The Sacramento State Hornet Racing team will showcase its vehicle creation — almost a year in the making — this Saturday for the 2017 Formula Society of Automotive Engineers international competition from June 21-24.
The 20-person Hornet Racing team, a student-run organization on campus, will bring its Hornet Racer (HR 2017) to the Formula SAE in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Schools and engineering programs from all over the world will meet and be judged by SAE International on various aspects of their vehicles, such as design, fuel efficiency and the team’s effectiveness regarding cost reports and business presentations.
Sac State has been a part of the competition for five years and has been improving on the design ever since its first trip to Nebraska, said Zach Putzig, a senior studying mechanical engineering.
“Hornet Racing was really on-and-off until about four or five years ago, until the continuation of the program made it what it is today,” Putzig said after mentioning that his expertise lies in design and manufacturing. “It started back in 2001 or so, but at the time, there wasn’t a high retention rate of students and it was really difficult to keep the team and program going.” (Story continues below)
The stable roster of team members has allowed Sac State to gain momentum and win awards, said Brian Dyer, a Hornet Racing member and mechanical engineering student.
“I believe it was back in 2015 that we placed eighth in the endurance category out of about 80 teams,” Dyer said. “Usually, getting anywhere near the top 20 is an ordeal, but (it’s) definitely considered an incredible accomplishment. At that point in the competition, most teams are still just trying to finish their car.”
Dyer said that consistently having the same team members over the past few years also gives the HR 2017 an advantage in comparison to vehicles — which start from scratch each year — from previous competitions.
“We were able to refine our design from last year little by little,” Putzig said. “Small changes make the biggest differences in projects like this — (complete) overhauls usually aren’t nearly as effective. The small changes we’ve made have more of an impact because most people on the team already know this project very well.”
As the 2017 Formula SAE competition approaches, Hornet Racing technical director and mechanical engineering junior Samuel Wallace said a few members are already looking forward to 2018 and beyond.
“We’ve got some top-secret stuff happening for the 2018 vehicle that’ll make it a completely new concept and take us beyond what we’re currently able to do, all while staying true to our process and (to the) work that we do now,” Wallace said. “This is our third iteration on this particular model and we want to take everything we’ve learned so far and push it forward.”
While the team is excited to make more progress in upcoming competitions, this year’s event still remains its top priority.
“One of my designs I did at least 20 times over,” Putzig said. “The teamwork aspect is huge and everyone is working hard to make this year a success. If you were to calculate the hours the 20 of us put into this project and actually paid us for what we do, this would probably be a $1 million car. We’re excited to show it off.”