ADAMS TWP — While engineer and driver Bob Freyvogel calls it the Carbiliner, Mars High School physics students just call it cool.

Freyvogel, a Carbinite Land Speed Racing engineer and the vehicle's driver, on Thursday brought the Carbiliner to the high school to demonstrate to students that pursuing a career in science or math can be fun.

“I want to get them more excited about math, science and engineering,” Freyvogel said.

Before taking students outside to see the odd vehicle, which resembles a rocket ship from a 1950s science fiction movie, Freyvogel gave his presentation to five different classes. Students in the high school's design, robotics, physics, engineering by design, material processes and manufacturing technology classes listened attentively as Freyvogel explained the ins and outs of setting a land speed record.

He said his all-volunteer group of engineers pursue the wheel-driven type of LSR, as opposed to the rocket-driven method that attempts to achieve speeds up to 1,000 mph.

Freyvogel said his team is chasing the land speed record in the wheel-driven Streamliner. The record is currently held by the Speed Demon, which clocked 437 mph.

“It's the fastest car on Earth,” Freyvogel said.

The speed trials are held on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah each year. He said his team designed the Carbiliner to safely go 550 mph.

While the LSR racing association requires several safety features in the streamlined vehicles built for setting records, Freyvogel told the students that concepts like downforce, separation drag, tire composition and even the design software used are crucial to designing a record-setting vehicle.

He said Carbiliner has one engine because getting two engines to perform in concert at such high speeds is difficult. The vehicle also has aluminum front tires because rubber cannot withstand the 88,550 revolutions per minute of the Carbiliner's wheels.

Freyvogel said while a minivan has about 260 horsepower and a NASCAR racer about 840, the Carbiliner boasts no fewer than 1,800 horsepower.

He said the vehicle was designed a little wider than past models so it will not “pencil roll” if crashed at high speeds. Engineers also had to attach visible parts to the pointed rear of the vehicle because it was nearly hit while mounted on the trailer.

“You can't see it from behind,” Freyvogel said.

Engineers worked on the Carbiliner for 20 to 30 hours per week for two years to come up with the current design, which he hopes will take the record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2014.

He said the Carbiliner has achieved 450 mph. To achieve the record at Bonneville, a vehicle must have the fastest average speed over a certain distance.

Freyvogel said his team enjoyed designing and building the Carbiliner because it required them to hearken back to the engineering principals they learned in college.

“We all have jobs,” Freyvogel said, “but it was neat to go back to the books.”

When Freyvogel led the students to the parking lot to look at and even sit inside the Carbiliner, the science-minded teens peppered him with questions.

“They asked excellent, intelligent questions,” Freyvogel said. “It's nice to work with the kids.”

Haley Flecker, a senior who takes advanced-placement physics at Mars, said while several formulas and theories she has learned raced through her head when she first laid eyes on the Carbiliner, one thought took precedence.

“It's pretty sweet,” Flecker recalled of her initial reaction to the vehicle.

Because Flecker and her father, Brian, work on cars together. she appreciates the skill Freyvogel's team displayed in building such a vehicle. She said Freyvogel's presentation taught her that aerodynamics, lift and design can really affect a vehicle.

“And also, speed is awesome,” Flecker said.

Chris Wadding, who is also a senior physics student at Mars, said the presentation helped combine the many lessons he has learned at Mars.

“I really appreciate being able to see how design shop, math and physics are used in the real world,” Wadding said.

He said the Carbiliner reminded him of an aircraft when he first saw it. He also wondered why the vehicle didn't lift off the ground when achieving such blinding speeds.

“Now I know because of Mr. Freyvogel's presentation,” Wadding said.

Mars physics teacher Nicole Avon said the presentation was invaluable to students of science and math.

“Any chance to show the kids real-world applications of the lessons they learn in class is fantastic,” Avon said.

Shawn Haywiser said his manufacturing technology and materials processes classes participated in a challenge in which they built a small CO2 powered car. Students built the cars to go as fast as possible for 65 feet, then raced one another.

Haywiser was excited to see that the students in his classes used the same design software as Freyvogel's team.

“They do a sketch of their car, then use SolidWorks to design it, then build it,” Haywiser said. “It takes a lot of the error out of it.”

Freyvogel is the president of Carbinite Metal Coatings in Renfrew, where the Carbiliner was built.