Before this group started up again, the last Supermilage vehicle at Cal Poly was way back in 1993 and was called the “Cricket.”  It was probably called this due to the fact that one had to be about that small in order to fit inside it.

The current team started in 2005 as a group of about 7 students doing a senior project.  It was a two-year project that resulted in the senior project group being turned into a club, and we finally competed in the 2006 SAE Supermileage Competition held in Marshall, Michigan.  This competition requires a 1.3 hp Briggs and Stratton to be used for the engine, and using this, we achieved 861 mpg and placed 6th in the field of 20, which wasn’t bad for our first year competing. The following year, the vehicle was modified to compete in the Shell EcoMarathon.  Due to no engine restrictions, we were able to swap engines and achieve 1902.7 mpg, which was enough to become event champion.