Student vehicle achieves over 800 miles per gallon

Warrendale, PA (June 15, 1999) — St. Thomas Academy, Mendota Heights, Minnesota won the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE International) Supermileage® competition on June 12 by achieving 882.07 miles-per-gallon during the two-day event.

Fourteen teams competed in the 20th annual competition that was hosted by Eaton Corporation at their Proving Grounds in Marshall, Michigan.

On their first run, St. Thomas Academy recorded the winning miles-per-gallon figure. Their second and third runs both achieved over 800 mpg. Ryerson Polytechnic University from Toronto, Ontario, Canada finished second with 526.84 mpg as their highest and Universite de Sherbrooke from Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada was third with 497.65 mpg.

The top ten teams of the Supermileage® competition were:

Place Teams MPG 1 St. Thomas Academy #1 882.07 2 Ryerson Polytechnic University #10 526.84 3 Universite de Sherbrooke #14 497.65 4 Comstock Engineering #4 448.95 5 University of Massachusetts #12 396.23 6 The University of Akron #2 364.63 7 LeTourneau University #5 320.07 8 Marshall #9 283.88 9 Universite de Moncton #8 265.78 10 The Pennsylvania State University #7 239.80

Supermileage® is one of eight collegiate design competitions held each year by SAE throughout North America. Other events include three regional Mini Baja competitions for off-road vehicles, two Aero Design competitions for radio-controlled aircraft, a Formula SAE competition for mini formula-style race cars, and a Walking Machine Decathlong for robotics. Click here for a complete list of student design competitions.

Click here for more information about the Supermileage® competition, or contact Lori Pail at SAE International, 400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, PA 15096-0001; phone: 724/772-8534; fax: 724/776-0890; or email: lorile@sae.org.

Lori Pail
Educational Relations
Phone: 724/772-8534
Email: lorile@sae.org