OSU Team To Run School's Natural Gas Race Car For 24 Hours Straight

NewsOn6.com

STILLWATER, Oklahoma -- Oklahoma State University students plan to take the nation's first collegiate natural gas race car on a 24-hour drive starting Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 6 a.m.

The event will be held at the Hallett Motor Racing Circuit near state Highway 99 exit of the Cimarron Turnpike between Stillwater and Tulsa.

"Several volunteer drivers, who've been involved with various aspects of the race car, will take the wheel to help us go the distance and finish the run by the next morning," said Jim Beckstrom, adviser to OKstate Racing, a student-run Formula SAE racing team at OSU.

The event is another first for the car, which was recently converted to run on compressed natural gas with funding and assistance from Tulsa Gas Technologies.

Chesapeake Energy and TGT will provide the fuel for the car's 24-hour run. Structural Composites Industries, a Worthington Cylinders Company, donated the specialized, bright orange gas cylinder.

"This has never been done before with this fuel in this engine, so we don't actually know if we'll survive all 24 hours," added Beckstrom.  "We have no reason to think that we'll break, but we're trying to manage expectations."

OKstate Racing, which includes student volunteers from various majors, is overseen by the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology at OSU.