Tech got a mention from autoblog.
http://green.autoblog.com/2014/04/30...-find-upsides/
Tech got a mention from autoblog.
http://green.autoblog.com/2014/04/30...-find-upsides/
There were many more big stories on the Eco Car a couple of years ago when we set the Urban Concept gasoline record and took home several other awards. I was on that team. It seems that the focus these days is more on winning the design award (which has been done several years in a row) than on performance.
I was in Houston last year as well as this year at the marathon and it seems that there is also a shift away from the prototype cars by many of the major teams. And I was also thinking it was because of an increased emphasis on appearance in the urban concept class.
We got 3rd and 2nd in the Categories we entered. We didn't enter the Prototype category, only urban concept.
Also, like that we'll be entering the new CNG category next year.
I doubt we'll get back into building prototype cars. Nearly everyone that built the last proto car has graduated, and those guys did nearly all of the work on it. I worked on the Urban Concept, and while most of us that built the car that year ("Roadster") have graduated, we were able to draw a lot of interest from freshmen/sophomores that are still around. Our performance that year really helped boost student interest, and it also got us a good bit of money from new sponsors, including CenterPoint who is now the top sponsor.
It was easy to see just a couple of years ago when I competed that the Prototype cars were starting to lose interest from the people at Shell and from schools. The push for the Urban Concept cars is mainly driven by the fact that they're easier to market to the public and because they do have a level of practicality that Prototype cars don't have. Prototype cars are easier for high schools and teams that are just starting out because there are less restrictions, but they certainly don't have the appeal that they used to.
Apparently they are moving the competition to Detroit next year.
They still are as far as I know. From what I've heard, it stems from a push by the automakers to have it up there.