RIT Formula Team Takes First in Individual and Overall Events in California
Race car team wins first competition on American soil in 17 years of competing
Charles Neumann
Members of the 2009 RIT Formula racing team with this year’s racer at the Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival on May 2.
After several years of top five placements in international competitions, the Rochester Institute of Technology Formula SAE racecar team took first place overall among 81 teams in the 2009 Collegiate Design Series California event on June 20. This was the first time the RIT team placed first overall on American soil and swept the individual categories in the weekend competition.
“This is our 17th year doing this,” says Alan Nye, faculty advisor to the RIT Formula team. “We’ve gone to multiple events most years and have won the events in Australia and England, but until this year we had not won in the United States. We’ve placed second five times in the U.S. This event was very close—until the very end, it was reasonably possible that we would come in second again.”
The Formula SAE events are annual student design competitions where college students design and build a small Formula-style race car. Each student team designs, builds and tests a prototype, and then enters the racecar in national and international events against other college teams.
The RIT Formula team has consistently placed in the top 10 of its competitions throughout its 17 years. The team enters three competitions yearly with two in the United States and one overseas.
The 2009 racecar placed first in several performance events for endurance, acceleration and skid pad. The group is also required to make a formal presentation about the overall design and development process as part of the competition. Teams competing at the California event included the University of Oregon, Clemson University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as universities from Sweden, Mexico, Korea and Venezuela.
In May, the RIT Formula team placed second overall at Michigan International Speedway in Detroit. The California competition is the group’s second of the season. RIT will compete again Aug. 5-9 at the HockenhelmRing in Baden-Wurttenberg, Germany.
Recommended News
-
November 22, 2024
![a group of six students and adults stand in front of a sign bearing logos from R I T and other companies.]()
RIT expands research on circular economy in Southeast Asia with new funding boost
A $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of State will continue the work led by professors Clyde Hull and Eric Williams with entrepreneurships based on circular economy principles in member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
-
November 21, 2024
![Various people put their hands together in a circle.]()
Americans agree more than they might think − not knowing this jeopardizes the nation’s shared values
An essay written by Lawrence Torcello, associate professor in the Department of Philosophy, published by The Conversation.
-
November 21, 2024
![an illustrated image of a pixelated face appears next to the words real or fake.]()
Detecting digital deception
Today, artificial intelligence is being used to manipulate media. At RIT, a team of student and faculty researchers is leading the charge to help journalists and intelligence analysts figure out what is real and what is fake. Their work has more than $2 million in funding from the National Science Foundation and Knight Foundation.
-
November 21, 2024
![two men sit at a table looking at a laptop. A third man leans over the table to look at the laptops screen.]()
In and out of Africa
Africa is rich in natural resources and contains one of the most diverse ecosystems across the globe. The Sahara Desert itself is larger than the continental United States. With all the unique landscapes, wildlife, and growing urban areas, more than 30 RIT faculty have recognized the importance of traveling to the continent, all backed by RIT Global.
