News

Element One Team Takes Pole Position
in International Hydrogen-Powered Kart Race

By finishing first in the design competition, Lawrence Tech’s student team Element One has taken the equivalent of the pole  position in the international Formula Zero racing series for a zero-emission, hydrogen-fuel cell-powered race karts.

For more than a year about 40 Lawrence Tech students have labored on a design project with no guarantee that they would be able to participate in the actual races. The race is based on the concept that competitors will all use the same fuel source, and since Formula Zero organizers based in Amsterdam only have access to six hydrogen-fuel-cell race packages, only six teams can compete.

Team members were heartened in February when the Formula Zero announced that Lawrence Tech placed in the top three,  along with teams from Spain and the Netherlands, in the next-to-last round of the design competition. When the final results were announced in March, the Lawrence Tech team came out on top.

“None of this would be possible without hard work, dedication, and determination to win,” said team member Mike Samaroo in announcing Element One’s success. “However, keep in mind that this was just the design competition, and although this was a huge accomplishment for our team, we still have the championship to win.”

The racing season is scheduled to begin in Rotterdam in August. Preliminary discussions about hosting a race in the Detroit area have been put on hold while organizers pursue an opportunity in California.

Formula Zero’s purpose is to use a racing competition to publicize the potential of hydrogen fuel cells to provide a zero-emission solution for transportation. The Formula Zero Championship, Student Edition, was created under the guidance of the Alternative Energies Commission of the Federation Internationale De L’Automobile (FIA), the worldwide governing body of major motor sports series. The long-term goal is to create a racing competition with full-scale race cars.

The university teams will be competing in smaller versions similar to go-karts that are capable of reaching 70 mph. These racing karts will be powered by identical 8.5kW hydrogen fuel cells. The student teams had to design a kart with room for the fuel-cell package, a hydrogen tank, an electric motor and super capacitors to provide rapid acceleration.

Much of the design process involved mechanical and electrical systems that will power the car, and most of the team members are engineering students. When it came time to design the body of the racing kart, the Body & Chassis team reached out to students in the new transportation design program inaugurated last fall by the College of Architecture and Design.

This groundbreaking program combines design theory with engineering so that students will gain the technical knowledge to maintain design intent. Instructors Vance Hanna and Keith Nagara worked with students as they conceptualized ideas that fit within the rules and regulations of the Formula Zero project.

The result is a design distinctly different from the karts currently competing on the professional race circuit, according to Camille Robbins, the Body & Chassis team leader.

Robbins said the final design of the vehicle was inspired by the new F-22 and F-35 fighter planes with the intent of creating something that was instantly recognizable as American. “We wanted something that was cutting edge, but not too involved,” she said.

Element One also incorporated new materials made out of carbon fiber – a lighter, stronger replacement for steel that has been tested in numerous research projects at Lawrence Tech’s Center for Innovative Materials Research (CIMR).

The overall goal of Lawrence Tech’s Element One team is “to change the way people think about energy and sustainability through high-performance, zero-emissions racing.”

For more information about the Formula Zero competition, go to www.formulazero.nl. The Element One website is www.ltufz.com.