May 09, 2007

Contact: Amy Hewes
College of Engineering
805-756-6402
ahewes@calpoly.edu

Cal Poly Outsprints the Human Powered Vehicle Competition

The Cal Poly Human Powered Vehicle Club (HPV) won 1st place in the Female Sprint and 2^nd place overall at the 2007 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Human Powered Vehicle Competition held at the NASA Ames Research Center in San Jose.

Mechanical Engineering senior Karin Hanzi from San Luis Obispo, CA, piloted a streamlined bicycle constructed with full carbon fiber faring integrated with a carbon fiber frame to blast the competition. She maintained the top speed in both runs, clocking in at nearly 35 mph.

In addition to Hanzi’s victory, the HPV Club also took 1^st place in men’s and women’s mixed sprints, 3^rd place in design, and 2^nd place overall. The Cal Poly team has historically faired very well at the ASME-sponsored event. In 2005 they took 1^st in the overall competition and rebounded strongly this year from 5^th place in 2006.

Kim Shollenberger, associate professor of mechanical engineering and HPV faculty advisor, was pleased with her team’s performance: “This year, our bike was judged to have the best aesthetics and it also had the highest safety score.”

Cal Poly placed second overall behind University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR). Although Cal Poly and UMR have gone head-to-head for the last five years, the teams have developed a sense of camaraderie. George Leone, technical advisor for Cal Poly HPV, commented, “We shared the celebration with them after the race and duct tape with them during the race. It’s great to have teams help each other, even in the heat of competition.”

The Cal Poly HPV student winners include: Joseph Levyssohn, President, Matthew Scott, Vice President, Matthew Boyd, Robert Ehrmann, Daryll Fletcher, Stephen Franco, Katherine Gage, Kevin Gibbs, Gregory Hamm, Karin Hanzi, Nicolas Hellewell, Ryan Helmuth, Neil Jansen, Thomas Kuhn, Nicholas Pullano, Andrew Ouellet, John Petersen, Steven Ricchiazzi, Matthew Vaillancourt, and Aaron Williams.