Making up the ethanol vehicle team for Wawasee High School this year are, in front from left, Dylan Elpusan and Dustin Brown. Standing in the back are Trevor Haessig, Meghan Fretz, Gavin Bontrager, Ryan Pruitt and Ben Wirebaugh.

SYRACUSE — For a couple of days, racing will be permissible on downtown streets in Detroit. And onlookers will cheer on teams competing in the annual Shell Eco-marathon near the Cobo Center.

Wawasee High School will again enter super mileage cars in the Shell Eco-marathon in Detroit April 22-24. Previously held in Houston, the Shell competition was moved to Detroit in 2015.

Wawasee will enter ethanol and diesel cars in the competition. Originally the intent was to enter a gas car, too, but the competition has grown considerably and only two cars were allowed this year, noted Allen Coblentz, engineering teacher at WHS.

A total of 14 students — seven for each car — have been working on the super mileage vehicles since the beginning of the school year but with more focus during the second and third trimester. Making up the ethanol car (dubbed Stacktastic) team are captain Dylan Elpusan, Ben Wirebaugh, Trevor Haessig (driver), Dustin Brown, Gavin Bontrager, Meghan Fretz and Ryan Pruitt. And captains Kylee Rostochak and Ethan Knepp, Owen Donahoe (driver), Caleb Whirledge, Rhett Coblentz, Logan McGuire and Conner Rummel make up the diesel car (Diesel Weasel) team.

With the super mileage cars, built very low to the ground and with only limited room for a driver, the goal is to reach a higher number of miles per gallon. So the goal for the ethanol car is to reach 696 miles per gallon and the diesel car to get 1,291.

Allen Coblentz noted the course has been shortened from .9 miles to .625 miles, though cars must still complete 10 laps, average 15 miles per hour and finish the course in 25 minutes or less. He added Wawasee and other returning teams competing in Detroit should have an advantage this year because they are more familiar with the track. Donahoe was a driver for a Wawasee car last year.

“The ability to conserve fuel is a valuable skill,” Coblentz commented.

Rostochak, a senior, intends to major in mechanical engineering at either Rose Hulman or Purdue and feels working on a super mileage car has been a good start for learning about engineering. Her older sister, Mattia Rostochak, is a chemical engineer for Exxon Mobil in Texas and encouraged Kylee to pursue engineering as a career.

“I have never done anything like this,” she said, and she has been able to see how the cars are coming together as everyone works in their specialized areas and also helps where needed. Rostochak has been working with the power train, the dictionary definition of which is the mechanism transmitting the drive from the engine of the vehicle to its axle. “We attached the belt from the engine to the wheel,” she said. “We came up with some ideas and then designed it.”

As a team captain, Rostochak has been doing a lot of paperwork such as registration forms. She has also overseen the work of others on the diesel vehicle, though she noted everyone has a part in the process.

Wawasee will compete against teams from not only the U.S., but also Canada and South America. This year’s Shell competition is being held about three weeks later than in 2015, meaning the weather may not be as likely to be a hindrance as it was last year.

Making up the diesel vehicle team for Wawasee High School this year are, in front from left, Logan McGuire, Kylee Rostochak and Caleb Whirledge. Standing in the back are Ethan Knepp, Owen Donahoe, Conner Rummel and Rhett Coblentz.