Read the full story, published by Thayer School of Engineering.

For the first time in 12 years of competition, Dartmouth Formula Racing completed all events at Formula Hybrid, and their entry was the only car this year to finish all 44 laps of the Endurance Event. Dartmouth took a first in the hybrid category for engineering design, acceleration, and autocross. 

Held from April 30 through May 3 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., the competition drew 23 teams from across the U.S. as well as Canada, India, and Turkey. During those four days, the undergraduate and graduate engineering student teams, along with the high-performance hybrid and electric race cars they built, endured all kinds of weather—wintery cold, spring rain, summer heat, and even a few thunderstorms.

With their car weighing in at 672 pounds—almost 200 pounds lighter than last year’s car—drivers Leina McDermott ’19 and Allie Stasior ’20 logged 75-meter acceleration runs ranging from 6.5 to 5.1 seconds. 

“For perspective,” says Raina White, Thayer lab instructor and DFR team adviser, “a few production cars warmed up the track with acceleration times of 4.7 for a Tesla and 5.2 for a Bolt.”