The HAN Ecomarathon will be organised again this year, already the 13th edition (test day on 3 June, final day on 5 July). About ten groups of HAN Automotive students are building their own vehicle, which has to run as economically as possible. I take part in one of the teams!

Finally, on Friday 20th May, we tested for first time our car. We really felt the enthusiasm of building something as a team! After all this work, we see that goes very well.

Although we have to improve the steering cause the rear wheel steering is very tricky, after some practice and modification will be fine.

It has a lot of torque with the 1500 W motor (that was the sponsorship) and it accelerates quite fast. It scared me a bit. Still l didn’t pressed full throttle yet.

Of course there are details be done. We need new brakes, check the wheel alignment, comfort needs to improve and an aerobody to be build. We were behind on our schedule but, we managed to get ahead and we expect to finish on time for the inspection.

I want to notice that there are many dangers when you test a prototype. You are not sure if it really works or not, if everything is adjusted 100% correct, no matter how many times you checked them. For example, the gas pedal sticked to the floor but, fortunately the engine was off! Imagine this happening during driving with all this power.. There are situations that are not obvious immediately.

Nothing of all of that wouldn’t be true without our sponsors:

• EsoulBike – Electric conversion kits for bikes
• International Students Work – Looking for a job?
• Edibles – Why to throw away your cup when you can eat it? It tastes just like a cookie! You could find them at R26 Building in HAN Coffee Corner.
• HyET Solar

And of course without all the team members Nick, Flemming, Mohammad, Jay, David, Joran, Teodor for their effort and their sacrifices nothing would be possible!

Good luck to all of our competitors and we will see you on the competition!

• The test day is on Friday 3 June from 10.00 to 14.00 at the latest
• The race day is on Tuesday 5 July from 10.00 to 18.00 at the latest

Both events take place at the Midland Circuit at Lelystad, Talingweg 89. These promise to be fun days, where the teams will fight to reach the finish line on the one hand and beat students of Fontys from Eindhoven on the other!

Angelos

Why the HAN Ecomarathon?

This sustainable race is not about noise and speed, but about building sustainable mobility and an environmentally friendly future. Each team has built and designed a vehicle. The realisation of ultra-efficient vehicles requires a lot of technical knowledge in the field of design (aerodynamics), (lightweight) materials and combustion or electric engines. In order to appear somewhat equal at the start, the vehicles were built in a very short time and with a limited budget (less than €1,000 per vehicle). The course must also be driven at an average speed of at least 30 kilometres per hour.