Imagine a car that gets the equivalent of 6,792 miles to the gallon. Sound impossible? A student team made this a reality earlier this year at the Shell Eco-marathon Europe. And now in the United States, students can be part of a groundbreaking effort to help change the way the world uses fuel…and lead the next generation with their ingenuity. After many successful years in Europe and the United Kingdom, the Shell Eco-marathon is coming back to the U.S. as the Shell Eco-marathon Americas. The Eco-marathon concept started as the Shell Mileage Marathon in 1939 after a friendly wager between employees of Shell Oil’s research laboratory in Wood River, Illinois, as to whose car could get the better fuel mileage. Today, that challenge has been extended to student teams from across the U.S. and beyond: to design and build a vehicle that goes the farthest distance on the least amount of fuel. Interested teams can find the event application, rules, hotline number, history and more at  www.shell.com/us/ecomarathon. “Shell is committed to developing sustainable energy technology, innovative fuels and the next generation of engineers,” said John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Company. “This program is an excellent way to introduce college students to a real life sustainable energy challenge.” The Shell Eco-marathon Americas is a comprehensive educational project that culminates at a four-day event held April 12 – 15, 2007, at the California Speedway in Fontana, California. Teams comprised of up to eight students build prototype vehicles with three or four wheels using conventional or alternative fuels such as gasoline, liquid petroleum gas, biofuels, compressed natural gas or hydrogen. This exciting learning opportunity brings together future scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to face the challenge of sustainable mobility in getting the best from today’s energy resources – and developing innovative ideas to power the transport of tomorrow. The Shell Eco-marathon Americas offers a grand prize of $10,000 that will be awarded to the educational institution or university whose student team completes the farthest distance with the least amount of fuel. There are also first, second and third prizes to vehicles in three categories. And to celebrate the return of the event to American soil, Shell is offering a $10,000 reimbursement to each of the first five educational institutions or universities whose teams register to participate and compete in the event with a conventional fuel, alternative fuel or hydrogen vehicle. The money is intended to help each school cover the cost of their vehicle’s construction. From vehicle design to financing, student participants gain hands-on experience managing their project and applying skills in science, technology, mathematics, business and design. Along the way, they demonstrate hard work, creativity and ingenuity, while addressing one of the most pressing issues in today’s society: sustainable mobility. For more information, please visit www.shell.com/us/ecomarathon. History of the Eco-marathon The history of the Shell Eco-marathon stretches back nearly 70 years. It originated at Shell's research lab in Wood River, Illinois, with friendly wagers between fellow scientists to see who could get the most miles per gallon from their vehicles. From these humble origins, where the winner scarcely achieved 50 miles per gallon, more organized competitions evolved in the UK and France. The most recent record was set at the 2003 Rockingham, England, event by team Microjoule from St Sebastien/Loire in France. They achieved a fuel consumption figure of 10,705 miles per gallon -- beating the previous record set by the same team in 2001 by nearly 500 miles per gallon.
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