The car runs, so there is that.

But as the Cal Super Mileage Vehicle Team loaded its ultralight carbon-fiber three-wheeler into a trailer for the long haul from Berkeley to Houston, Murphy was definitely in the driver's seat. Anything that could go wrong did — and did so in the last 12 hours before the team was to leave for the Shell Eco-marathon.

The Eco-marathon is a race, of sorts. The only goal is doing 10 laps around a Houston park at an average speed of 15 mph while consuming the teeniest, tiniest amount of energy possible.