(Press Release from New Hampshire Motor Speedway)
The Formula Hybrid Competition returns to New Hampshire Motor Speedway May 2-5 for the 10th consecutive year. (Photo: Courtesy NHMS/Formula Hyrbrid)
Formula Hybrid, an annual spring tradition at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, will celebrate a decade-long run at the speedway next week May 2-5 when it kicks off the 10th annual Formula Hybrid Competition run by Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth. The technology developed during the 10-year run at NHMS can found in the cars and trucks we drive today.
This year’s competition, which features high-performance hybrid and electric race cars built by teams of undergraduate and graduate engineering students, promises to be the biggest and best yet. A total of 28 teams from colleges and universities around the globe are registered, including the competition’s first all-female team. Hot Wheelz, from the Rochester Institute of Technology, attended last year’s event as spectators and it didn’t take long for the team to decide to return as participants in 2016.
In addition to the on-track action, New Hampshire Motor Speedway will host a pair of “Youth Day” sessions on Wednesday, May 4 and Thursday, May 5. Local high school aged students will be attending the sessions and will learn about the math and science behind events that take place at NHMS. Part of the session will include a tour of the Formula Hybrid garage as well as an exhibition of the Yankee Siege II trebuchet, which takes part in the Extreme Chunkin pumpkin launching competition in the fall at the speedway.
Dartmouth based its event on the Formula SAE competition, in which the Dartmouth Formula Racing (DFR) team competed for over 10 years. Like Formula SAE, students compete in aspects of design, acceleration, handling, and endurance of their vehicle and abide by a list of rules that minimize risk while preserving the students’ freedom to innovate. Formula Hybrid teams, however, are faced with the additional challenge of optimizing both energy efficiency and sustainability of materials used in their cars providing students with a uniquely challenging experiential learning experience.
Car manufacturers from across the country will ascend to Loudon, N.H., next week, including Ford, General Motors and of course, Toyota, the official car and truck of New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“Toyota is thrilled to continue our nearly decade long support of Formula Hybrid,” said Robert Wimmer, Director of Energy and Environmental Research Group, Toyota Motor North America. “This competition provides students with the hands-on engineering and program management experience that is highly sought after by the automotive industry. As a company that will eventually offer a hybrid drivetrain in every model we sell, Toyota sees an accelerating demand for the skills being honed by the Formula Hybrid competition.”
A list of all teams entered into this year’s competition:
Amrita Institute of Tech & Science…………….India
Atilim University…………………………………Turkey
Binghamton University…………………………Binghamton, N.Y.
Boston University……………………………….Boston, Mass.
Dartmouth College……………………………..Hanover, N.H.
Desh Bhagat University………………………..India
Ferris State University………………………….Big Rapids, Mich.
Georgia Tech……………………………………Atlanta, Ga.
Illinois Institute of Technology…………………Chicago, Ill.
Lawrence Tech…………………………………Southfield, Mich.
Middle Tennessee State………………………Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Milwaukee School of Engineering…………….Milwaukee, Wis.
North Carolina State University……………….Raleigh, N.C.
Olin College…………………………………….Needham, Mass.
Princeton University……………………………Princeton, N.Y.
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 Idaho……………………………..Moscow, Idaho
Univ. of Illinois – Urbana Champaign…………Champaign, Ill.
Univeristy of Michigan – Ann Arbor……………Ann Arbor, Mich.
University of Vermont…………………………..Burlington, Vt.
University of Victoria……………………………Canada
University of Waterloo………………………….Canada
University of Windsor…………………………..Canada
Yale University…………………………………..New Haven, Conn.
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