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Car Trouble : CSUN Runs Behind in Race to Build Prototype Auto

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

For more than a year, a team of Cal State Northridge engineering students worked feverishly on a prototype for a car of the future, one that would surpass all known achievements in fuel efficiency.

They were racing against students from 11 other universities that are finalists this week in the Future Car Challenge, a Detroit car contest co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Big Three auto makers.

Unfortunately, the Northridge entry didn’t even make it to the Motor City.

The CSUN team had planned to bring a modified Chevrolet Lumina to Detroit for tests that began last week. But university officials said complications with the vehicle’s power and energy systems prevented students from completing the project in time.

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Contest spokesman Jack Groh said Northridge was the only team absent from this week’s event, which included a road rally, acceleration and handling tests. The Northridge team still has an opportunity “to work out the bugs” before next year’s final evaluation, he said.

“Sure they’re disappointed,” said Tim Fox, a CSUN professor of mechanical engineering and the team’s faculty advisor, referring to the 60 students who participated in the project. Most are graduating and will not see the project to completion.

Fox said the car would be ready to roll by September, and would be entered in the contest next year.

This week’s evaluations, meanwhile, mark the halfway point in a contest that aims to select a mid-size family vehicle that combines 80-mpg fuel economy--triple that of most current cars--with affordability and comfort.

To achieve that ambitious goal, CSUN engineering students created a design that uses dual motors. The prototype incorporates a modified 1.1-liter BMW gas-powered motorcycle engine for highway travel, and--for city driving--an electric motor powered by 575 pounds of batteries.

Their vehicle design was “more advanced than any of the other [teams] had undertaken” said Dianne Appel, a spokeswoman for Cal State Northridge.

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“Nothing went wrong,” said Fox. “This is a complex undertaking with only 12 months of development time.” The team simply ran out of time, he said.

Back in Detroit, meanwhile, contest officials said top car company officials were impressed by the accomplishment and ingenuity evident among the entries.

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