Buckeye Bullet 2 is the second generation of the student-built, alternative fuel race car. In 2004, the first Bullet, which ran on electricity, set a new land speed record with an average time of 315 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Buckeye Bullet 2 will run on hydrogen fuel cells. It is the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell powered land speed racing research vehicle.
Kim Stevens, a senior aerospace engineering student, is the lead designer of Buckeye Bullet 2; she created the Bullet’s aerodynamic shape at Ohio Supercomputer Center. Team leader Isaac Harper, a senior in mechanical engineering, and Kevin Ponziani, also a senior, who is studying computer science and engineering, will travel to the testing site as well. Ponziani says the main objective of the testing is to validate what the students have been simulating with computers.
“If our simulations are confirmed in the wind tunnel, the body of the car can be constructed,” he says.
The Penske wind tunnel testing is the last step toward building the body of the Bullet.
The Bullet team members will learn how the wind resistance affects the speed of the car; they hope the body style they have created will allow the least amount of wind resistance.
At the same time, students from North Carolina’s American Renaissance Middle School will be touring the Penske wind tunnel station and watching what the Buckeyes are doing. The Ohio State students have created a presentation for the middle school students to further their knowledge of the world of engineering.
The students plan to finish building the Bullet 2 in time for more record-setting land speed attempts in Bonneville this August.
