Those working on the super mileage cars this year at Wawasee High School include, in front from left, Marcus Gagye, Paige Hlutke and Blake O’Connell. In the middle row are Vito Signorelli, Chase Johnson, Evan Ranfranz, Sam Rookstool and Dominick Faurote. In the back row are Allen Coblentz (faculty advisor), Brandon Fox, Will McCarthy, Leonard Kline and Austin Lemberg. Also part of the team but not pictured are Emma Rager, Kevin Schlipf, Owen Donahoe, Aaron Beer and Ben Slabaugh.

While some Wawasee High School students will head south during spring break to Florida, Texas, Alabama and possibly elsewhere, a few will travel to … Detroit. It’s not usually thought of as a spring break destination point, but this particular group of students will have business to take care of.

The annual Shell Eco-marathon competition for super mileage cars, held the last few years in Houston, was moved to Detroit April 9-12 this year. “I was kind of surprised they moved the competition to Detroit,” said Allen Coblentz, Wawasee engineering teacher who oversees the super mileage cars. “But they have a bigger track in Detroit.”

An increasing number of competitors halted the competition in Houston because available space was used up. The competition was held in the downtown area and there was no room to expand the track, Coblentz noted.

This year Wawasee students will navigate three high mileage cars — diesel, gas and ethanol — through the downtown streets of Detroit near the Cobo Center. It will bring up a potential issue not normally a problem in Houston — the weather. Early April in Michigan could mean 40 degrees or even snow.

“They (students) are not used to the cold in this competition and the engines don’t start as well and run as well in the cold weather,” Coblentz said.

Wawasee is entering an ethanol car in the alternative fuels category for the first time this year. “We wanted to work with an internal combustion engine and work more with the electronic fuel injection,” he said. “We wanted to get more engine work.”

Adjustments have needed to be made to enter a car running on ethanol fuel. Ethanol doesn’t burn as hot as gas or give as much of a spark, he noted. And it uses a little more fuel than a gas engine and has less power. The weather could be a concern if it is colder because an engine running on ethanol doesn’t start as well in that type of weather, Coblentz said.

But having the car in a covered pit area and out of the weather until it runs on the track should help, he added.

The goal is to get as many miles per gallon as possible and Wawasee is targeting 1,000 miles per gallon for the ethanol car, 1,200 for the diesel car and 1,300 for the gas car. “We hope to improve on last year’s numbers,” he noted.

Students who work with the super mileage cars can learn valuable skills. Not only do they learn engineering and problem solving skills, but they also interact with the community and professionals in order to get things done. Even if they don’t choose an engineering career, interacting is important. “The ability to communicate is huge,” Coblentz said.

He added students can’t “hide behind a test,” but instead the competition reveals whether the cars are good or not. “Things have to work right,” he said in order to be successful in the competition. And even if students miss a lot of school because of the weather, the days of the competition do not change and they must deal with the reality of meeting a deadline.

The super mileage cars are tested on the high school track thoroughly before being entered in a competition.