Indiana High School Students Make a Winning 849 MPG Car

After 10 months of work and support from a volunteer team of parents and community members, a group of students from Mater Dei High School in Evansville, Ind. won the AutoZone’s Show It off America social media contest last week. The contest recognizes the best DIY automotive projects in the country. This spring the eco vehicle also took second place in the Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition for an ultra high MPG vehicle. At 849 MPG, I’d say that’s pretty high.

The single-person car has an aluminum frame and is powered by a 50-cc engine

“It felt great,” said 17-year-old team member Kyle Haas on winning the contests. “We put all that work into it.”

For nearly a decade, the parent and volunteer led team has been designing and making cars in Evanston and entering them in contests around the U.S. This year the team created a totally new design from scratch by first creating it in CAD, building a foam mold, and then a carbon fiber shell.

See the step-by-step progression of the car’s shell here:

Cutting out foam pieces for the mold.

The front and back pieces of the car.

Glueing the pieces of foam together.

The rough outline of the car in foam.

After sanding, the form takes shape.

A thin layer of fiberglass is applied to the car.

The shell after several layers of gel coat.

All the fiberglass has been applied and the top mold is done.

Placing tape on the vacuum bag and cutting cell core before applying carbon fiber.

Carbon fiber, moistened and squeegeed, ready for application.

Placing multiple layers of carbon fiber around the edges to make it thicker and stronger.

After the bottom was covered with one layer of carbon fiber, the cell core is laid down.

After applying the last layer of carbon fiber, the shell is placed in a vacuum sealed bag.

Here’s the final product, minus a few touch-ups, after coming out of the vacuum.