A team of BYU mechanical engineering, technology, and industrial design students built their first-ever Formula SAE car and entered the Society of Automotive Engineer’s Intercollegiate Design Formula Competition, held in June at the California Speedway in California. They spent five months designing and manufacturing the car and then tweaking its performance, learning that engineering is more than solving differential equations. “You use project management and communication skills even more,” says team captain Ryan Blanchard (BS ’06). While a potential safety problem discovered halfway through the race prevented the team from finishing, they have high hopes for next year.
BYU Today
