“We’ve never really seen how fast it can go,” said mechanical engineering sophomore Jake Overla. “However, it can go from zero to 60 (mph) in 3.4 seconds.”

The racing team functions like a small motor sports team, cycling through recruiting and planning, design, manufacturing, testing and competing with teams from around the world before repeating the process again the next year. The team is in the planning and design phase right now; however, it’s about more than just building and racing a car.

“There’s a whole business aspect to what we do,” MSU SAE Formula Racing Team Project Manager Dan Riggs said. “We are responsible for funding, procuring and marketing our entire program.”

Riggs, a mechanical engineering sophomore, said the team isn’t just judged in dynamic events such as how fast its car can travel from start to finish, but it is also judged in static events including its presentation and marketing, design, cost analysis and endurance of the vehicle.

“Most of the judges are professionals in the automotive and racing communities,” Riggs said. “Judges will critique us on our overall performance, design and system integration.”

The team competes in three competitions: Formula North, in Barrie, Canada; Formula SAE West in Lincoln, Neb.; and the Formula SAE competition at the Michigan International Speedway, or MIS, in Brooklyn, Mich. The team capped this past year by placing ninth at MIS, out of a field of 120 teams.

“A lot of the competitions and events we go to have a networking component to them,” said Kevin Viguilla, chief engineer and a mechanical engineering junior. “I was at an event last year where one of the (vice presidents) of General Motors was speaking and would sit down with you. It’s just a great opportunity to give you real-world experience and better prepare you for a future career.”

MSU Formula Racing Team can be both a blessing and a curse, but you have the opportunity to build relationships and form bonds with teammates, and according to Viguilla, the bonding even goes beyond the team and into the classroom.

“We rely on each other and help each other out,” Viguilla said. “We have to take care of each other. (The team) really becomes your second family.”

That second family travels to competitions, leans on each other when problems arise, presents at major events such as the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and even participates in the VEX Robotics State Championship at MSU to help younger kids and promote excellence in the classroom.

Through the highs and lows, the team sticks together, Riggs said.

“There are some stressful times,” Riggs said. “But our motivation comes from each other, and each time, we all get one step closer to building a car.”