Nova at the Shell Eco Marathon 2014. Photo: Mattias Oppitz
During 2013-2014 HiGtech started to develop a new car to compete in the Shell Eco Marathon with the name Nova. The idea was to bring the experience of our previous car, Stella and develop a completely new car for the race in 2014.
That there was a big difference between Stella and Nova is easy to understand when you lift the cars, the weight is half the size! This we achieved in particular by making the body of carbon fiber instead of fiberglass and by fabricating the chassis of the lightweight material chrome molybdenum, but also in other respects – weight reduction was a leading parameter during the development.
The pictures above show Novas engine. Photo: Erik Baumgarten
The car was also equipped with a new engine and drivetrain. The engine is mainly made of aluminum for light weight and has mainly been manufactured in our own workshop at the university. The engine has a displacement of 45 cc and has been developed with four valves, the latter is uncommon in the competition and something we aim to develop further in the coming year.
Nova did compete at the Shell Eco Marathon, Rotterdam 2014, and we managed to get a result of 721,76 km/l of gasoline.
In autumn 2014 team HiGtech decided to scrap Nova and build a new body. The body was considered to be too unstable while aerodynamic could be improved. A few weeks before the Shell Eco Marathon 2015 Nova’s successor Reborn was finished, where parts of Nova, including the engine, still lives on.
Have a look at some pictures from Shell Eco Marathon 2014 at the gallery below. Photo: Erik Baumgarten and Mattias Oppitz.
