Collegiate Times

Michael Bromley, a senior in mechanical engineering and leader of VT Motorsports works on the 2010 version of the racecar.

At the end of the year, people from many different majors are given the opportunity to display thesis projects at several outlets on campus. For a select group of engineers, satisfaction comes from watching their design project hit speeds of up to 80 or 90 mph and go from 0-60 mph in 3.5 to 4 seconds on the racetrack.

Since 1989, groups of engineers have worked together on Virginia Tech’s Formula Society of Automotive Engineers team to construct a formula-style racecar, from the extensive design process to the exhilarating test runs.

“It’s crazy to see something go from thought to an actual tangible thing,” said senior Johnson Miles, a mechanical engineering student who has been interested in joining Tech’s team since high school. “I actually read an article in a magazine about Formula SAE in high school and thought it was really cool.”

After visiting Tech and learning more about the program, Miles became determined to be part of the team.

Taking the car from design to completion is a two-year process, so students who want to be involved show an interest early on. After a stringent application process, which only accepts around 17 out of nearly 100 applicants each year, the first year is spent strictly on design.

“The best part is that there aren’t many limits on what you can do,” Miles said. “If you can think it up and it seems reasonable, then you can do it. You can build it.”

Miles has been working on a team of 17 for the past year and a half, and the car is within days of the long-awaited test-driving process.

One of the team members, senior mechanical engineering major Eduardo Pinto, said that this moment has been a long time coming.

“Basically the first year you’re designing, the second you build, last semester you kind of test and build at the same time,” he said.

Pinto, who has always had a passion for cars, got a taste for racing at a young age.

“I did a little ATV racing when I was younger,” Pinto said. “Ever since I came to school here I knew this was something I wanted to get involved with.”

The manufacturing and assembling of the car takes place on campus in the Ware Lab, located in the Military Building. Team members, who put in anywhere from 30 to 60 hours of work each week, must be truly dedicated to the project.

“I mean, when you’re building a $60,000 car, it’s really exciting,” Pinto said, who also recognizes the undeniable benefits Formula SAE will have on his future. “Employers like it a lot, and I want to be an automotive engineer, so this is the perfect project.”

Mechanical engineering graduate student William Burke became a member of the Formula SAE team his sophomore year. As part of the project, he saw his team’s car win 33rd out of 130 teams at an international competition in Detroit in 2008. Now in his second year of graduate school, Burke is still heavily involved with the team.

“Now I’m sort of like a mentor for the team. I help a lot of the guys figure stuff out for design, introducing some engineering tools they can use,” Burke said.

Burke was initially attracted to the group because of the international recognition it receives at competitions each year.

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A version of this article appeared in the Mar 4 issue of the Collegiate Times.