January 23 2013
As part of the run up to the Eco-marathon, this year Shell is holding Mini Shell Eco-marathon Challenges. There are some excellent prizes to be won, including a send-off meal for the entire team and the cost of shipping our competition vehicle down to Houston covered. We’re looking to win some challenges, and you can help!
January 18 2013
We were lucky this weekend to get some expert advice from Casey Keulen on our carbon fibre lay-up for our new aero shell. Casey works for the Composites Research Network at UBC, where our very own engine co-lead Kevan Cote worked on a co-op term this summer. After Casey had told us the ins and outs of the lay-up process (air bubbles = bad) he took us on a quick tour of the CRN. Many thanks to Casey for donating some of his expert knowledge to the UBC Supermileage cause!
January 05 2013
Happy new year from all of us at UBC Supermileage! We’ve had our first meeting of 2013 and we’re stepping up our game as competition approaches. Our priority for the next couple of weeks will be building the aero shell. We’ve joined and assembled the mold pieces that Vorum carved for us and have coated the entire thing in fibreglass so as to create a smooth female-mold surface for carbon fibre lay-up (check out our facebook page for pictures). Our new engine will also be up and running within the next 2 weeks, and when it is the engine division will use our newly functioning dyno to tune the engine to optimal running conditions. We haven’t been able to perform engine tuning in previous competitions, and having this ability now should give us a significant increase in fuel efficiency.
December 11 2012
Last week UBC Engineering department hosted the Fall Preview Day. This was a chance for high school students, first year engineering undergrads, and anyone interested in applied sciences to meet professors, explore lab spaces, and learn the ins and outs of studying engineering. As part of the Preview Day the UBC Supermileage Team and all of the other engineering student design teams took over the Engineering Design Centre to show off their projects and vehicles. It was great seeing so many new faces and getting them excited about Supermileage; we look forward to seeing some of them again next year on the Team!
November 26 2012
Last week Lord Byng High School in Vancouver hosted its annual Opportunity Fair, an event in which high school students get to learn more about what engineering can do for them. There were many different engineering related organizations present, and representing the UBC Supermileage Team, and UBC in general, was our own Kevan Cote. Kevan spoke about Supermileage, what we stand for and what we do, and also to the opportunity to tell students about the benefits of becoming an engineer at UBC.