The inven­tion of the car not only rev­o­lu­tion­ized the trans­porta­tion world, but also trans­formed the way peo­ple lived their every­day lives. Yet human desire for tech­no­log­i­cal advance­ment forged ahead and the auto­mo­bile indus­try proved it still had more to offer.

The advent of hybrid tech­nol­ogy and alter­na­tive energy sources is now the focus of the American people’s attention.

Currently five Ferris stu­dents from the auto­mo­tive engi­neer­ing tech­nol­ogy pro­gram, led by senior Casey Martin, have taken an inter­est in design­ing a hybrid engine for a car of their own and will com­pete in Formula Hybrid, a design and engi­neer­ing chal­lenge for col­lege stu­dents in which they are tasked with design­ing and build­ing a sin­gle seat, Indy style race car from the ground up.

The team formed early in win­ter semes­ter of last school year and have been work­ing all sum­mer design­ing and mak­ing plans for the car they will con­struct for com­pe­ti­tion. Martin states that the designs are almost ready to be put into build­ing and has high hopes that con­struc­tion will begin by the end of the month.

“Most hybrid teams are on a two-year build cycle,” says Martin. “This means they com­pete with a new car every two years. By start­ing last year after Christmas and com­pet­ing this year, we’re actu­ally push­ing our­selves as a first year team to really get on the ball and are on an aggres­sive timeline.”

The car that the team has designed will fol­low a basic gasoline/electric hybrid design and will run off of a par­al­lel power sys­tem; mean­ing that the bat­ter­ies by them­selves can run the car and the engine is used strictly to pro­vide elec­tri­cal energy.

During the com­pe­ti­tion, the car and team are put through a series of tests and events to deter­mine which car has the most effec­tive and effi­cient engine.

Some of the chal­lenges the car is put through is to first pass a tech inspec­tion, where pro­fes­sion­als from the indus­try come in and go over the car with a fine tooth comb, mak­ing sure every­thing is going to be safe; a 75 meter accel­er­a­tion and brak­ing test, where the car must accel­er­ate full out for 75 meters and then lock all four tires; and a series of track courses to demon­strate how the car actu­ally performs.

The team must also present a full cost report, which Martin accred­its as a mar­ket­ing pitch as if the team were actu­ally sell­ing the engine to a com­pany. They must also par­take in a design pre­sen­ta­tion where the design is reviewed and the team is ques­tioned by a panel of professionals.

“Goal num­ber one is to pass the tech inspec­tion,” said Martin. “We have to be able to com­pete. If we’re able to pass tech inspec­tion and com­pete in every event, regard­less of our fin­ish­ing posi­tion, we would look at that as a huge accomplishment.”

The Formula Hybrid com­pe­ti­tion will be held in May at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway and is hosted by the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth.

For more infor­ma­tion regard­ing the team, car, and com­pe­ti­tion visit fsuhy​brid​.com.