Missouri SuperMileage Challenge Team 2019
Congratulations are in order to all the students who participated on this year’s team. The Ranken sponsored high school team took both the Pit Award and Best in Show Award for their car number 5 in the 14th annual Missouri SuperMileage Challenge! Ranken’s vehicle number 4 also far outpaced everyone, establishing the highest qualifying run for the entire competition with an astounding 359.89 mpg!
Race officials noted the tenacity and perseverance of the Ranken team in presenting the Pit Award. A cracked weld between the frame and axle had shut down vehicle number 5 very early on, but the team was able to make a pit repair by welding it back together while the competition continued. Following the weld repair, they ran into difficulties with a constricted fuel line and were able to overcome that, too, with another pit repair. At 2:25 p.m., they were able to finally start and finish one of the required ten-lap heats, just ahead of the 2:30 p.m. deadline. Race officials also noted the retro-look design of their “roadster-inspired” vehicle number 5 in presenting the Best in Show Award.
Though Ranken’s vehicle number 4 set the mark for mpg during their first qualifying run, the vehicle encountered mechanical problems in the home stretch of the 10th and final lap of the second qualifying run. As a result, the second qualifying run was not scored, and the mechanical problems that were related to the clutch proved insurmountable. Since vehicle number 4 never completed the final three of four required qualifying runs, it was deemed ineligible for the highest gas mileage award.
The competition was held on Tuesday, April 16th, 2019 at the Missouri Safety Center on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo. Seven vehicles competed in the stock engine e-10 gasoline fuel class and two in the biodiesel fuel class. Some results and excellent photos and videos from the competition are available at https://twitter.com/MOSupermileage. Also, see the attached photos for the Ranken Team, Best in Show and Pit Award, Pit Welding Repair and Field of Competition Vehicles.
The Ranken sponsored team fielded two vehicles in the e-10 gasoline fuel competition, the goal of which is to have Missouri high school students “build a one person, fuel efficient vehicle powered by a single cylinder four stroke engine to run a specified course”. The team has been working diligently since September to ensure the design, fabrication, and testing of their vehicles were ready for the competition. The team consisted of ten high school students, eight of whom traveled to Warrensburg for the competition. The students are from the following high schools: St. Louis University High School (8), Hazelwood Central High School (1), and Whitfield School (1). The team was led during the school year by instructors Jonathan Sprague (Director of Operations, MSD), Mark Goldasich (Construction Trades Teacher, Gillespie High School), and Don Rote (from Ranken’s High Performance Racing program). The team was administered by Kathy Fern and Vince Holtmann (both from Ranken’s Education and Manufacturing Cooperative department).
Parents – thank you for supporting the efforts of the students for this year’s competition!
Special thanks to the instructors Jonathan Sprague, Mark Goldasich, and Don Rote, with administrative assistance from Kathy Fern.
Special thanks to Jeff Pitts and Anne Marie Lodholz for their efforts in the recruiting and “enthusiasm” department for this effort.
More information about the Missouri SuperMileage Challenge organization is available at http://missourisupermileage.org.
For Missouri high school student who would like to be part of next year’s team, please see the attached flyer for details or go to the Ranken website https://ranken.edu/programs/missouri-supermileage/.
