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NEWS RELEASE

Embry-Riddle’s Hybrid Race Car Takes Top Awards in Competition

Daytona Beach, Fla., May 8, 2007 -- No, it doesn’t fly. But a race car designed and built by students from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Daytona Beach is as different as you’d expect. It’s a hybrid, from start to finish.

On May 3, the vehicle won the Most Innovative Design Award and the Daimler-Chrysler Award for Hybrid Systems Engineering at the inaugural Formula Hybrid International Competition.

The Embry-Riddle car – dubbed “Shredder” – also came in first overall among U.S. competitors, which included Colorado State University, Dartmouth College, Drexel University, Florida Institute of Technology, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Yale University. Canada’s McGill University won the overall international competition.

Sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the competition was held at the New Hampshire International Speedway.

The event challenged undergraduate and graduate college and university students to design, build, and compete in an open-wheel, single-seat race car that uses at least 15 percent less gasoline than a traditional race car. They were judged in the categories of acceleration runs, autocross, endurance, design report, and marketing presentation.

“One of the judges commented that it was clear from the outset that the Embry-Riddle team was well prepared, with all the students fully involved in the task and ready to compete,” said Embry-Riddle engineering physics Professor Jack McKisson. He and mechanical engineering Professor Darris White served as the team’s faculty advisors.

Of the numerous Embry-Riddle students who contributed to the project’s success, the following attended the competition in New Hampshire: Craig Czlapinski (team captain), Stuart Chapman, Michael Haupfear, Michael Kuss, Eric Kvam, Yishi Li, Michael Lind, Gianpaolo Malatrasi-Gonzalez, Heather Martin, Ross Martin, Ryle Maxson, Lauren Mehr, Jason Meredith, Sheila Morales, Nazim Nur, Manuel Calleja Reyna, Vince Sabatini, and Dian Sumiskum.

The drive train of the award-winning car is more advanced than any current hybrid vehicle. Power from the gasoline engine and power to and from the electric motor/generator are mixed using two continuously variable transmissions that are automatically controlled. This eliminates the need for a motor controller, allows a single motor/generator instead of two separate machines, and eliminates the need to shift gears.

Funding for the project came from Embry-Riddle Trustee David Robertson, Gulfstream Aerospace, the Embry-Riddle Annual Fund, the Student Government Association, electrical and systems engineering/mechanical engineering Chair Al Helfrick, electrical and systems engineering Professor Bill Barott, software engineering Professor Steve Lehr, and the departments of engineering physics and mechanical engineering.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. The university educates more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Worldwide Campus at more than 130 centers in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu.

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