Sustainable mobility might be the greatest challenge we have to face in this new century. We're running short on oil and the climate change is urging us to find new ways to stay mobile while not compromising our future.

Since 1985, the European Shell Eco-marathon is an educational project that integrates sustainable development values with driving as far as possible using the least among of energy. Each year, more than 200 teams from universities, engineering schools and high schoolsare competing on the Nogaro circuit in the south of France to prepare the world's future.

The famous French engineering school ENSAM has been competing for quite a while. ENSAM has eight centers in France, all participating towards the challenge. A national coordination makes it easier to work together, share knowledge and experience to reach success. The coordination entered the PASSION FOR INNOVATION Program and got CATIA V5 licenses and laptops which were then dispatched to each ENSAM center.

Due to its collaborative qualities and its reuse of existing elements, CATIA was used to design cars with lighter, onnovative bodies in carbon or composite materialand efficient engines wich used little petrol. Speed is not the goal, and one could thought this "race" is only about smart design. That's not true: Beyond those technical aspects, the Shell Eco-marathon, involves careful planning, strategy and driving to reach success, just like any other race. Drivers must take advantage of the circuit profile, swithcing offengines when on a downward slope and restarting again to get past bumps and curves. Of course, the less starts the better if you want to minimize your energy consumption. To achieve this goal, drivers are helped by team members placed at strategic points on the circuit staying in touch with a central team manager who can inform the driver of various parameters (such as his average speed and when to rstart or stop the engine etc...) through a mobile phone or a talkie-walkie. This is a real race!

All in all, this is an example of life, science and technology creating a better world! The best ENSAM car can drive as far as 1431 kms with one litre of fuel. A fine performance which shows you can really go further when using CATIA.