October 24, 2005 Vol. 77, no. 9F

HOT SEAT: Alex Chen talks to driver Nihal Murthy. Both are ME students and members of the Formula SAE team that designs, builds, and races a formula-style racing car. (Photo Credit: Rachel Jackson)

“It’s amazing to drive”

Cal’s Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) team rolls out its baby: a scaled-down version of a formula-style race car, complete with fat tires, roll bar, sponsor decals, and a motor that thrums. The team formed just three years ago, and their car was just an idea. Now, on the empty streets at the Richmond Field Station, the idea goes from zero to 60 in less than four seconds. “Oh, it’s amazing to drive,” says Nihal Murthy, an ME senior, after taking it for a spin (literally, at times). “It does 1.5 Gs turning. It’s like a really fast Go-Kart.”

This summer, the Cal team competed in its first national competition at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan. They had to finish several race courses and produce and present a technical report, which included a business plan. The team failed to complete all the race courses and came in 88 out of 132 teams.

“This year, we’re going to finish all the races, drop the car’s weight, and engineer it better,” says Nika Calderon, an ME junior. That means working on the cooling system, say team members, and improving the packaging, or how all the systems fit within the frame of the car.

This year, the team has three times as many members as last year, thanks to now having a car to show people. The team is already well into the design of a new car, with plans for its first run by March. No doubt, Formula SAE is off to a roaring start.

For more information, go to http://fsae.berkeley.edu/.

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