... get to the start line to go. and so, their second car hits the track.race rules state it must run 10 laps within
24 minutes and 45 seconds. but without the radios working no one cantell musdalifa her lap times. she needs to speed up because she's at 14minutes now she at 5 laps, we need to do 24 minutes. if she doesn't speed up -- the door! with no radio communication the team can'ttell her to speed up or that she must fix the door... they gonna stop her. they'll probably makeher get off the track. we try to speak so loud that she can understandthat she has to pick up the door.
muzdalifa is trying to drive and fix the car'sdoor. if she can't do both, she could be forcedto retire. she got it -- yes. she got one more lap to finish the race so... she gotta speed up. with seconds to spare... she makes it. they might not have won, but for the dudleypanthers, it's a huge achievement. it's the last run of shell eco marathon americas2013 and against all the odds team e3 from brazil have made it back onto the start line.
everything is fine, it's almost a miracle.the guys did a great job. most of the teams would have given up but we didn't. but yet again there are problems with theengine. it keeps cutting out... ...and christina limps across the start line. the chances of her completing the required10 laps look slim. the shell eco marathon will close at 2:15pm... after three laps and the end of the sessionlooming, the brazilians pull the car off the track in a desperate attempt to get the enginerunning consistently.
the prototype starting cue, for the thirdand final session, will close in fifteen minutes. meanwhile, the canadians are back out on thetrack again, aiming to beat their own record. i hope we are going to get a good run. let'sgo. i think it will be our best score. if we canlower fuel consumption a few percent. i'm pretty sure we can do it. time is running out for the brazilians aspimba struggles to resolve the engine problem. the prototype cue is now closed. all teamsthat are on the track ... on the track it's over... team e3 has failed to record a single resultin 2013.
we are very unlucky, so many problems, somany issues we weren't expecting. it's disappointing. it's just bad. next year, there is shell eco marathon 2014waiting for us. it's a very different story for the canadians.audrey is setting consistent lap times. she's right on time, so that's good. she crosses the line. for me i have a good feeling. we'll wait forthe result. in 2009, at a competition in michigan, theyused 6.9 millilitres of fuel to set their
all americas record, of 3168 miles per gallon. gotta be better than 6.9, right?5.8 on the nose. universitã© laval has smashed the all americasgasoline prototype record, with an incredible 3,600 miles per gallon. in this car, less than half a gallon of gas,would take you from houston, texas across the american continent to los angeles, california. after last year's disappointment, team alerionsupermileage from quebec, canada are crowned shell eco marathon americas gasoline prototypechampions 2013.
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