Members of the ISU formula car team returned last week after posting their best-ever finish at the annual Society of Automotive Engineers competition in Pontiac, Mich.

The ISU Formula SAE team finished 18th overall in a competition attended by 140 teams from around the world. The teams competed in a multipart competition that tested everything from their cars’ acceleration and endurance to the technical design of the vehicles.

“If you do better than 25th in the competition, that’s huge,” said Andy Eis, team director and recent ISU graduate. “You’re not only against the top engineering programs in the country, you’re against the top programs in the world.”

The car was ranked 9th place in terms of cost. Team member James Jarvis, senior in computer engineering, said the car cost approximately $14,000 to build.

“The score that we’re really most proud of is 13th place in endurance,” Jarvis said.

Eis said the 22-kilometer endurance race is the most important part of the competition.

“We kicked ass,” he said.

Jarvis said only about a quarter of the teams are able to finish the endurance race, which is partially because of the stringent judging of the event.

“Last year we actually got disqualified because they saw a drip of oil in the parking lot,” he said. “To finish that you need a top, reliable car.”

Jarvis credited good engineering for the team’s finish and for overcoming the minor inefficiency of the team’s fuel of choice, an 85 percent ethanol solution — over eight times the concentration found in commercial gasoline containing ethanol.

He said the team has not regretted the choice in fuel, which was made last year.

“We’re the only team from Iowa and a lot of ethanol is made in Iowa; it makes sense to represent our economy,” Jarvis said. “There’s not a lot of oil wells in Iowa, but there are a lot of corn fields.”

He said the fuel choice helped the team raise approximately $70,000 in funding, about $2,000 of which was provided by Iowa State.

Jarvis said good leadership and fund raising helped the team finish the car earlier than in past years.

“We were able to get lots of quality testing time,” he said.

The team, which has been around for eight years, builds a car from close to nothing every year. This year’s engine came from a Kawasaki Ninja sports bike, Jarvis said.

This year’s car will continue to be raced in various events, he said, and will be displayed at the Iowa Renewable Energy Fair in September.

Jarvis said the team plans to compete next year and will focus on building a reliable car similar to this year’s car.