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Clean Snowmobile Challenge Coming
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JANUARY 23, 2004 -- Fifteen teams from universities across North America's snow belt have signed up to go sled to sled at Michigan Tech in this year's SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, including last year's champion, the University of Idaho.
The sleds will compete March 15-20 at MTU's Keweenaw Research Center, known for its vehicle test grounds and the Midwest's finest winter driving track. This will be Michigan Tech's second year hosting the event, which is being organized by the Keweenaw Research Center and MTU's mechanical engineering department.
The Clean Snowmobile Challenge is the Society of Automotive Engineers' newest collegiate design competition. Teams of engineering students from participating schools take a stock snowmobile and then reengineer it to reduce emissions and noise while maintaining or improving performance.
"We expect to see some innovative designs this year," said Jay Meldrum, director of the Keweenaw Research Center.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is experimenting with a gas-electric hybrid motor. And other teams are rumored to be working on unconventional approaches.
In the past, most teams have succeeded by improving upon last year's technologies. Something novel may required to win this year. "We've raised the bar in terms of noise and emissions," Meldrum said. The control sled, against which the contestants will be measured, will be a four-stroke Arctic Cat 660.
"It's a very clean, quiet sled," Meldrum said. "When I was riding one, people would come up to me and ask, 'Is your sled on?'"
Because the standard is so high, any two-stroke snowmobile that meets or beats the emissions standards will receive a 50-point bonus.
Teams will put their sleds through a series of performance and emissions tests, including an endurance run north to Copper Harbor.
The public will be invited to view the handling and acceleration events, held at the Keweenaw Research Center on March 20.
Teams registered for this year's Clean Snowmobile Challenge include Clarkson University in New York, Colorado State University, Ecole de Technologie Superieure in Montreal, Idaho State University, Kettering University in Flint, McGill University in Montreal, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State University-Mankato, Montana Tech, SUNY-Buffalo, the University of Idaho, the University of Maine, the University of Waterloo in Ontario, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
Major sponsors of the 2004 SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge are the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association, the Michigan Snowmobile Association, Gage Products, the American Council of Snowmobile Associations, PCB Piezotronics, the Blue Ribbon Coalition, Portage Health System, ThermoAnalytics, Emitec, Colder Products, Witting Contracting and Woody's.
For more information, contact Meldrum at 906-487-3178, jmeldrum@mtu.edu.
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