Missouri Made Car Gets 358 Miles Per Gallon!

KY3-TV reports that students from Aurora Junior High in Aurora, Missouri, took home first place at a state-wide, High School level, competition in which the students designed a red roadster which managed to achieve an impressive 358 miles per gallon.

The car, which was designed to compete in the Missouri SuperMileage Challenge, was a one-seater composed of three small bicycle wheels, a steering column, and a pull cord start for the 4 stroke engine hooked up to a gear box. To reiterate, Aurora SuperMileage Team member Nate Basham was quoted having said:

“We have a four stroke engine. It’s hooked up to a gear box.”

Aurora SuperMileage Team member Brett Schellen said, “I’m pretty proud of it because it took a long time for us to make it.”

Caleb “Rodeo” Baker, the Aurora SuperMileage Team driver, believed his team may have been worried that their magnificent car wouldn’t look quite as stylish as the competition, as he was quoted having said:

“We were just nervous about our car looking the coolest I think.”

Teacher and Aurora SuperMileage Team Coach Marcus Reynolds was quoted having said:

“Our average, the winning average was 358 miles per gallon. We had a high run of 437.”

As the teams were not allowed to exceed 30 miles per hour, Rodeo did his best to maintain a speed of roughly 29 mph.

The Missouri SuperMileage Challenge website indicates 1st place average was 352.5893 MPG with a best run of 390.18 MPG. Second place was taken by Washington High School with an average of 246.9797 MPG.

Not bad for a group of students who aren’t quite old enough to drive. The students reportedly worked on the vehicle on Saturdays, snow days, and after school and it certainly paid off as the Junior High Students managed to exceed the previous state record by more than 30 miles per gallon.

Missouri SuperMileage Challenge 2011 Promotional Video: