Jon Lyons and his Saskatchewan Polytechnic teammates’ eco car is ranked among the best in the world.
At the recent Shell Eco-marathon Drivers’ World Championship in London, the team was briefly deemed to have won the event with the Saskatoon Berry HAM, their specialized eco car made partly out of hockey sticks and 3D-printed plastic. The vehicle was designed and built in Saskatoon as part of a bid for the Eco-marathon competition, a race event that measures both fuel economy and overall on-track speed.
That was, until race officials reviewed times and instead discovered a team from Indonesia had finished ahead of the Saskatchewan squad.
“Shell thought that we had lapped them, and we actually did lap a car in the last lap, another Indonesian team. That’s what they thought was going on there as well,” said Lyons, a Hapnot Collegiate grad and Flin Flonner who served as the team’s motor engineer.
Minutes after the race, the Saskatchewan group was announced as the world champions, posing for photos with a championship trophy in the event’s victory lane.
“We went through the whole ceremony, it was crazy. We were happy with second place, but we absolutely thought we had won,” said Lyons.
It wasn’t until after the team had arrived back in their pit garage when they were told there was a mistake.
“Half an hour later, we were back in the garage, starting to get the car ready for transport again, and an official came up and was like, ‘This is really awkward, but I need to take your trophy away,’” Lyons said.
“I think we handled it really well, but we were definitely upset. We were still the only Canadian team there. Second place is still amazing, but to have that happen, it didn’t feel the same way. It felt like we’d lost so much, but we’re still pleased with it.”
The team qualified for the world championship event by finishing first in the Shell Eco-marathon Americas event in Sonoma, Calif., in April. Their vehicle, named the Saskatoon Berry HAM, was one of 10 vehicles that qualified for the London event.
During the London event, the Sask Poly team fixed up the vehicle, specially designed to reach maximum speed and fuel efficiency. In the event in California, the team accomplished a mileage of 266 kilometres per litre, enough to get Lyons from Saskatoon to Flin Flon on a smaller volume of fluid than contained in a six-pack of beer.
After a series of glitches with the drivetrain and gearing were corrected, the vehicle was ready to compete in the final race. At one point, to help solve a problem with engine vibration, Lyons and the team shoved a GoPro camera into the vehicle’s engine bay during a test lap to find and fix the issue.
Facing teams from Europe, Asia and the United States on race day, the Saskatchewan team overcame starting at the back of the grid to finish on the podium. The group was the only Canadian team at the competition and the first Canadian team to ever qualify for the world championship event.
“We were the first Canadian team to ever go out there and we built that car this year. That’s unheard of, for our first year having a car out, and getting second in the world? That’s pretty good,” said Lyons.
With a frame partially built out of hockey sticks and a 3D-printed plastic body, the Saskatoon Berry HAM attracted considerable attention in London. That attention included a crew from Great Big Story, a documentary film company owned by the same parent company as CNN. The Great Big Story group followed Lyons and the Sask Poly team around London, getting footage of the competition and work on the vehicle.
With the team being Canadian and hockey sticks being a major component of the vehicle, the film crew wanted to shoot video of team members playing hockey at a London-area rink.
That posed a problem for Lyons – he can barely skate.
“There is some great footage of me stumbling around on the ice. I faked it, though – I think it turned out okay,” he joked, adding that the school hopes to acquire some of the raw footage shot by the crew in London.
