2015 Formula Hybrid: Results

Dartmouth's Formula Hybrid Competition held annually at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway offers "an interdisciplinary design and engineering challenge for undergraduate and graduate university students.” The competition is part of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Collegiate Design Series and is regarded as the most complex and dynamic of the series. See this year's summary score sheet.

But as usual, experiential learning was the biggest result:

"It’s brought in a lot of interdisciplinary communication and collaboration between electricals, mechanicals, we’ve actually got biomedicals on the team," said team leader Nick Pakledinaz '15 of Lawrence Technological University. "With this program you really get to see the other sides of engineering, what it takes to get that kind of a vehicle put together, where you can’t just have one major, you need to have the electricals, you need to have the computer science…The hybrid competition is much more innovation and seeing how you can push the boundaries of what’s possible. Although it’s a really big challenge, it’s also in my opinion got the biggest payoff of the SAE competitions."

"We like cars, we like racing, and we like solving tough engineering problems," said Matthew Feddersen '15 from University of Illinois. "And tackling a huge problem like a race car, and being able to accomplish that within design constraints and also within stringent rules, that’s a great accomplishment and that’s why we’re here, to solve that problem."

Hybrid Category

1. University of Waterloo (765.67)
2. McMaster University (371.13)
3. University of Victoria (278.29)

Electric Category

1. Tufts (597.87)
2. Carnegie Mellon University (277.27)
3. Georgia Institute of Technology (238.87)

First Place in SAE IEEE Formula Hybrid. Champions of the most difficult collegiate design competition in the world.

A photo posted by Rishi Chatterjee (@rishdawgmillionaire) on Apr 30, 2015 at 4:59pm PDT

Awards

Fiat Chrysler Innovation Award

...creativity in design, use of component, or strategy of competition:

• Illinois Institute of Technology ($1,000)

Fiat Chrysler Industrial Design Award

...form and function in an efficiently designed and well-built vehicle.

• Atilim University ($1,000)

Fiat Chrysler Gracious Professionalism Award

...outstanding sportsmanship, team collaboration, and gracious attitude both on and off the track.

• University of Victoria ($1,000)

General Motors Best-Engineered Hybrid System Award

1. McMaster University ($2,500)
2. University of Vermont ($1,500)
3. Illinois Institute of Technology ($1,000)

IEEE Engineering the Future Award and Excellence in EV Engineering Award

• McMaster University (for multidisciplinary makeup of the team and evidence that the vehicle design contained all of the features of a proper racecar)
• Carnegie Mellon University (for excellence in the entire EV engineering process)

See full description of awards.