LOUDON, N.H. – After more than 10 months of planning, design and construction, hundreds of the world’s top engineering students will arrive at New Hampshire Motor Speedway next week for Dartmouth’s 11th annual Formula Hybrid Competition. The four-day competition will run May 1-4.
Twenty teams from the United States, Canada and India will compete in hybrid and electric divisions, where they will need to pass numerous technical and safety inspections in order to make it on to the speedway. The students’ vehicles will compete in aspects of design, acceleration, handling, and endurance, while abiding by rules that minimize risk and preserve students’ freedom to innovate.
“We are the only hybrid competition of its kind,” said Douglas Fraser, director of the Formula Hybrid and senior research engineer and laboratory instructor at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, which founded and runs the event. “There are competitions that look a lot like ours, but those vehicles are only gasoline powered or powered entirely by electric.
“We are the only competition that combines the two, with gasoline engine on one side and electric power on the other. Blending the output can be done any number of ways. Students have to work together and decide which system gets to do what. It’s pretty tricky.”
As a result, the Formula Hybrid is the only competition that requires the full cooperation of mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and computer scientists in the planning and building of their cars. Formula Hybrid teams must also optimize energy efficiency and incorporate sustainable materials when building their vehicles.
Formula Hybrid gives students the platform to showcase their knowledge, skills and ability to work as a team – all under pressure, as recruiters from major automotive companies and suppliers will be on-hand with the hopes of hiring some of the best and brightest.
For other spectators, May 3 is the “most fun-filled” day to visit, as the autocross and acceleration events run from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It’s also Formula Hybrid School Day for middle and high school students who enjoy guided tours with volunteers from the SAE New England Section and other knowledgeable experts.
A list of all teams entered into this year’s competition:
Amrita Institute of Technology & Science………….India
Binghamton University……………………………………Binghamton, N.Y.
Boston University…………………………………………….Boston, Mass.
Dartmouth College……………………………………………Hanover, N.H.
Georgia Institute of Technology…………………………Atlanta, Ga.
Illinois Institute of Technology………………………….Chicago, Ill.
Lawrence Technological University……………………Southfield, Mich.
Milwaukee School of Engineering………………………Milwaukee, Wis.
Princeton University…………………………………………Princeton, N.J.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute………………………..Troy, N.Y.
Rochester Institute of Technology……………………..Rochester, N.Y.
RV College of Engineering…………………………………India
SRM Engineering College………………………………….India
Tufts University……………………………………………….Medford, Mass.
University of Houston College of Technology……..Houston, Texas
University of Michigan …………………………………….Ann Arbor, Mich.
University of Vermont………………………………………Burlington, Vt.
University of Victoria………………………………………..Canada
Wayne State University…………………………………….Detroit, Mich.
Yale University………………………………………………….New Haven, Conn.
Media wishing to attend the event are encouraged to RSVP to gfaretra@nhms.com ahead of time so that we may add your name to the gate list.
About New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Celebrating more than a quarter century of NASCAR racing in the Granite State, New Hampshire Motor Speedway is the largest sports and entertainment facility in New England and hosts the two biggest sporting events in the six-state region.
Located approximately one hour north of Boston, in Loudon, N.H., the speedway hosts tens of thousands of spectators at each of its two prestigious Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series weekends. The facility is active every day from April through October and attracts more than half a million guests during the season. For more information on NHMS, please visit us at
www.nhms.com.
About Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth
Celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth prepares leaders for a technology-driven world while solving pressing, real-world problems through research and entrepreneurship. Consistently ranked among the top colleges and universities for its commitment to teaching, Dartmouth is the first national research university to graduate a majority-female class of undergraduate engineers.
