Mines Senior Design Team Wins Trophy at Boulder Kinetics Race

GOLDEN, Colo., May 14, 2007 -- The Colorado School of Mines Kinetics Team made history with a series of firsts during the annual race held May 5 at the Boulder Reservoir.

Not only did the team actually finish the course, but came home with a trophy for winning the "Campus Cup" award.

Seven Mines seniors -- Chris Germer, Jeff Hammer, Grant Hudish, Trey Rodgers, Dan Stackhouse, John Steinhoff and Dorgan Trostel -- placed 15th overall in the KBCO/Miller Lite Kinetics.

“It was brutal,” advisor and engineering adjunct instructor Julie Van Laanen said.

The course included 11 land-to-water transitions, a 6-foot mud hill and bogs. Out of more than 40 teams to enter the competition, Van Laanen estimated maybe half were able to finish the course.

The race, which is both technical and performance-based, pits costumed competitors against each other in human-powered crafts built to navigate land and water. The Mines Kinetics team was contracted by engineering professor Dr. Joel Bach to build a vehicle that required no pushing – it had to be ridden through all transitions.

Designed with simplicity in mind, the team's tricycle device consisted of aluminum tubes welded to a tandem bicycle for the frame and two inflatable side pontoons for floatation. It carried two people and had a built-in propeller for water propulsion as well as rotating arms which allowed the craft to lower the pontoons when entering the water and raise them when exiting.

Van Laanen said the Mines team was in fourth place when the front fork of its device crumpled. Anticipating the design's weak spot, the team came equipped with a spare. But the repair cost them about 30 minutes – the same amount of time between the team's finish and that of the winner, Van Laanen said.

Each member of the team was assigned a unique role: Rodgers served as a judge, Hudish and Stackhouse were the pilots, Germer and Hammer operated as the pit crew and Steinhoff and Trostel were photographers.

Funding for the annual design challenge is provided by Lockheed Martin and the Thorson Fund, a senior design endowment.