By Emma Stone
The 2023 Shell Eco Marathon Regional Competition was hosted at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Ruston High School among the participants.
From April 13-16, two teams represented RHS with an electric prototype and a gas urban concept car.
The prototype battery electric car won 12th in its category and was the first time in the history of Bearcat Motorsports to have a valid run.
Students on this team led by Roy Bennett, RHS senior and proto battery electric car team captain, began by creating the prototype via software.
Then, they used wood and foam mold to lay up carbon fiber for the body and chassis. RHS welding team helped to weld the pieces together.
The competition’s first couple of days were spent in technical inspection where each team had to meet a checklist to pass the regulations.
“All of our teams went into different technical inspection roles to help explain our car, because our teachers don’t walk them through the entire checklist,” said Bennett.
Regionals were open to universities and high schools including schools from the United States, Canada, Mexico and a few South American countries.
“We are competing against some of the biggest universities in the country,” said Bennett. “They have had cars for ten years being modified whereas our prototype this year was built.”
The urban concept car featured an internal combustion engine running on gas that placed sixth in its category and won first in technical inspection.
With both cars being completely student led and operated, the weekend was filled with preparing for the main challenge: drive four laps in under 35 minutes.
Trent Baker, RHS senior and urban concept team captain, spoke about the effort that it took to switch the urban concept car that previously ran electric to gas.
“We put a lot of time and work into building these cores and upgrading them,” said Baker. “Working on this car, we kind of became close and learned each other’s weaknesses and strengths.”
During practice, they found the best strategies of knowing when to accelerate, how to coast and how to take turns to be more efficient.
Two team members were primary drivers with another two as reserve drives. Others included track spotters and timers to see how fuel was used and how fast the car was going.
The RHS team did not place high enough to go to the world championships in India but hope to upgrade and keep working to improve for next year.
