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Drexel’s Formula Hybrid Team Places Third in International Competition

formula hybrid third place October 12, 2009 Drexel’s formula hybrid team took green racing to a new level in Rome, Italy October 7-9, at the Formula Electric and Hybrid 2009 competition taking home the third place title. Despite the car being held in transit for two extra days and missing the first round of events, the team managed to place first for design presentation, second for acceleration races and third for performance. The Drexel team was the first United States team to compete in the Italy Formula Electric and Hybrid Competition with 15 other teams from around the world. 

“Overall, we were all extremely proud of our accomplishments, especially considering the odds we faced coming into this competition. Not only with shipping delays, but also being the first US team to ever compete in the 3rd Annual International Italian Formula Electric & Hybrid Competition and still placing on the podium,” says Joshua Verdieck ’09 (ECE).   

The Drexel team faced an odd obstacle before the competition which caused a delay in their preparation of the race car which had to be reassembled and running before race day. The car was held up in customs because agents believed there were dead animal parts found in the race car’s crate. The claimed dead animal parts turned out to be sausage casings and the race car was pushed through customs quickly with the support of U.S. Congress.

“Apparently not everyone knows what strong dedication and motivation fuels the Drexel Formula Hybrid Team. We were not at all ready to give up at this point,” says Joshua.

After pulling an all-nighter to pull the car together, the Drexel team was able to compete in Rome’s Fiat facility. Their car was judged in a series of static and dynamic events that included technical inspection, presentation and engineering design, solo performance trials and high performance track endurance. The events were scored to determine how well the car performed. In each event, manufacturing firms used specified minimum acceptable performance levels that were reflected in scoring equations for the judging. For more information on Drexel’s formula hybrid team, please visit the Formula Hybrid website.