Kettering University in Flint, Mich., was the winner of the Gage Products Award for Best Fuel Economy in the ninth annual SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, held recently at Michigan Technological University (MTU) in Houghton.
HOUGHTON, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Kettering University in Flint, Mich., was the winner of the Gage Products Award for Best Fuel Economy in the ninth annual SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, held recently at Michigan Technological University (MTU) in Houghton.
The Kettering team’s snowmobile recorded an average of 14.27 miles per gallon (mpg) during the fuel-economy portion of the competition. Clarkston University took second place in the fuel economy competition at 13.76 mpg, followed by the University of Wisconsin - Platteville at 12.97 mpg and Northern Illinois University at 11.77 mpg.
Gage, a leading supplier of test fuels, paint solvents and paint-system recycling programs for the automotive industry, provided specially blended fuel for the event. The company has been a Clean Snowmobile Challenge sponsor for six consecutive years.
“The SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge is a great way to engage students in creating environmentally-friendly vehicles which reduce emissions while increasing fuel economy,” said Robert Jamrog, president of Gage. “We’re proud to recognize the hard work and talent of these students.”
Kettering University’s snowmobile was equipped with a 499cc four-stroke Yamaha Phazer GT engine with a customized exhaust system which featured modified catalytic converters and mufflers to minimize engine noise and exhaust emissions. The vehicle ran on E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
“During the Endurance Run, a hundred-mile trek that kicked off the 2008 SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge, the Kettering team proved that good engineering can wring enough mileage out of an ethanol fuel blend to power a snowmobile for 100 miles,” said Jamrog.
Held in Michigan since 2002, the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge is hosted by MTU’s mechanical engineering department and the school’s Keweenaw Research Center. Sixteen university teams from the United States and Canada took part in this year’s competition, which is designed to encourage the development of environmentally-friendly snowmobiles.
Teams that participated in the 2008 Clean Snowmobile Challenge (held March 10-15) included Clarkson University (Potsdam, N.Y.), Ècole De Technologie Superieure (Montreal, Quebec), Kettering University (Flint, Mich.), McGill University (Montreal, Quebec), Michigan Technological University (Houghton, Mich.), Minnesota State University (Mankato, Minn.), Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, Ill.), State University of New York at Buffalo (Buffalo, N.Y.), South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (Rapid City, S.D.), University of Idaho (Moscow, Idaho), University of Maine (Orono, Maine), University of Minnesota-Duluth (Duluth, Minn.), University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario), University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, Wis.), University of Wisconsin-Platteville (Platteville, Wis.) and Utah State University (Logan, Utah).
Gage's Test Fuel Division maintains an inventory of more than 250 custom-blended gasoline fuels for use in automotive test programs, including SAE fuels, ASTM fuels and OE-specific fuels. Gage Products also offers more than 25 different calibration fluids needed to meet testing requirements for a variety of automotive products, including oil and fuel pumps, fuel injectors and transmissions.
Gage has provided its customers with more than 1,000 different blends of gasoline for automotive-test uses over the last five years. These fuels not only represent regional fuel configurations from North America, Europe, South America and the Asia/Pacific region, they also include gasoline alternatives such as ethanol and gasoline with additives like MTBE.
Headquartered in Ferndale, Mich., Gage is a leading supplier of closed-loop, paint-system recycling programs. Over the past 20 years, Gage’s closed-loop recycling systems have been used by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler to safely recycle more than 70-million gallons of waste material. Gage also manufactures paint-related products and cleaners for a wide variety of industrial uses for the auto industry. Visit www.gageproducts.com for more information.
Further details about the 2008 SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge may be found at www.sae.org.
Note to Editors: High-resolution photos of the 2008 SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge are available upon request.
