The Saint Thomas Academy Experimental Vehicle Team claimed the 2003 Human Powered Ice Races Championship on Saturday, January 25, 2003 in Lindstrom, Minn. The Cadets claimed first place in the 100-meter time trial with 7.6 seconds (29.4 mph), second in the 50-meter drag race, and first in the five lap circuit race.
The event, sponsored by the Minnesota Human Powered Vehicle Association, challenges individuals and teams to build "bikes" to race on a prepared ice surface. The rules require vehicles to be only human powered. The competition is broken into two classes: an Open Class (any traction aids may be used), which includes the time trial, drag race, and circuit race, and a Rubber Only Class (stock rubber tires only). In the Rubber Only Class, Saint Thomas Academy physics teacher and Experimental Vehicle Team moderator Mark Westlake claimed first place.
The Academy had two teams participating in the Open Class with more than 30 teams and individuals from throughout the Midwest. The cadets built two ice bikes with opposite designs, one with the blades and steering the in front and the drive system in the back and visa versa.
"It was fun to race something you built yourself," said senior Ray Schleck, who has spent four years with Saint Thomas Academy’s Experimental Vehicle Team. "We all worked together as a team, but having two teams in the competition was a great incentive to put in the extra time testing and problem solving as many details as possible."
The Academy’s Experimental Vehicle Team is familiar with the title of World Champions, and setting world records, in different "vehicle" categories. Last spring, the Academy’s Experimental Vehicle Team set a new Electric Cart Association world record at the two-day Electric Car Event for high school students, traveling a record-setting 37.52 miles. A year prior, the Experimental Vehicle Team claimed the National High School record with 1,322 miles per gallon, and later won the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) College Supermileage Challenge.
The Experimental Vehicle Team is a co-curricular activity led by Saint Thomas Academy physics teacher Mark Westlake and senior leaders Ray Schleck and Peter Gac. Other students include seniors Chris Morrissey, John Pattison, and Andrew Schlick, juniors Luke Wallrich, and Ed Gadient, sophomores Nick DePrey, Kevin Mass, and David Patterson. |
