The Shell Eco Marathon is a vehicle fuel efficiency competition for university students. This year, it was hosted in Houston and I was able to attend as a member of UBC's Supermileage team. We entered the gasoline competition, with a prototype and urban concept vehicle. An all-expenses paid trip to Texas for a week, sounds like a nice vacation right? After rescheduling a few final exams and a bleary eyed drive down to Seattle we were off!
The first day in Houston was spent registering and getting settled in. The crate carrying the two cars we built arrived a few hours later than expected, but we brushed this off as a minor setback. Little did we know, this was only the beginning. The next two days can be described by Murphy's Law - anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. The engine team was having trouble tuning due to the humid and hot weather, a far cry from Vancouver. As a member of the electrical division, we ended up rewiring the entire lights system after frying both Arduinos we brought. The battery we brought along died, and the roof of the prototype car had to be refitted. To top it off, the prototype car finished its lap one second slower than allowed, resulting in a DNF. Each member probably averaged 4 hours of sleep over two days.
Despite these major setbacks, the urban concept still came in third place. After the grueling competition, we did a little
sight-seeing at NASA's Houston headquarters. All in all it was an amazing experience.