In the final seconds of every motorsports race, all eyes are drawn to the driver zooming past the checkered flag at the finish line. Though they stand alone on the podium to accept the trophy, the win does not belong to only the driver. Each victory is possible thanks to the time and energy of engineers that develop the vehicle before it ever reaches the track.
Sun Devil Motorsports, or SDM, an ASU student organization affiliated with the Society of Automotive Engineers, or SAE, is a student-run automotive racing team that embraces every aspect of the motorsports experience by building, testing and racing its own formula-style race cars. The team constructs a new car each year to race at the Formula SAE student competition against more than 100 teams from around the world.
Formula racing involved competitively racing a single-seat, open-cockpit and open-wheel racing car with distinct front and rear wings, commonly seen in Indy 500 or Formula One racing.
Producing a competitive car requires thorough planning in the areas of aerodynamics, brakes, finances, training, marketing, data acquisition and much more. SDM’s team functions beyond the realms of a standard club; like a business, it requires a range of interdisciplinary skills.
Josh Huggett, chief operations officer of SDM and an undergraduate student majoring in supply chain management and business sustainability, believes what sets SDM apart from other student organizations is members’ shared interest in auto racing and commitment to developing their skills for future careers.
“We are doing real work — the type of experience students need to prepare for any type of internship or career,” Huggett says. “There’s a position on our team for every major out there. If one doesn’t exist right now, we can make it.”
With more than 140 student members from the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and the W. P. Carey School of Business, ASU’s Formula SAE chapter is one of the largest in the country.
Erin Lorentsen, a mechanical engineering student and member of SDM’s drivetrain team, who makes the system that controls the car’s wheels, says it was the perfect environment for her to gain hands-on experience in engineering.
“When I joined, I had no real mechanical or automotive experience,” Lorentsen says. “I had been looking for an engineering club to join.”
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