The smell of grease and burnt steel emanates from an Okemos building.
Inside, sparks whizz off metal and shards of aluminum lie scattered across the oil-stained floor.
It's here in a noisy warehouse where as many as 30 MSU students spend sleepless nights designing and building the next MSU formula racecar.
The students are part of the MSU Formula Racing Team. Their mission: To build a small open-wheel racecar from scratch for a competition in May at Ford's Michigan Proving Grounds in Romeo. More than 120 colleges and universities will participate in the competition.
Inside the grimy shop, the crew bends over the aluminum skeleton of their developing racecar, surrounded by empty cola bottles and smashed energy drink cans.
The team typically works on the car between midnight and 6 a.m., mechanical engineering graduate student Adam Zemke said.
"You kind of get used to the whole 'not sleeping all too much' thing," mechanical engineering sophomore Elizabeth Carroll said, laughing. "I really enjoy working on the car late. It's almost like … work on the racecar, and then find time for school."
Some of the team's former masterpieces in the center of the work area offer inspiration and vital comparison for this year's crew. The one-seater, suped-up go-karts sit about two inches off the ground on oversized racing-slick tires, gleaming Spartan green in the dim shop light.
The project's deadline is the first week of March. During spring break, the entire team will travel to Florida because Michigan's weather does not allow them to test the car and make last-minute changes.
"It's actually the first time we'll actually race the car, so that part is fulfilling in itself," Carroll said. "Having it finished is probably one of the best parts — knowing that it's all done and all we have to do is touch it up and make it better for the races."
Most recently, the team showed off cars from previous years at the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Center in Detroit.
Project leaders for each aspect of the car — such as brakes, body and suspension — oversee that section. Precision and teamwork is necessary because engineering design, marketing presentation and manufacturing are all judged in the competition.
"The students work very well together," Zemke said. "The team treats this project as a giant packaging problem where teamwork is essential. It's great."
Since the mid-'80s, MSU has been part of Formula Society of Automotive Engineers, or FSAE, the largest engineering competition in the world. Every year, MSU students with various majors build a car while keeping previous errors in mind.
The team's goal is to have more than 100 sponsors for its No. 9 car by May 16. At faster than 100 mph, the open-wheel racecars will take part in four events, including acceleration, a figure-eight skidpad, autocross and an endurance and fuel economy race, which is more than 20 laps.
"The endurance race is the most exciting because about 130 teams take part in this single event, and the cars are on the track for a long period of time," Zemke said.
In 2006, MSU placed ninth in Michigan's event and 17th in Fontana, Calif.
"Our initial goal is obviously to win," mechanical engineering junior Scott Williams said. "I have set my own goal to design my system as best as I possibly can, to save weight on the car and to give my team the best advantage."
For Zemke, the project's operations manager, another goal is to make this year's racer the fastest ever built by an MSU team.
"The project in general is such an endeavor — to design and build a car from scratch is an absolutely unreal undertaking," Zemke said while surveying his fellow crewmates doing everything from design preparation to spot-welding bars for the body in the shop. "You are talking about going to school and working seven days a week, 40 or 50 hours.
"It's not just all the work, it's the learning experience, and it can't be duplicated."
In barely a month, what used to be a desolate frame will mutate into a high-powered fierce competitor.
The MSU Formula Racing Team will guzzle down another round of caffeinated drinks and hit the assembly line because now it's crunch time.
"Teamwork, technical knowledge and work ethic all are important," Zemke said. "The team itself is more than just people getting together to build a car.
"More importantly, we're a family. A family with a goal — to win."
Sean Ely can be reached at elysean@msu.edu.
