Welcome
ACE I at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, NH, 2008
Students from IIT's WISER Formula Hybrid team are preparing for the ride of a lifetime and are expected to lead the race in the 2009 Formula Hybrid student automotive design competition. The Formula Hybrid Competition, sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), challenges teams from around the world to build hybrid race cars to compete in several events and will be held Monday, May 4 to Wednesday, May 6 at Dartmouth College and the New Hampshire International Speedway.
The WISER Formula Hybrid project at Illinois Tech gives students hands-on experience designing and fabricating electrical and mechanical automotive systems. From an industry standpoint, petroleum prices continue to rise every year and consumers are hard pressed to find alternatives to their gasoline-hungry vehicles. Through this project, students will both explore and develop the same cutting-edge automotive technology that will be making its way into many markets in the next few years. With the backing of friends and sponsors, it is the goal of this project to hope to expand hybrid-electric vehicle technology and pave a way for a greener future for consumers and racers alike.
After its 3rd place finish in last year's competition, the team is planning on improving its existing vehicles as well as designing and building a new vehicle. Students from all backgrounds are welcome to get involved!
News
WISER to sponsor IIT Formula Hybrid Racing team for 2009 11-25-2008
The Wanger Institute of Sustainable Energy Research (WISER) pledged last week to match up to $50,000 in donations to IIT's Formula Hybrid racing team for the 2009 Formula Hybrid International Competition. These funds will make it possible for the team to compete against dozens of top universities from around the globe at the New Hampshire International Speedway (NHIS) in May 2009.
WISER, a foundation for a campus-wide energy sustainability effort and to create important learning opportunities for students and faculty from across academic disciplines, was initiated and funded by a generous gift of $5 million made by IIT Trustee Ralph Wanger. WISER's recently appointed director, Dr. Hamid Arastoopour, who is also the most recent Dean of Armour College of Engineering (ACE), has been an avid supporter of the Formula Hybrid program. In fact, ACE has been the Formula Hybrid program's primary sponsor for the past two years, through support of about $50,000 each year.
The Formula Hybrid competition is an academic event that challenges university students to design, build, and race single-seat, open wheeled, hybrid-electric race cars. It is sponsored by the national chapters of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Institute of Electrical Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and will be hosted for the third straight year by Dartmouth University in New Hampshire. IIT's program was founded to compete in the inaugural competition in May 2007, showcasing its first student-built racer. At the second competition in May 2008, the team competed with two vehicles: a brand-new design finishing in third-place overall, and an optimized version of its 2007 vehicle, which finish in seventh overall out of 15 teams.
The Formula Hybrid team is currently poised to take the competion by storm in the upcoming third annual event, to be held once again at the NHIS in May 2009. The team has completed the design for its third car, which it expects to outperform every vehicle in the history of the competition. In fact, the upcoming vehicle may give most production sports cars a run for their money with its estimated 4-second flat acceleration time from 0 to 60 miles per hour. In addition to the new vehicle, the team will have had a solid year to test and tune its top vehicle from last year on hopes of improving upon its third-place finish.
Having more than 100 students involved in the past two years, and another 96 involved this year, the Formula Hybrid project is the largest student project in university history. Led by Faculty Advisor Professor Ali Emadi, undergraduate and graduate students from more than 10 engineering and non-engineering disciplines have contributed to the project since its inception. The project aims not only to prove its technical prowess against other universities, but to serve as a test bed for new technology.
As the team continues its preparations for the competition, they also continue to seek sponsorship from various outlets, especially in industry. The team is also looking for enthusiastic students interested in automotive design, development, and fabrication.