Competition
In the past BYU has participated in SAE Competition and the Shell Eco-Marathon. Currently The Supermileage team competes only in Shell Eco-Marathon. The team focuses on the Shell's sub category, Prototype Internal Combustion Engine. This competition is for gasoline engine vehicles were miles per gallon determines the winner. There are set of requirements (see below) that must be met to pass the technical inspection. Once the inspection is done then the gasoline is weighed before and after the vehicle is runs around the track. It is the weight of the gasoline used combined with the distance traveled that determines the vehicles overall miles per gallon. The competition consists of a careful balance of burning and coasting to produce high miles per gallon. The competition requires the average speed to be 15 MPH, so in order to accomplish this the team runs the engine for several seconds getting speeds of up to 25 MPH then coasting the car until reduced speeds require to run the engine again.
Please read sections 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B to get a better understanding of what BYU Supermileage does.