David Katabarwa is an energetic Polytechnic student

Posted by David Katabarwa on April 12th, 2019

David Katabarwa is an energetic Polytechnic student. He is currently pursuing his education from Saskatchewan Polytechnic. Recently he along with his fellow mates, namely Cody Leusca, Tyler Stoddard, Lane Carrier, RyenStallmann, and Rebecca O’Shea participated in Shell Eco-Marathon which was held in Detroit.

David Katabarwa and his magnificent team built an ultra-high efficiency car for the competition. Here’s what David has to say about their creation.

Creating the engine

The team began their work in September and were searching for the right engine to build. They wanted to go with ethanol, but unfortunately, they were running out of time to adequately tune it. The options that they had in front of them were ethanol, hydrogen fuel cell, and gasoline. Seeing the availability of time and power, they ended up choosing Honda GX-35 gas. According to David, Honda GX-35 gas had enough power which was over 1000 watts.

Next, they had to build a chassis was stiff along with being light. Initially, the material they chose for the chassis was aluminium, but soon they realised that it was releasing a lot of heat from the welding which in return made the metal fragile. And this was a no go for the team because it was not good enough for the competition. After analysing the situation, they switched to steel tubular design. This one weighed lesser than 15 pounds.

David also said that every team was strong and built their unique version of engines which made the competition really competitive. All of the teams at the Shell Eco Marathon had a common strategy. They started the engine for some time to gain the right speed and then turned it off to save fuel. Later, they restarted the engine again when the minimum rate was achieved.

David Katabarwa and team’s innovation had an aerodynamic design and was tapered as well as curved at the back. The group decided to keep the wheels inside the chassis to bypass the wind resistance. The competition had some safety rules which needed to be followed, and the team, however, got the permission from the organisation to get a 3D print of a sharp plastic end point which will not cause any injury.

Their first ride

The team took their first test drive at SaskTel Centre parking lot. David Katabarwa was very happy about their test drive, he was feeling optimistic, and the entire team was feeling positive too. They said it was like riding your first bike. All you got to do is get in the car, harness the seat belts all around you, start the engine, and you are good to go. The entire experience was enthralling, and it made them believe in themselves too.