{"id":152989,"date":"2026-05-07T10:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T14:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=152989"},"modified":"2026-06-01T09:53:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T13:53:48","slug":"ucf-engineering-students-pedal-to-victory-with-award-winning-human-powered-vehicle-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-engineering-students-pedal-to-victory-with-award-winning-human-powered-vehicle-design\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Engineering Students Pedal to Victory with Award-Winning Human-Powered Vehicle Design"},"content":{"rendered":"
Fueled by engineering ingenuity and months of testing, a team of UCF mechanical engineering students raced its human-powered vehicle past competitors from across the country to claim a national championship.<\/p>\n
What began as a Spring 2026 Senior Design project ended with the e-HPVC Senior Design team earning three first-place trophies at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) e-Human Powered Vehicle (e-HPVC) Challenge.<\/p>\n
Hosted on UCF\u2019s main campus, the annual competition challenges university teams to design, fabricate and race human-powered vehicles, testing everything from vehicle design and safety to endurance and speed.<\/p>\n
UCF\u2019s team took first place in both the endurance and drag race events, second place in design and first place overall, earning four trophies and $2,500 in prize money.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecoming national champions while representing UCF feels surreal, says Estefano Cicci, a mechanical engineering major<\/a> and member of the e-HPVC team. \u201cI hope these trophies remind future students that the goals that feel out of reach are exactly the ones worth chasing, and that a small, dedicated team from UCF can prove itself on a national stage.\u201d<\/p>\nBuilding a Better Ride<\/h2>\n