Members of Sacramento State’s Hornet Racing Development club were hungry. Someone mentioned getting a pizza, but everyone was too consumed with tuning their engine to pay attention to hunger pangs.

“Everyone is super excited, that’s why everyone’s working late,” said Jason Koehler, the club’s vice president.

They’re excited because two weeks ago they finally got the engine running after fixing some wiring problems. “One person stared at the same problem for so long, it just wasn’t happening,” Koehler said. So he enlisted the help of his fellow engineers, just one example of the problem solving skills the team uses regularly.

The club is working on sending a race car to the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers competition in Pontiac, Mich., this May. November is pretty late to just be getting the engine running, so club president Eric Herbold is trying to motivate the 15 club members to speed the process along. “I am trying to stress the importance of consistently working on the car to save these guys from having to sleep in a garage, or even worse, failing to complete the car.”

On Dec. 22, the team plans on taking the 1996 car out to Cal Expo to give the new members some behind-the-wheel practice. “It’s one thing to design and build a car, it’s another thing to drive it,” said Jason DuBose, a Sac State graduate and former member who has returned to work on his “baby.”

DuBose was at 2001’s competition, along with other members who towed the car across Middle America to Michigan. The international competition judges the team on design, acceleration, skidpad, figure 8 handling, autocross and an endurance run. With only two gallons of gas, the grueling 22-kilometer endurance challenge only sees about 30 of the 135 entry cars crossing the finish line. A brake malfunction during 2001’s endurance run caused the team to pull out early, resulting in a 79th place ranking. In 1996, the team placed 10th overall.

“It’s a fun event. You meet a lot of teams and it’s a big learning experience because you realize (you) don’t have the best car out there,” DuBose said.

The car can go from 0 to 60 mph in three to four seconds, and rides one inch off the ground. It reaches speeds upwards of 74 mph, but this is because it’s geared low to get maximum acceleration. Parts are gleaned from Escorts, Corvettes and motorcycles, but the students make most of the car themselves.

The mechanical engineers admit they’d like some help from more business-minded students in writing the 100-page report that accompanies the entry. “We’ve got to put it on paper, that’s just annoying,” grouses Koehler, who’d much rather work with wrenches than words.

“It’s good experience,” saidKoehler, who has a wife and two kids. “We take what we’ve learned and apply it to the car. The $20,000 budget scares half the people away and the sleepless nights scare the rest.”

The families of some of the married members may be less than understanding about the time devoted to the car. “I don’t know if (the married guys) sleep on the couch or outside with the dog or what,” said Herbold. He had a girlfriend around the time of last year’s competition who didn’t like his level of dedication to the club, but was still supportive.

Tonight they’re fiddling with the magnificent jumble of wires and valves that make up the engine. Using a computer in the engine test lab in Riverside Hall, they huddle over sensor readouts that help tune the 600cc Kawasaki ZX-6-R motorcycle engine.”That is not right,” Herbold said while pointing to the fuel map readout as the engine rumbles and coughs. The distinct smell of gasoline saturates the room.The next pull sounds better. The exhaust envelopes DuBose and the others standing next to the engine. Their eyes start to water.”Don’t get emotional,” Koehler quips as he flips the room’s vent fan.

They stayed until 10:30 p.m., which was an early night. When last year’s competition was approaching, the team would pull all-nighters. “I would go over to Brian (Starkovich’s) house after school and work on the car until 3 a.m., then sleep in the garage until I had to go to class in the morning at 8 a.m.,” Herbold said.

According to Herbold, Ford, GM and Chrysler developed the competition for recruiting mechanical engineering students. The competition is reportedly crawling with representatives from major automobile manufacturers who offer jobs to students. “It’s like a secret code on the resume for those who know about the club,” he said.

The club’s budget is $16,000 for the car and $4,000 for the trip. Some of the club’s money is obtained through grants and a yearly donation of $3,000 by Associated Students, Inc. Sponsors like Schatz & Krum and Teegarden Motorsports chip in for the rest, supplying the team with discounted parts and money.

When Herbold took over as treasurer three years ago, the club was $5,000 in debt. He admits it was easier to get out of debt than to be president of a club with no monetary incentive. “I never had to deal with people this much,” he said. “There is no real way to motivate people to do something for nothing. Can’t cut their pay. Can’t fire them.”