Target: 678 miles per gallon

GRANITE FALLS — Hoa Nguyen climbed into the car she helped build, outside the manufacturing shop at Granite Falls High School.

She was a little nervous. It was her first time driving their three-wheeled eco-car, the Iron Maiden.

Her teammate and team manager, Shante Stowell, helped her strap on a helmet. Another teammate, sophomore Semira Kern, gave her advice.

“When in doubt just turn off the car,” she said.

Nguyen, 18, started the car and slowly accelerated during a lap around the back parking lot of the school.

She returned to the shop with a smile on her face.

“It was so fun. I’d do it again if I had time,” she said.

The team, known as the ShopGirls, was the first all-girl team to enter the Shell Co. Eco-marathon Americas last March. Students enter student-built cars at the event and compete to travel the greatest distance on the least amount of fuel. The ShopGirls’ diesel-fueled car got 470 miles a gallon in the competition and placed first in the prototype diesel division and third in the safety award category.

This year’s team includes one new and five returning members who are planning to roll right over that record during the Shell Co. Eco-marathon Americas, April 14-17 in Houston, Texas.

“We want to go 678 miles a gallon,” said Stowell, 18.

They aren’t the only ones with a goal.

Inside the shop, senior Aron Scalf joked with manufacturing teacher Michael Werner and UrbanAuto teammates freshmen Jasmine Bates and Brooke Nicholson. The girls sanded the orange outer shell of the two-seat car their team plans to enter in the urban concept category of the competition.

Scalf wasn’t part of last year’s boy’s UrbanAuto team but said he heard about the experience.

“I kind of followed (the story) through Mr. Werner because I had him as a teacher last year,” he said.

The car made it to the competition last year but could not compete because it was 220 pounds over the weight limit. As the driver and team manager, Scalf said every member of his team has contributed ideas to help make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again.

The UrbanAuto team put their car on a “major weight-loss diet” Werner said. They shortened the car by 8 inches, eliminated steel tubing in the chassis and replaced it with carbon fiber composite panels. The switch from steel frame to carbon fiber shaved off about 10 pounds on each door, Werner added.

Students were still hard at work on the vehicle Monday afternoon, Werner said. The car, Phillipe’s Revenge, has yet to be driven but it weighs in at 420 pounds, 30 pounds under the 450-pound limit. Students celebrated that accomplishment by installing LED glow lights, he added.

The ShopGirls and UrbanAuto teams plan to load their cars into a trailer today, Werner said. The plan is for a volunteer to start driving to Houston before daybreak Wednesday. Students are scheduled to travel to Houston on April 13 and return home five days later.

The ShopGirls already have earned attention for last year’s efforts, entering the first car at the competition to be built by an all-girl team. The team was recognized by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a speech Feb. 2.

This year, the UrbanAuto car has a chance to shine, too, Werner said. It is scheduled to be run with B20 biodiesel at the PACCAR Technical Center test track in Mount Vernon after the team returns home. Then the car is set to go in September*</a to another alternative fuel test event in Bonneville, Utah.

Werner said he also is working with an elementary school teacher so younger students in the district who built small solar cars get an opportunity to see and learn about the eco-cars.

“I want to have them come over here and get them to see a connection about what they’re doing there at a smaller, simpler level and see what they can follow up with in high school,” he said.

Werner said his students have been working on their vehicles since September and have spent hours before, during and after school and over weekends to finish them up.

Sophomore Tim Wilson, who was part of last year’s UrbanAuto team, said he has averaged about 25 hours a week working on the car.

“I’ve learned a lot about working with carbon fiber,” he said. “I’m really excited about the competition. Hopefully we have a viable car for competition.”

Werner told him not to worry.

“We’ll be within the rules,” he said. “Both teams will have very good, sound cars going down there that are finished.”

Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.

*This article has been corrected since it was first posted online to accurately state when the World of Speed event will take place.