FERNDALE, Mich., March 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Gage Product's award for best overall fuel economy in the annual SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge has gone to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

Thirteen universities from the U.S. and Canada participated in this year's competition recently held (March 5-10) at Michigan Technological University in Houghton. The University of Wisconsin-Platteville was also the third place winner overall. Clarkson University of Potsdam, NY, and Kettering University of Flint, Mich., were first and second place overall winners respectively.

"The SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge is a great way for college students to apply classroom knowledge to the real-world challenges they will face in the future," said Dan Finkiewicz, president and chairman of Gage Products Company. "Gage is proud to participate in educational programs that promise to improve fuel efficiency, promote environmental awareness and foster the use of alternative fuels."

A leading supplier of test fuels, paint solvents and paint-system recycling products, Gage has been a Clean Snowmobile Challenge sponsor for 10 consecutive years. The Ferndale-based company also provides alternative fuels to participating college and university teams.

The University of Wisconsin Platteville team earned the Gage Products Award for Best Fuel Economy for achieving 19.57 mpg on the program's Endurance Run event.

Schools that participated in this year's competition included: University of Alaska (Fairbanks, AK.); University of Buffalo (Buffalo, N.Y.); Clarkson University (Potsdam, N.Y.); Ecole De Technologie Superieure (Montreal, Quebec); University of Idaho (Moscow, Idaho); Kettering University (Flint, Mich.); McGill University (Montreal, Quebec); Michigan Technological University (Houghton, Mich.); North Dakota State University (Fargo, N.D.); Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, Ill.); South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (Rapid City, S.D.); University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario); University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, Wis.), and University of Wisconsin-Platteville (Platteville, Wis.).

Held in Michigan since 2002, the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge is hosted by Michigan Tech's mechanical engineering department and the school's Keweenaw Research Center. The event, an engineering competition for SAE student members, attracted more than 200 student competitors from colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada.

Student teams were challenged to re-engineer existing snowmobiles for improved fuel economy, lower emissions and reduced noise levels without sacrificing performance. Schools entered in this year's competition competed in a variety of events rating emissions, noise, fuel economy, endurance, acceleration, handling, static display, cold start and various design factors.

"Gage blends the fuels used for our indoor lab emissions tests and all of the other outdoor events," said Jay Meldrum, lead competition organizer for the Clean Snowmobile Challenge. "Gage's expertise and generosity have made this event a huge success. I do not know how we could do this without their support."

Gage's Test Fuel Division maintains an inventory of more than 250 custom-blended gasoline fuels for use in automotive test programs, including SAE fuels, ASTM fuels and OE-specific fuels. Gage also offers more than 25 different calibration fluids needed to meet testing requirements for a variety of automotive products, including oil and fuel pumps, fuel injectors and transmissions.

Gage has provided its customers with more than 1,000 different blends of gasoline for automotive-test uses over the last five years. These fuels not only represent regional fuel configurations from North America, Europe, South America and the Asia/Pacific region, they also include gasoline alternatives such as ethanol and gasoline with additives like MTBE.

Celebrating its 75th anniversary and the 25th year of its closed loop recycling program in 2012, Gage Products Company is a leading supplier of automotive paint-system solvent-recycling programs. During the past 25 years, the company's closed-loop recycling systems have been used by Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Fiat, Jaguar/Land Rover, Mercedes, Nissan, Volkswagen, KIA and Hyundai to safely remanufacture nearly 100-million gallons of spent-paint solvent and waste material.

Gage also is a global leader in custom fuel-blending services for product development and emission-control testing. The company provides custom-fuel blends and reference test fuels for automotive manufacturers as well as for engine manufacturers and their suppliers throughout the world. In addition, Gage manufactures paint-related products and cleaners for a variety of automotive and industrial paint-system cleaning, maintenance and restoration programs.


Source: Gage Products