Drum-roll Please!

What has four wheels, an electronic fuel injection system, a killer 50cc engine, and has just completed its first test runs?
I’ll give you a clue:
It’s the Argo.
…Did you get it?

Intrepid Engine Lead Neil takes the Argo out on its first working run.

And just in time too! We’re shipping the Argo to Huston on Saturday, which means we have the rest of this week for engine and fine tuning. We’re well ahead of last year’s schedule, and many of the issues we had previously have been addressed and alleviated.

Neil is a master of multitasking; he's monitoring the engine on the computer and tracking his speed via a gps strapped to the wheel, all the while driving with a style and poise comparable to that of the Mysterious Yellow Racer. Truely our Engine Lead is a force to be reckoned with.

 

So all in all we’re cautiously optimistic about the upcoming Shell Eco-Marathon. Cautious because we know from experience that things that can go wrong tend to do so, usually right when it would be really convienient if everything could just perhaps work for ten more minutes before catastrophically failing. Last year the Argo broke down minutes before we were supposed to begin racing; we got her running with literally seconds before the flag dropped.

But I’m sure that won’t happen this time! And even if it does the race team we’re sending to Huston will see that the Argo the start line and raring to go when it counts, perhaps with a whole minute to spare!

I won’t be going down to Huston this year, so I’ll be handing off the blog to the race team in a couple of weeks. Next week I shall introduce them and give reasons behind their awesomeness.

The shipping crate we built for the Argo doubles as a time-out corner for over-excited Nam-Gi's. No more espresso for you!

 

Feast your eyes on E-fest

We’re excited to announce our participation in this year’s E-fest at the Vancouver Public Library!

Where: Vancouver Public Library            (map: http://maps.google.ca/maps?ix=seb&q=vancouver+public+library&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wl )

When: Saturday, March 3rd, from 10am-4pm

This is a joint venture between APEGBC and the Library that’s been happening for the last 16 years. The entire library gets taken over by engineers and geo-scientists eager to show you what they do and how they do it. So not only will you be able to meet out the team behind the Argo and take a gander at one of our ‘prototype’ shells, but be witness to a whole plethora of innovative projects and the people behind them.

That’s right. A plethora. If you come down to the library on Saturday I’d be more than happy to throw more interesting words at you. I can be quite…. loquacious.

How many Supermileagers can work on the Argo at once?

Oh man, the argo is just about ready to go! Which is good because we have to ship it off to Texas soon. The electrical systems are installed, the brakes are aligned, the firewall separating our fearless driver hot hot Kaitlin from the hot hot engine is in place; once the engine is fully tuned we should have a rolling vehicle! Yeah! Come by the library and we’ll give you a full run down and you can check out one of our old ‘prototype’ vehicles.

Don't look so trepidatious Chris; Marianne's got this.

Old Red New Red, one of the most popular events of E-Week, is a gala put on by the EUS, where engineering alumni and students are able to engage each other in a social setting. This year was particularly special for the Supermileage team as some of the alum that built the Wally Wagon gave a talk. For those of you who don’t know, the Wally Wagon was essentially the reason that Supermileage was born. Here is  a link to the Wally Wagon’s Wikipedia page.

http://heustory.apsc.ubc.ca/wiki/index.php/Urban_Vehicle_Design_Competition

The Wally Wagon actually made an appearance at Old Red New Red as one of the main attractions, sitting beside the current Supermileage car, the Argo. This was a really cool experience as Old Reds who built the Wally Wagon were asking about the Argo, and current team members were interested in the Wally Wagon. A great night was had by all!

This event was a milestone for the Argo as it was the first time this year that we had a rolling vehicle with working lights. As well, the engine tuning is coming along nicely, putting us in a good position for this year’s competition.

This is how we roll

Oh no! Where did the blogs go? (Part the first)

It’s what’s been on your mind for the last two weeks. Restlessly you’ve been checking and rechecking the Superblog II, and time and time again you’ve been disappointed. Why is this happening! I hear you cry; where are our updates as the day of competition draws steadily and steadily closer?!

Our bad. Due to a miscommunication I thought Chris was writing and he assumed the same of me. But the wires are no longer crossed! And to make up for it we’re going to do two posts this week! That’s right, two weeks worth of supermileage fun condensed into one seven day stretch! If we’re feeling really gung-ho we may even do three (but you shouldn’t hold your breath)!

So some interesting stuff has been happening, and I’m going to need two posts to detail it all anyway. Maybe I’ll let Chris do the second one (I’ll make sure he knows he’s doing it though).

First thing you need to know: here at UBC we have special ‘weeks’ for every faculty. During these weeks each faculty has fun activities they put on;  for example the Arts faculty this year covered the engineering club house in purple balloons and painted our cairn purple (we have a big E in front of one of the engineering buildings, google UBC cairn to see what I’m talking about). I’m sure they did some other stuff too, and I’m sure they had a great time doing it! However, there is one week that’s always at the back of every student’s mind. It begins with a boat-race and ends with a ball. That’s right: E-week. I’m probably biased, but E-week is by far the best of the faculty weeks. This year we had:

-dodgeball (in the rain because we’re hardcore)!

-chariot races!

The first years put together a pretty fantastic chariot. Way to go you crazy kids!

 

-e-ball soccer!

Is the ball huge or are the students tiny? Perhaps it's a mixture of both...

-a fooseball tournament (some of those mech engineers are ridiculously good. Shouldn’t they be busy studying advanced thermofluid variable hyper-dimensional analysis or something?)!

-Old-Red New-Red!

An intriguing glimpse into Old-Red New-Red. Definitely worth checking back for on Friday.

Old-Red New-Red? What on earth is that? I’ll say this much: it’s full of interesting people, delicious (and more importantly free) food, and fantastic stories that could only happen in an inspirational movie.

But we’re engineers: we make the imagined reality.

Also the Supermileage team was a main feature this year!

Come on back in a couple of days and we’ll go into all the juicy details of Old-Red New-Red and the Supermileage Team’s part in the event!

 

Groovin on a Saturday afternoon

First of all I would like to congratulate all our mech 2′s for surviving their design course. Now you can spend all your free time with the Supermileage Team! Yeah!

A couple of our mech 2's looking pleased to be done their design course. If only they knew what was in store for them next...

We had a stroke of luck this week: the dyno used for tuning the engine that we thought was broken wasn’t broken at all! We have the engine team fiddling with it, but the indications are good that we can use that bad boy to tune up the engine.

They wouldn't tell me exactly what they were doing with the dyno, but I assume it was industrious.

We’re ordering team t-shirts today! Admin extrodinare Nancy has designed some sleek polos and is putting in the order today. As if we didn’t look awesome enough without t-shirts on!

Unfortunately the team behind designing the next generation Argo body are slightly behind schedule. They were going to start fluid drag models, but then they took an aero to the knee.

Several members of the design squad before the 'incident'

Memetastic!

Everything is falling into place…

Oh man is there a lot to report today….

Nam Gi inspects the chassis, which is actually starting to look like a real vehicle

In a whirlwind of circuitry, rubber, and raw horsepower the team has made some massive headway into getting the Argo in running order.
The goods (in no particular order):

We’ve got snazzy new  LED taillights and signal lights that will blind

the competition with their radiant radiance!

We have a winning door design! It’s surprisingly difficult to get out of the Argo in under ten seconds (as per the rules), but with this new design there will be seconds to spare to make a sandwich or something!

The engine is a go! The raw power of 2.1 horses (or 1.5 bad tempered bulls) will soon be raging beneath the Argo’s carbon fibre hood and I’m expecting much swooning of the audience as we rip up the track down in Texas.

Engine lead Neil (left) and Kevan bring the engine to life. Congratulations, its a 50cc!

Ever since chassis lead Ryan was defeated by the Mysterious Yellow Racer it’s as if a flame of determination has been lit within him, and it looks like it’s catching. The chassis team have:
-Installed the firewall (to separate driver Katlin from the engine)!
-Installed the steering system!
-Designed a windshield wiper rig (and they’re installing it too)!
-Installed the wheels!

Chassis lead Ryan and yours truly. We never did discover the identity of the Mysterious Yellow Racer...

These guys are on metaphorical fire! The best kind of fire to be on!

SuperM takes to the racetrack

Happy new year everyone! Our team is back from the winter break with a shiny new set of resolutions:

1. Have the Argo fully functioning by the end of February
2. Break 300mpg
3. Become loved by all woodland critters be they large or small*
4. Live long and prosper

 

*except for squirrels. Those guys are bad news.

Jonathan flashes a 'v' for victory prior to the race. The others look skeptical.

To build up the resolve necessary for our list, we embarked on a team-building/driver training escapade to the go-carting track. After several grueling rounds, a couple of minor collisions, and a stirring come-from-behind-to-almost-win-but-in-the-end-misjudge-the-corner-and-spin-out, Mr/ Jonathan Leung came out as supreme victor. Well done Jonathan! But we must remember, it’s not whether you win or lose that’s important, but the fact that Captain Connor beat Chris. Nice one Captain Connor.

Chasis lead Ryan battles the mysterious Yellow Racer

Brimming with new found drive from our drive, we’re chomping at the bit to knock this Shell Eco-marathon out of the park.

Can we do it? Do we have it in us to become more awesome, statuesque and well-dressed than we were last year? Will squirrels ruin my valentines day plans again??

It’s going to be an exciting year. I hope 2012 is ready for us.