BINGHAMTON, NY – One national award-winning car and two others headed to nationwide competitions will be unveiled at 3 p.m. Friday, May 13, at Binghamton University’s Innovative Technologies Complex (ITC), 85 Murray Hill Rd., Vestal.
Cars will be driven by student-drivers in the ITC parking lot on Friday to show off what each can do, plus the build teams and advisors will be on hand to answer any questions.
Each car -- a formula-style electric racecar, one designed for super-efficient gas mileage, and a rugged off-roader -- was built by Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science students and has beaten, or will face-off against, other collegiate creations in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Collegiate Design Series this summer.
The "Green Machine" won the Electric Division of the 2016 Formula Hybrid Competition at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., on May 5. The car, which was designed, built and funded by a collaboration of 13 Binghamton and SUNY Broome students, won events such as acceleration (75 meters in 6.207 seconds from a standing start) and autocross (agility course) on the way to the title. The competition, founded and run by the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth since 2006, requires teams to create a formula-style electric or plug-in hybrid racecar and compete in a series of events including acceleration, autocross, braking, tilt and endurance. Dozens of colleges and universities across America enter the competition every year.
Videos and photos of the team competing can be found at facebook.com/BUmotorsports.
Professor Bruce Murray from the Binghamton mechanical engineering department and Assistant Professor Gary C. DiGiacomo from the Broome Community College department of engineering technologies are advisors of the Formula Hybrid project.
The supermileage car, which requires teams to follow strict SAE design constraints to build an ultra-efficient vehicle, is headed to Michigan in June to compete. This year’s competition will put vehicles through various obstacle courses and a 9.6-mile race to test fuel efficiency.
The baja car will compete in Rochester in June and was designed and built to be an off-road vehicle that will survive the severe punishment of rough terrain. All vehicles in the competition are powered by a ten-horsepower Intek Model 20 engine, donated by the Briggs & Stratton Corporation.
David Pavlick, an adjunct professor in Binghamton’s mechanical engineering department, is the advisor of both the supermileage and baja projects.
Each project started at the beginning of the academic year and included collaborative design, construction, funding and marketing efforts by dozens of students from the Watson School and Broome Community College. Funding for each car varies, but, in general, support comes from the Watson School, corporate sponsorships for senior design projects, and donations of equipment, time, and/or money from local companies, parents and friends.
