Factory Five and West Philly High School Honored by Popular Mechanics

[Dave Smith]

Popular Mechanics Recognizes World-Changing Innovations with 2011 Breakthrough Awards

http://www.factoryfive.com/whatsnew/community/xprize/images/pm_photo.jpg

It's time to brag here. While bureaucrats in Washington dole out a half a billion dollars in DOE grant money that ends up getting flushed down the toilet (Solyndra), real innovation is driven by American ingenuity and small companies like Factory Five.

Simon Hauger and his team of high school KIDS built a 100+ MPG Factory Five GTM that was a finalist in the X-Prize competition, won the 2011 Green Grand Prix and now has been honored with a Popular Mechanics 2011 Breakthrough Award.

http://www.factoryfive.com/whatsnew/community/xprize/images/pmbta2011.jpg

To understand the magnitude of this award is to read the list of award recipients. The West Philly team and their GTM is second on the list to James Cameron and ahead of the Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity program! The TDI technology in this car is slated to become part of the new Factory Five 818 product line-up.

Click here (http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/10-brilliant-innovators-for-popular-mechanics-breakthrough-awards-2011#fbIndex2http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/10-brilliant-innovators-for-popular-mechanics-breakthrough-awards-2011#fbIndex2) to read Popular Mechanics write-up on West Philly's 2011 Breakthrough Award. Bottom line is this exciting accomplishment by high school kids and a inspirational leader has DIRECT product applications that will hit the market within a year. THAT is exciting and we require no money from the government to do this.

Huge congratulations to Simon and all the kids at West Philly High School!

The high mileage drivetrain technology proven by Simon's team is slated to be plugged directly into Factory Five's next production car, the 818. The new car will have multiple body shapes and deliver build-it-yourself 80+ MPG performance.

http://www.factoryfive.com/whatsnew/community/xprize/images/818prototype.jpg

http://www.factoryfive.com/whatsnew/update/nextcar/images/xabier818r.jpg
One potential body shape of the 818 is this race version is the 818-R.

http://www.factoryfive.com/images/ffforum/spy1.jpg

http://www.factoryfive.com/images/ffforum/spy5.jpg
Factory Five engineers surface scan 818 concept shape number 4.

[skullandbones]

Wow! That should get some chatter going. Sounds exciting. WEK.

[Richard Oben]

Congrats to both parties, a PM award is really cool. Cheers Richard.

[TY2185]

Congratulations to all involved.

[Bob Cowan]

Wow! That is ruly impressive. Big manufacturers and government agencies have spent millions (probably billions) of dollars trying to develop this kind of technology. They couldn't accomplish what a High School shop class managed to do in just a few years and almost no budget.

I don't for a minute believe Ford engineers are idiots. That tells me these kids are pretty darned smart. Truly, an accomplishment to be proud of. Not something I could have done.

[flotowngtm]

Dave, now all you have to do is desing a 4 door car so we can put this power train in. Then we can all drive our Factory Five Cars 24/7

PLEASE!!!

[Someday I Suppose]

This is so cool on so many levels, great job for sure.

I also agree with FlotownGTM on the 4 door car... I was thinking just this morning about how cool it is to have this roadster in the garage, but having started a family thinking about whats the project going to be that becomes the cool car the whole family can take to a car show, etc... Maybe the 836....

-Scott

[Dave Smith]

The 4-door FFR has been discussed here at length. I think the high-mileage application of the 818 will test that path (DIY 80 mpg commuter) but I also know the demand for 2+2 and how that could change our company in big ways.

[tcarlson]

That is really cool! Congrats to the students and teachers for doing an outstanding job.

[Ron565]

Ive always said that Factory five does great work. I love people that think forward. Great job Dave,

Happy Building, Ron

[Radkat]

I was wondering how available would the details be re: what the West Philly group did to the GTM?

[kabacj]

I had the pleasure of attending the Popular Mechanics Break Through Conference.

I listened to the kids describe their experience in their own words.

I realized a few things that are less apparent when you read the Popular Mechanics article. This project changed the students lives in an amazing way. Schools in West Philadelphia have a 50% drop out rate. No kid in this program has ever dropped out. They were very proud of that. This program gave them confidence.
This program recognizes that people learn in different ways. Some people are hands on learners others are good in the classroom. I am sure we have plenty of both in our builder community. This story highlighted the fact that schools really don’t cater to vocational skills these days which is a loss for our students and our country. The beauty of this program however was kids participated in both types of learning. They both built the car and also managed the marketing for the team/ wrote a business plan etc. What a concept applied learning using both skill sets!

These kids finished ahead of college engineering students from places like MIT as well as auto manufacturers. That’s astounding!

They did all this on a tiny budget. The quote was, our budget was 10 times smaller than the cost of the transporter many teams rolled up in.

Finally if you empower people they can do amazing things. That includes high school kids.

What I got out of the panel.

In this great country….
The American dream is still alive. There are smart kids everywhere, especially in west Philadelphia. Smart American kids, their teachers, and friends can beat the best the world has to bring. (even though you will be told that our school kids are sub par on the world stage) Money is not required for success. Determination is.
The drive to be exceptional that has been the backbone of our country is alive and well.

If any of you have worked with kids, and for those of us with kids you all realize how big an achievement this is.

So anyway I was inspired and I thought I would share.


John

[Dave Smith]

John,

WELL SAID!! I was in Charlotte last week and into Sat night so I missed the event today (and awards tonight). Jason from tech is there on my behalf... What inspiration in your words and thanks for the very good recap of the break-out. Dave

[Charlie64]

I actually saw this car at the DC science fair this past weekend. I'm glad I went because I got to learn about Factory Five GTM. Wish I had know about you guys years ago since this car is exactly the type of supercar I wanted to build. With what I've spend on my current project I could have gotten a GTM with a LS7 and Porsche 6 speed :(

Looks like I've found my next project :)

Charlie

[Kalstar]

John, very well said. Very inspirational! Thank you for taking the time. It is up lifting to read what those kids and their teachers have accomplished, and what it could mean for scores of others that might follow their example.