MSU Mankato Formula SAE Team Gears Up For Competition

Formula SAE program allows aspiring automotive engineers to put their training to use.

Launch Audio Slideshow

At Minnesota State University, Mankato, there are many competitive activities you can join in. Of course, there’s the usual football, baseball and hockey, but one of the lesser-known activities, and perhaps one of the most challenging, is Formula SAE.

Every year, the MSU Mankato Formula SAE team competes against college teams from all over the country, and some from abroad, to build the best small, lightweight racecar of them all.

Formula SAE is an annual design competition run by the Society of Automotive Engineers where, according to the Formula SAE website, teams of college students play the role of a car company tasked with creating an open-wheeled racecar.

The program’s stated purpose is to “promote careers and excellence in engineering” by giving students practical experience in many areas of the automotive industry, including:

• Research
• Design
• Manufacturing
• Testing
• Developing
• Marketing
• Management
• Finances

And each team is ranked by combined scores of 8 categories:

• Acceleration
• Cornering grip
• Cost and manufacturing analysis
• Fuel economy
• Endurance
• Timed laps of a narrow, twisting circuit
• Quality of presentation
• Quality of design

Formula SAE isn’t just a casual activity for the 18 Automotive Engineering Technology students on this year’s team; it’s a major commitment. Team captain Steve Kruger, a full-time student, says he spends roughly 30 hours per week on Formula SAE himself, but that it’s not the same for everyone.

“Some of my guys are in the lab from 8 a.m. to close every day,” Kruger said, “but a lot of us just can’t do that. I got several of my guys working jobs too … so it’s tough, but we knew that going in. It’s a time-demanding process.”

One thing the team couldn’t have known going in was just how many issues they’d run into this year, including a slipping clutch and a failed turbocharger.

“We’ve had a lot of setbacks,” engine team captain Gabe Johnston explained while test-fitting a battery box, “When things go wrong, it takes a really long time to get going again.”

At least one of the setbacks, however, has come with a silver lining. The slipping clutch ended up landing the team a donation, according to engine team member Ryan Maki.

“I called the only company I could find that made aftermarket clutches for KTM engines to see if they made something with more holding capacity,” Maki said, “and we ended up making a deal where they’d give us one of their auto-clutches to do the R&D for future Formula teams.”

The team plans to have their car drivable by the end of the month so they can begin testing, a procedure Kruger concisely describes as “drive it, break it, come back, find out what broke and why, fix the problem and do it all over again.”

MSU’s Formula SAE team will be competing June 20-23 at Lincoln Air Park in Lincoln, Neb. Admission is free for spectators.

UPDATE: Added link to slideshow with preview image below subhead.