An eco-friendly car, built by a team of Saskatchewan Polytechnic students, has made waves across the pond.
The fuel-efficient car came in second place at the Shell Eco-marathon Drivers’ World Championship on Sunday in London, England.
“Second place is awesome,” said Benjamin Esquirol, a mechanical engineering technology student and one of the team’s drivers. The Saskatchewan squad was the only Canadian team to compete.
“This is the most amazing thing that has happened to our team…. Some of our parents came out and they were waving flags everywhere. It was great. Everyone loved the Canadians out there.”
This is the second time the school has entered the competition, which focuses on how fast and far a handmade car can travel with limited fuel. In April, the team qualified for the race in London, after coming in second place at regionals in Sonoma, California.
“We didn’t expect to barely get the car on the track, and then to be able to finish second in the Americas was just a dream come true altogether, and then the invitation to London was just the icing on the cake,” said Dylan Marquart, the team’s second driver and a CAD/CAM engineering technology student.
The car’s frame is built with recycled hockey sticks and a 3-D printed shell, all of which was created at the school. It went up against other cars that have been competing for years.
“The fact that we built the car from the ground up, purpose built for basically the race, was a huge advantage for us,” said Marquart.
This was not part of the curriculum, so all students worked on the vehicle outside classroom hours. Even though they’ve only been back a couple of days, they area already thinking of how to improve for next year.
