With eyes on Victory Lane, Dunwoody students brought home a 5th place finish from Indianapolis, besting seven other teams from across North America.
Most vehicles zooming around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway accelerate at speeds greater than 230 miles/hour. Machine Tool Technology student Anna MacLean, driver for the Dunwoody Daredevils, completed four competition laps with a best time of 237.1 miles/kWh in the team’s Battery-Electric prototype vehicle during the Shell Eco-marathon Americas regional competition held April 12-16.
“Despite going an average speed of 16.5 mph, the runs went by very fast,” MacLean said. “It was easy to get lost in the awesomeness of driving on the most famous speedway in the world.”
MacLean said she joined the team because she thought it would be fun and would give her opportunities that would be helpful in her career. She and teammate Thomas Kay, a 2022 Welding & Metal Fabrication alumnus and current Engineering Drafting & Design student, re-designed and fabricated the inner frame for the vehicle’s shell to fit her and to account for the controls.
Intrigue led Charlie Crist, an Automation & Controls Engineering Technology student who will graduate in May, to join the team for his Senior Capstone.
“The Shell Eco-marathon caught my attention because it differs from other student competitions I have participated in in the past,” Crist said. “You design and build a vehicle that will not only complete four laps of the track in 35 minutes, but also do it as efficiently as possible. The competition isn’t about speed or accuracy — it’s all about maximizing efficiency.”
He became project manager at the start of the year and began overseeing the planned modifications to the vehicle. All the associated testing and development needed to be completed within a four-month window.
“Seeing as we started preparing for the competition at the end of January and completed a full frame rebuild, we had a lot to complete before we could compete in April,” Crist said. “I also was responsible for reviewing the rules and verifying that all the design choices were compliant and documented to ensure a smooth technical inspection process.”
Other members of the team included Automation & Controls Engineering Technology students Jon Droneck, who worked with the electrical components, Eric Harvey who worked with programming, and Justin Melberg, who worked with mechanical components.
Each vehicle entered must pass technical inspections before being allowed on the track.
“They test/verify the safety features of the vehicle as well as review all the technical documentation on the vehicles electrical system and the signal flow of the custom motor controller,” Crist said.
Dunwoody’s vehicle, which is powered by an E-Bike Hub Motor and controlled using a custom-built motor controller, fared well during the technical inspection.
“We only had to make two minor modifications that took less than 10 minutes to complete,” Crist said.
It was a proud moment for Crist, who said it had been a stretch for him because of his limited mechanical background. “I had to spend a significant amount of time researching steering design and Ackermann Theory to produce a design that would fit into the vehicle without restricting the ability for the driver to make a quick exit,” he said.
Both students said the experience will be beneficial to them well into the future.
“The project management experience I gained throughout this competition season will directly benefit me in the field as an engineer,” Crist said.
“Not only will this experience make me stand out to prospective employers, it has also helped me realize that there is no limit to what I can achieve in my life if I put in the work and the time,” MacLean said.