RIT Formula Racing Team Takes Second Place Overall in Competition

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Michael Graae

The RIT SAE Formula Car raced around Simone Circle when it was unveiled during the Imagine RIT Festival on May 2. The Formula team participated in its first competition at the Michigan International Speedway recently.

The Rochester Institute of Technology Formula SAE Racing Team returned from its first national racing competition and took second place overall. The F17 Formula team was among 90 college teams, including 15 international representatives, competing at Michigan International Speedway on May 13-16.

“This year, the team had quite a few new strengths to give us the edge,” says Anthony Salvo, F17 project manager and lead aerodynamics engineer who lead the 31-member racing team. “First, our team is the largest it’s been in quite some time. Next, the team of designers this year was larger than usual and paid explicit attention to detail.

“Lastly, the car was tested for over a month with an extensive data acquisition system that allowed us to dial-in the car’s setup much faster this year. The top few teams we really competed with, however, were just as competitive and had clearly improved their designs,” adds Salvo, a fifth-year mechanical engineering major.

More than 2,000 students attended the annual competition held at one of the premier racetracks in the country. Collegiate design teams from around the country competed with peers from Austria, Canada, Japan, Turkey, Singapore and South Korea.

The RIT Formula team took second place in the dynamic events series: endurance, fuel economy and autocross categories. RIT placed third in skid-pad category and had an honorable mention for the car’s innovative brake system design.

As part of the three-day competition, student teams must make a formal presentation about the design concept, including a cost report and business sales case, as well as compete in performance categories. The RIT team placed second in the sales presentation.

RIT’s next competition is June 17-20 at California Speedway in Fontana, California, followed by The HockenheimRing in Baden-Wurttenberg, Germany, August 5-9.