Michigan Tech Formula Car SAE Team at Michigan International Speedway

The Michigan Tech Formula Car SAE team at Michigan International Speedway. Photo credits: Robert Emrae Mooney, MTU Formula SAE member

The Michigan Tech Formula Car SAE 2008 and 2007 cars

The Michigan Tech Formula Car SAE 2008 car

The Michigan Tech Formula Car SAE car at Michigan International Speedway

The Michigan Tech Formula Car SAE team display at YES Expo in Detroit

by Elise Cleary, student editor for Tech Today

Robert Mooney, former president of the Formula SAE Car Enterprise, is disappointed but resolute following the outcome of this year's Formula SAE East Competition, held at the Michigan International Speedway earlier this year.

The team finished 58th out of 104 teams, a slight drop from last year's 48th of 106. The slide was due primarily to having inexperienced drivers and less time available for testing.

The months of April and May were quite rainy so it prevented the team from being able to test the car as much as they would have liked, said Mooney. The biggest downfall, he said, was when the chain fell off during lap 14 of the endurance race, with only eight laps to go. Nevertheless, the team made improvements in some areas.

“We did improve over last year in the presentation event,” said Mooney.

The winning school at this year’s competition was the University of Western Australia.

Mooney, who joined the team as a first-year student, said the most difficult part about leading was keeping the team motivated and on task.

“What you put in is what you get out,” Mooney said.

Next year the team will re-engineer the entire vehicle; they aim to improve gear shifting and decrease its current weight of 503 pounds.

In competiton at Michigan International Speedway May 14th to the 17th, the Michigan Tech Formula Car SAE team finished 59th out of 104 teams. See the SAE International Results of the competition. (PDF File)

Team Captain Robert Emrae Mooney said that overall this year the Michigan Tech team had more younger members step up to the plate though less vehicle testing resulted in a lower place than in 2007 when they had a 48th finish.

View the Michigan Tech Formula SAE website for more details and photos

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