Oklahoma State University racers set natural gas record

The team set 24-hour mileage and endurance records by completing 428 laps at Hallet Motor Racing Circuit by Monday morning. That is 100 more laps than last year's world record performance.

“Our improved tuning put more power to our suspension. We fought suspension failures all 24 hours, but we persevered,” team adviser Jim Beckstrom said.

“What a team,” he said.

OKstate Racing went 770 miles during this year's race at Hallet, which is just south of State Highway 412 between Stillwater and Tulsa.

The team hopes its ongoing efforts will lead to CNG becoming accepted as a fuel in international Formula Society of Automotive Engineers competitions.

Last year's car was the first of its type to race for 24 hours after being converted to run on CNG.

OKstate Racing is a student club that builds a formula race car from the ground up for use in international competitions. Its CNG program is the only one of its kind in the world, officials said.

The club is sponsored by the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology at OSU.