[California98Civic]

Wow! A "$150" entrant: "Let's do it again."

Take one pram, an old vacuum cleaner – and drive

The motto at James Benson Dudley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina is “Failure is not an option”. It is a good motto to have, given that many of its students are from deprived backgrounds and struggle to reach academic success. Brayan Cruz has been a student here for the last three years.

“School wasn’t for me,” says Brayan. “I wanted to drop out.”

Then last year Ricky Lewis, who teaches automotive engineering, urged him to take up the challenge of designing an ultra energy-efficient car to compete in Shell Eco-marathon. With limited resources, it would not be easy:

“Last year, one Eco-marathon team spent $150,000 on their vehicle,” says Ricky. “We’ve spent $150!”
One man’s junk is another man’s treasure

Brayan has worked with teammates to build a streamlined electric car, relying on recycled materials. The driver sits in an old classroom seat and a pram cover serves as an easy-to-open roof, while the car body contains a vacuum cleaner hose and spare bicycle parts.

The team stays in the school workshop as late as 9 p.m. “Usually pizza helps keep them going!” says Ricky. “They’re learning co-operation, confidence and how to get the most out of what extremely limited resources they have.”

Now Brayan faces a new challenge: raising the $550 each student needs to travel from North Carolina to Houston, Texas, for the event.