June 12, 2024
Powercat Motorsports cracks top 10 at Formula SAE Michigan
The Powercat Motorsports Formula SAE team finished in 10th place at Formula SAE Michigan, marking the club's best showing at the event since it began competing there annually in 1997.
The competition was held May 8-11 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan.
Building on last year's 14th-place finish, Powercat Motorsports finished with a score of 666.9 to take 10th place out of more than 100 competing teams from across the country. The strong finish was also the best among Big 12 teams by a wide margin, with Oklahoma State taking 43rd place.
The competition challenges teams to design, manufacture, test, race and present a fully functional, open-wheel, open-cockpit racecar. The team is housed in the Alan Levin Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, and the entirety of the work is completed by students from all across campus.
Hosein Baboly, teaching assistant professor, and Kevin Wanklyn, teaching associate professor, both from the mechanical and nuclear engineering department, serve as faculty advisors to the team.
"This is a tremendous accomplishment in one of the most grueling student design competitions there is," Wanklyn said. "Over the last few years, considerable progress has been made to move the team steadily up in the rankings. The hard work of club president Anish Srivastava and the leadership team, as well as the advisement of Dr. Hosein Baboly, have been the driving force behind this progress."