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"   Cornell AXP unleashed the team&amp;#039;s mule car on the open road for the first time recently, participating in the 2008 Green Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, N.Y. The 60-mile road rally, now in its fourth year, is a showcase for alternative-energy vehicles and was the team&amp;#039;s first stop en route to the race for the Automotive X Prize.   &amp;quot;The Grand Prix was a chance for the team to test and showcase the technology at work in our mule car,&amp;quot; says incoming Cornell AXP president Trey Riddle. &amp;quot;In just three months, our 70-person team went from having a concept to building a fully-functioning vehicle.&amp;quot; The accomplishment puts Cornell on schedule to refine its ideas for the official AXP entry car the team plans to build over the upcoming months. The team will implement many of the systems tested in the mule.   The race to complete the car before the Green Grand Prix came down to the wire. Just one week before the race, the PM-sponsored Cornell Squad had yet to put the finishing touches on the vehicle. Pre-race test drives were less than 10 miles, but helped the team determine which systems to alter. The car needed an extra pair of shocks in the rear and tweaks to the suspension, as it gained nearly 800 pounds during the conversion from the stock internal combustion propulsion to electric-IC hybrid.   The race gave the team real-world mpg estimates to measure their success. While a brand-new Geo can achieve about 50 mpg, Cornell&amp;#039;s 15-year-old vehicle was achieving just 22 mpg with the IC drivetrain before alteration. The tune-up and weighty hybrid conversion boosted efficiency to about 44 mpg during the race, says Riddle. He expects the Geo can achieve better fuel economy when driven at slower speeds. It&amp;#039;s optimized to run below 45 mph.   Besides testing the fuel consumption, the race turned out to be a crash course in rally navigation. The organizers provide directions and set time goals for each stage of the race. The team whose total drive time is closest to the organizer&amp;#039;s time standard wins. &amp;quot;We had to learn how to decipher the rally course directions on the fly, which somewhat hindered us from achieving the segment time goals set out by the race organizers,&amp;quot; Riddle admits.   While Cornell AXP wasn&amp;#039;t at the front of the pack\u2014the team finished 26 out of 46 teams\u2014Riddle says they&amp;#039;re happy with the overall performance and experience: &amp;quot;We weren&amp;#039;t the team refilling the gas tank at the first fuel stop.&amp;quot;  RELATED STORIES \u2022 EARLIER: Cornell AXP Hacks Geo Metro Chassis for 100-mpg Race  \u2022 EARLIER: PM-Sponsored Squad Builds Mega-Efficient Drivetrain   2008 Green Grand Prix "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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