Eco-Marathon 2008: Can Anyone Top 7,148 mpg? By Matthew Phenix EmailMarch 07, 2008 | 5:17:05 PMCategories: Fuel Economy 001b Calpolydrivingshellecomarathon Looking like one of those space caskets from Star Trek, the single-seat racer you see to the left, constructed by a team from the French technical school St. Joseph La Joliverie and dubbed the Microjoule, traveled an amazing 7,148 miles on a single gallon of fuel (in other words, almost ten miles per teaspoon). 
The team took top honors in the Prototype Category of Shell Oil's 2006 and 2007 Eco-Marathon, and from May 22nd through the 24th, it will return to the serpentine Nogaro Motor Circuit in Gers, France, to defend its title, competing against some 200 teams from 25 countries.
The rules of the Eco-Marathon are simple enough: The competing cars can have three or four wheels and use gasoline, diesel, or an alternative energy source, such as liquid petroleum gas, bioethanol, compressed natural gas, hydrogen, or sunlight. The winner is the team whose car travels the greatest distance on the least amount of fuel, and the top prize (awarded to the sponsoring school) is a cool $10,000.
Closer to home, Shell is set to sponsor the 2008 Eco-Marathon Americas, for which thirty-four North American teams will gather at the California Speedway in Fontana from April 10th through the 13th.
Last year's winner, California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, recorded 1,902.7 mpg (in the car pictured above right) to win the the Combustion Engine Group, well ahead of the 1,637.2 mpg set by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology from Terre Haute, Indiana.
