Racing team fuels careers

 Zach Moorhead, a mechanical engineering sophomore works on the Dyno machine, which measures car engine power, for the Sooner Racing Team's car Saturday morning in Felgar Hall. Photo by Michelle Gray Jamie Hughes/The Daily Monday, October 6, 2008 Many students fetch coffee and run errands as interns to gain experience for their resumes, but members of the Sooner Racing Team actually build and race competition racecars. The team competes in Formula SAE, a student design competition organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers International. Students design, build and race a prototype race car from the ground up, and in return, receive feedback from specialists in the automotive industry. “We do all the design, manufacturing, assembly and fundraising,” said Dave Collins, captain of the Sooner Racing Team. “We do anything a professional racing team does.” Formula SAE is often a college requirement for those hoping to work as designers or engineers at most major auto manufacturing companies, said Collins, mechanical engineering junior. “It’s a base requirement,” he said. “Team experience is vital. [Professionally] you work as a team all the time.” Honda is one company that won’t accept applications without team experience, he said. “It’s like applying for a job when the requirement is 35 and you’re 18,” Collins said. The team finalized its plans and began working on the car last week. For the next nine months, team members will give up their Saturday afternoons to work on the car and gain experience for the “real world.” “It definitely really prepares you for what’s out there,” said Bobby Alley, the team’s vice president and mechanical engineering senior. “The team encompasses everything.” He said students learn techniques and gain experience not found in a classroom. Collins said seeing plans come to life is the most rewarding part of the whole process. “Getting to see your ideas made into working parts and the process of a concept becoming a working part,” he said. The process, however, isn’t always as smooth as a racetrack. Meeting deadlines and raising money are some of the expected problems, but the hardest thing is when something goes wrong with the car, Collins said. “It could be something minor,” he said. “Sometimes it’s hard to keep a focus [after that] across the whole team.” The team starts its build process with things like motors and tires in mind, and parts are designed around those and the rule book. Responsibility is delegated primarily to designers on different parts of the car. Designers break their section down and entrust duties to team members. “We work from there and connect the dots,” Collins said. He said good design is essential to make the build and car go faster. Isaac Meier, mechanical engineering sophomore, said he is enjoying his first season with the team. “It’s really great to work on a machine and get new skills,” he said. “I’ve always had an interest in things that go fast.” The Sooner Racing Team is made up of close to 30 undergraduate and graduate students of different majors and disciplines. Not all students are required to work on the car or spend time in the shop. Team members also write letters requesting sponsorships and help put together business presentations. “The business presentation is worth [almost] 10 percent of the competition,” Alley said. This year Formula SAE changed a number of rules, including chassis design, causing OU and all other teams to scrap last year’s cars and start over from scratch. “We’re trying to get a good foundation the next teams can improve on,” Alley said. Recruitment is another big part of what the team is trying to do this year. When Alley was captain in 2007, he had eight people on his team and six of them graduated. In 2008 the team grew, but not by much. In 2009 the team will compete in two of the three international Formula SAE competitions. The team has been participating in racing competitions since 1995. Last summer the team had its best finish ever, taking third place overall at a California competition in June. “They had to build a new trophy case for us,” Collins said. “We try to represent the school well.”