UW-Madison Wins It All

WARRENDALE, Pa., March 24, 2009

The University of Wisconsin at Madison was deemed victorious taking 1^st place in both categories at the 2009 SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge hosted at Michigan Technological University’s Keweenaw Research Center on March 16 – 21, 2009.

UW-Madison’s dual entries took both the National Science Foundation Award for the best sled in Zero Emissions category and the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association Award for the first place in the Internal Combustion category.

Registered for this years event were 16 universities across United States and Canada. A total of 18 sleds were scheduled to compete; 13 sleds in internal combustion category and five in the zero emissions. Now in its 10^th year, the Clean Snowmobile Challenge event requires students to take a stock snowmobile and reengineer it to reduce emissions and noise while maintaining or boosting the performance. In 2005 the Rules Committee added the second category for zero emissions. For 2009, the rules committee required internal combustion sleds to adapt their engines to run on flex-fuel. Before each running event, sleds were given were given a “mystery” fuel varying in ratio of ethanol and gasoline.

The competiton kicked off officially on March 17^th with the endurance event; traditionally 100 miles on the local snowmobile trails.  Unfortunately due to warm weather; the trails were too wet for the team’s to complete their planned trek to Baraga. However five teams successfully managed to travel 65 miles to complete the modified endurance run: the University of Idaho, Clarkson University, Michigan Technological University, the University of Maine and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

On their way to victory, the team from UW-Madison earned a list of other awards. Its internal combustion entry won the Land and Sea Award for Best Performance and the AVL Award for Best Emissions. Its zero emissions snowmobile took both the Polaris Industries Award for Best Handling and the DENSO Corporation Award for Best Ride, unusual accomplishments for a battery-powered sled. It also won the Keweenaw Research Center Draw Bar Pull Award, a zero emissions event.

The SAE International Award for Best Design was also awarded to UW-Madison in both the internal combustion and zero emissions categories.

Michigan Technological University in the internal combustion category finished in second place overall won the Yellowstone National Park Award. In addition, the MTU team received the PCB Group Award for the Quietest Snowmobile, the Sensors Inc. Award for Lowest In-Service Emissions, and the BlueRibbon Coalition Award for Most Practical Solution. 

As a special honor, MTU also received the Founder’s Award for Most Sportsmanlike Conduct, which honors the late Bill Paddleford, Teton County, Wyoming Commissioner who cofounded the Clean Snowmobile Challenge in 2000. There to present the award was Dr. Lori Fussell, cofounder of the event and close friend of Paddleford’s. MTU received eight nominations from the competing teams; highest a team has ever received in 10 years of this event.

The University of Idaho was honored with four awards. After logging 13.3 mpg in the Challenge's 64-mile Endurance Run, they earned the Gage Products Award for Best Fuel Economy. They also won the International Engineering and Manufacturing (Woody's) Award for Best Acceleration and the EMITEC Award for Best Value.

University of Idaho also tied with Clarkson University's internal combustion entry received American Council of Snowmobile Associations Award for finishing in third place. And the University of Maine's internal combustion sled received the SAE Milwaukee Chapter Award for fifth place.

Though technical problems prevented the University of Waterloo from operating their sled, the team’s four-stroke Bombardier Ski-Doo garnered the Caterpillar Corporation Award for Innovation for their efforts to leverage ethanol's properties to improve performance. The team plans to continue working on and perfecting their design for next years competition. Waterloo also received the Altair Best Simulation-Driven Design Award.

Making their first trip to the competition since 2002, the University of Alaska at Fairbanks brought a zero-emissions sled and earned the Hawk Technology Safety Award and the CH2MHILL Polar Services Range Event Award, presented to the zero-emissions sled that travels the farthest on a single charge. The sled traveled 16.6 miles; four miles farther than any other zero emissions sled. The team clinched a second place finish in the zero emissions category.

The SAE Collegiate Design Series Staff would like to thank everyone who helped make the 2009 CSC event a great success. To all the volunteers and sponsors, thank you for all your contributions! To all the students, thank you for your undying interest in the Clean Snowmobile Challenge and your education! For more information on this article or Event results please contact SAE International at collegiatecompetitions@sae.org.

To view all final score results from Clean Snowmobile Challenge, please visit http://students.sae.org/competitions/snowmobile/results/.

The award winners are listed below.
SAE Clean Snowmobile Competition 2009 Internal Combustion Category Final Results:

International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association Award for First Place Overall
Presented to the team with the highest point total that also passes Emissions and Noise.
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Yellowstone National Park Award for Second Place Overall
Presented to the team with the second highest point total.
Michigan Technological University

American Council of Snowmobile Associations Award for Third Place Overall
Presented to the team with the third highest point total.
Clarkson University and University of Idaho

SAE Milwaukee Chapter for Fifth Place Overall
Presented to the team with the fifth highest point total.  
University of Maine

Land and Sea Award for Best Performance
Presented to the team receiving the highest total score in the Acceleration, and Handling events that also passed the Noise, Acceleration, and Emissions event.
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Lotus Engineering Award and Horiba Instruments Award for Best Emissions
Presented to the team receiving the best score in the Emissions event.
University of Wisconsin, Madison 

Sensors, Inc. Award for Lowest "In Service" Emissions
Presented to the team that has the lowest "In Service" emissions.
Michigan Technological University

SAE International Award for Best Design
Presented to the team receiving the highest total score in the Engineering Design Paper, Oral Design Presentation, and Static Display events that also received passing scores in the Emissions, Noise, and Acceleration events. 
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Gage Products Award for Best Fuel Economy
Presented to the team receiving the most points in the Fuel Economy & Endurance event.
University of Idaho

PCB Group Award for Quietest Snowmobile
Presented to the team receiving the most points in the Noise event.
Michigan Technological University

BlueRibbon Coalition Award for Most Practical Solution
Presented to team with the best balance between cost and measured noise and emissions reduction.
Michigan Technological University

EMITEC Award for Best Value
Presented to team with the best balance between cost, fuel economy, and performance.
University of Idaho

SAE Clean Snowmobile Competition 2009 Combined Internal Combustion & Zero Emissions Categories Final Results:
DENSO Corporation Award for Best Ride
Presented to the team with the best combined score in the Handling and Drivability and Subjective Ride events.
University of Wisconsin, Madison 

International Engineering and Manufacturing (Woody's) Award for Best Acceleration
Presented to the team winning the Best Acceleration event.
University of Idaho

Polaris Industries Award for Best Handling
Presented to the team winning the Objective Handling event.
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Bill Paddleford Founder's Award for Sportsmanship
Trophy awarded to the team recognized by other participants as being the most sportsmanlike.
Michigan Technological University

Aristo Catalysts, Inc. Award for Most Improved Snowmobile
Presented to the team who in the opinion of the organizers has improved the most since last year.
University of Buffalo

Caterpillar Corporation Award for Innovation
Presented to the team who in the opinion of the organizers has the most innovative solution.
University of Waterloo

Altair Engineering Award for Design Simulation
Presented to the team who in the opinion of the organizers demonstrates a successful simulation of their design.
University of Waterloo

Hawke Safety Award: University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Serviceability Award: McGill University
Best Team Website: Ecole De Technologie Superieure
Rookie of the Challenge Award: University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Cold Start Finishers:
Kettering University
University of Wisconsin, Platteville
Clarkson University IC sled
University of Wisconsin, Madison IC sled
University of Idaho
Michigan Tech University
Ecole De Technologie Superieure
University of Maine
University of Buffalo
McGill University ZE sled
University of Alaska, Fairbanks ZE sled
University of Wisconsin, Madison ZE sled

SAE Clean Snowmobile Competition 2009 Zero Emissions Category Final Results:
National Science Foundation Award for Best Zero Emissions Snowmobile
Presented to the team with the highest point total in the ZE category.
University of Wisconsin, Madison 

CH2M HILL Polar Services Range Event Award
Presented to the team that travels the farthest distance on a single charge.
University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Keweenaw Research Center Award Draw Bar Pull Award
Presented to the team with that wins the Draw Bar Pull event.
University of Wisconsin, Madison

SAE International Award for Best Design
Presented to the team receiving the highest total score in the Engineering Design Paper, Oral Design Presentation, and Static Display events that also received passing scores in the Emissions, Noise, and Acceleration events.
University of Wisconsin, Madison