The Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2008 competition has been started in France. Goal is to run as far as possible with just one liter of gasoline. This year with gasoline prices three times higher than just a few years back this event will draw even more attention. That Shell is sponsoring it is a clever marketing coup it seems as they of course have profited from the rising prices the most. The vehicle designs are optimized to reach just this one goal within a set of regulations such as min. average speed of 30km/h, which makes sense, as otherwise with solar panels one might be able to run forever. Last year's winner made it 2791km on one liter of fuel. Once again this year you will find fuel cell technologies - plus, of course, totally stripped down vehicle designs that are highly aerodynamic. The drivers are girls as they are lighter, better fit into the vehicles and probably are better at enduring the physical stress of being squeezed in for that long. The teams have lots of fun, it seems, which is great. Maybe one addition should also be to build vehicles that could be used in daily life by adding certain constraints, so that one day maybe Shell might have to rethink sponsoring as it has real impact on fuel savings. Right now it is a nice marketing event.