The team’s overall goal is to create a fully functional, lightweight, highly fuel efficient vehicle that adheres to the SAE Supermileage competition requirements.  In order to achieve this goal, the team decided to prioritize overall vehicle weight and engine fuel economy. At competition the vehicle is subjected to technical inspection as well as performance testing. The vehicle must be able to transverse a 50’ turn followed by a slalom course to test the vehicle’s steering, as well as withstand 250 pound load on the roll hoop to test the structural integrity of the frame. To test the fuel economy, the competition consists of a series of laps of the Eaton Testing grounds, measuring the fuel bottle before and after each run.

The major design focus this year will be on both correctly modifying the stock engine by changing the compression ratio by altering the piston diameter, as well as implementing a fuel injection system and reducing the overall weight of the vehicle’s frame and its components. With the addition of the new STEM facilities at TCNJ, improvements in the fairing design can be made through the integration of carbon fiber.