The gym at Charles A. Prosser Career Academy in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood was abuzz with activity as students ran around building, tuning and making final adjustments in preparation for the start of the race.
Finally, six small cars were placed on a miniature track. After a bumpy and bumpy formation lap, the two-hour endurance race began.
The top six middle and high school teams in the Midwest raced hydrogen-powered, remote-controlled cars Saturday in the inaugural Horizon Hydrogen Grand Prix Midwest. Hailing from Illinois, Missouri and Michigan, the students built their own cars and competed in an endurance race to see whose car could complete the most laps.
“We've had ups and downs from the day we came for the practice game until now,” said David Bandera, 18, a member of Prosser's home team. “But we resolved everything. We just love being able to use our hands and build things.”
As the cars and drivers settled into a comfortable pace, the team's mechanics monitored the pace and lap times, pulling the cars for a pit stop if a track fell or the vehicle flipped. After the first hour of racing, Prosser pulled away with a strong lead of 173 laps, followed by Morris Community High School with 118 laps and Von Steuben Metropolitan High School of North Park with 86 laps.
Hosted by Horizon Educationalin collaboration with Illinois Science and Technology Coalition, the race was the first of its kind in this region. Horizon and the technology consortium also partnered with Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen, known as MachH2, for the race. MachH2 is a coalition dedicated to clean energy and one of 33 groups vying for an effort to get up to $1.25 billion in federal funding to build a regional clean hydrogen hub.
“Part of the goal of the hydrogen hub is to spur workforce development and job creation in the region in the clean energy economy,” said Colleen Wright, vice president of corporate strategy at energy company Constellation, a MachH2 member. “There's also a whole element of real-time teamwork, which is a really powerful skill that encapsulates the STEM education that drives the creation and modification of the vehicles in the race.”
Today, 95% of the hydrogen used in the United States is produced using fossil fuels in energy-intensive processes that emit high levels of carbon dioxide. But electricity can be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules in a process that produces no carbon emissions. When the electricity used comes from wind, solar or nuclear power, the resulting hydrogen is considered to have almost zero carbon emissions.
Pure hydrogen can be used to help phase out carbon-intensive industries such as steel, heavy transport and aviation, experts say.
Based in the Czech Republic, Horizon has been racing hydrogen-powered, remote-controlled cars in 25 countries for the past six years, according to Horizon team member Ben Giordano. MachH2 partners like Constellation participate in events like the Grand Prix to promote student interests in STEM, engineering and clean energy.
With Horizon's global reach, organizations like the technology coalition foster community partnerships, according to Becky Goldberg, the coalition's education director.
“We're able to be on the ground, provide assistance, support teachers, support communities in the Midwest,” Goldberg said. “The programs that we run in our standard programming are about exposure and access to STEM education.”
In the final 15 minutes of the race, Prosser extended his lead to more than 100 laps over second place contender Morris. Prosser won by 293 laps, including the fastest lap time of 9.1 seconds on the 39th lap.
“We all enjoy fixing the problems because then we can add new features to the car and make it better,” said Prosser team member Danny Roman. “Problem solving is our favorite.”
Built over a six-month training program, each car brought a unique strategy to the table. But only five of the six teams were able to start the race as members of the Plum Grove Hydrojets, from Rolling Meadows, were plagued by technical difficulties from the start.
“The things we learn in the classroom end up being really applicable in the race,” said 18-year-old Alexander Pascual, a member of the Morris team. “In cities you have worse mileage. This really ties into the need to accelerate and decelerate over and over again. This is a concept that we actually use and apply to our driving style.”
“I like the competitive environment here,” agreed teammate Sebastian Rodriguez, 16. “Building the car ourselves helped our team's experience. we tied a bit better”.
As the race drew to a close, the Plum Grove Junior High Doorknobs team, one of three teams representing Plum Grove, passed Von Steuben to move into the top three, finishing with 152 laps. Morris finished second with 167 laps.
The Prosser team will compete in the world finals in Las Vegas in September, a competition representing about 20 different countries. After the success of Saturday's race, organizers hope to hold additional events in the Midwest.
Team Prosser celebrated their victory by bringing the car back for some victory donuts on the track. The members of the group of six students smiled broadly as the small, blue car spun in tight circles on the narrow track.
“We're definitely going to Vegas,” said driver Roberto Rodriguez.
