Race day one is almost done here in Houston, and the college and high school engineers are starting to surmount the technical difficulties and put up extraordinary numbers with their cars.

When we last left Durand High School, the team’s ethanol-powered car had swiped another vehicle around turn one and wrecked. But the car got back on the road, and the team recorded two full runs, including one of 345 miles per gallon. Three of the cars in the fuel cell category scored more than the equivalent of 1,000 MPG. And the girls from Granite Falls High School got as high as 182 MPG in the pink-and-green diesel “Iron Maiden.”

Tomorrow: How you drive these crazy things, how you build a car when your college forbids welding, and the final tallies from Shell Eco-marathon Americas.