Nogaro, France, 23 May 2008 - At the end of the second day of official runs, the Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2008 can already boast a new event record! In the Urban Concept category, the team from De Haagse Hogeschool in the Netherlands achieved a result of 848 km/l with a hydrogen fuel cell engine, beating the existing record of 810 km/l. The Dutch team has built on its winning vehicle of last year. In spite of the temporary break in the morning due to some light rain, the other teams have also improved on previous results. Last year’s winner in the Prototype category, Lyceé La Joliverie, has beaten its own record with a result of 3,382 km/l. A significant improvement on last year’s 3,039 km/l. Hot on the heels of La Joliverie is the team of the French University Paul Sabatier Insa Toulouse, which recorded a result of 3,036 km/l. Other notable results in the Prototype category included the Finnish team from Tampere University of Technology with 2,066 km/l. Team IUT GMP from IUT Valenciennes recored 1,768 km/l with their diesel powered vehicle, followed closely by the French Lyceé Professional Notre-Dame Redon, whose LPG Prototype ran 1,736 km on the equivalent of one litre of fuel. Vincent Tertois, Technical Director, said: “The results show that students are getting better and better.” Many teams are new to the event this year, including a team from Budapest Polytechnic institute in Hungary, and “making it in the first year is always a challenge,” he added. Even for the more experienced teams, participating in the Shell Eco-marathon Europe is still a challenge: around half of the competing teams had to make last-minute adjustments to their vehicle to comply with the strict safety requirements. Mark Singer, Gobal Shell Eco-marathon Manager commented: “This year’s field of competing teams in the Shell Eco-marathon Europe is one of the strongest ever. I’ve been very impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm of all the competitors, and the teams have risen to the challenge of creating innovative energy-efficient vehicles. A young generation of engineers and designers are showing that working together we can meet global energy challenges.” Final results available tomorrow…
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