First East Coast HPV Challenge attracts 13 entries

Jack Raplee
ASME NEWS

The first-ever East Coast Human Powered Vehicle Challenge, which took place in May in Blacksburg, Va., fared well, with 10 schools bringing 13 vehicles, compared with the veteran competition in Reno, Nev., a month earlier, when 20 vehicles from 18 schools competed.

This year, in order to make the competition more accessible to East Coast schools, the Blacksburg event was added to the annual competition. The University of Buffalo was the only team to participate in both competitions.

The University of Buffalo (center) participated in both the East Coast and West Coast HPV Challenges. The team's entry competed in the single-rider category, placing fourth overall.

 

As with the Reno competition, vehicles were awarded prizes in three categories: single-rider, tandem and utility vehicles. Entrants in those categories were judged in design, sprint and endurance contests. Each vehicle can score as high as 100 points total among judged events. The combined scores in all the categories determined the placings.

In the single-rider category, the entry from the University of Missouri-Rolla finished first over-all by accumulating 31.1 points for design and perfect scores in the sprint and endurance events.

The entry from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, which won the design competition, finished in second place. Virginia Tech took third place overall.

In the tandem, or multirider category, the University of Florida was the winner, scoring a perfect 30 points in both the sprint and endurance competitions and 40 points in design.
The Virginia Tech team finished second in the multirider category, but managed to take the utility vehicle category, beating runner-up University of Florida in both design and endurance.

Only two vehicles were entered in the utility category. Virginia Tech won overall after achieving the highest score possible for design — 60. The University of Florida came in second, although the team earned the highest possible score for endurance — 40.
For complete results, visit www.asme.org/hpv/2002east/results.html.

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