Huskie Motorsports: When the rubber hits the road at Huskie Motorsports, a student-run powerhouse at NIU (Northern Illinois University), a student group’s goals become real and stop being just plans. Their goal was to build and improve Formula-inspired race cars for the harsh world of Formula SAE racing.
Formula SAE is where 120 teams worldwide come together to work on new ideas. This high-speed race is held at the famous Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. This landmark was built in 1980 by the SAE student branch at the University of Texas, Austin.
The NIU side stands out in this furnace in the tough Internal Combustion category. Here, big names in the business give a lot of negative reviews about how tough the car is. The process starts with a strict technical evaluation, where the vehicle’s ability to follow rules and safety standards, such as its ability to handle sudden stops and keep it from rolling over, is carefully examined. In addition to being good at racing, teams must show they are good with money by submitting a detailed cost report that lists every dollar they spent and how they got that money.
“It’s an engineering club, but it’s actually 60% engineering and 40% business because we have to raise all the money to build the car,” says Alex Gernenz, a junior who is very good at mechanical engineering. The cost report shows how well we used our money and time.
The next thing to be looked at closely is the design report, which puts team members on trial with some of the biggest names in the field. Every part of the design is carefully examined, and every choice must be explained. Clayton Archdale, a senior whiz at mechanical engineering, explains this in detail.
The car is then lifted by a piston and tilted in a way that makes your spine tingle, while a piston looks for leaks and weak spots. The next part of the sound test is the hearing test, where the decibel levels must stay within the allowed range.
Soon, the exciting dance will begin. The first part of the test is a high-speed stopping practice. Students must let go of their mechanical stallions at top speed and then bring them to a quick stop within 150 feet.
After the brake test, the teams speed up their cars to the max and send them down the road to see how fast they can go.
In contrast, the skid pad event is a breathtaking display of gravitational forces, with the car making circles at warp speed and creating G-forces that defy gravity.
The autocross race is the exciting end to the second day. It starts with a closely watched lap that tests how well the driver can control the car.
The last day of these difficult trials is the endurance race, a tough 10-lap test of a vehicle’s ability to keep going. It’s a race where the car has to start and stop on its own, without a pit stop or other break, to show how tough it is.
Clayton Archdale, a senior interested in mechanical engineering, says it is the biggest battle. All year, we work hard to do well in that one race.
The big finale is the presentation event, where each team gives a speech and gets a score. Each moving event can be judged on its own. But behind this happy story is the reality of hard times with money. Teams must pay a lot of money, starting with a $2,750 fee to get in. Archdale says that the price of the car could range from $30,000 to $60,000, based on how much money a team has.
When trying to cut costs, creativity is king. Senior mechanical engineering expert Matt Eberle says, “We also try to save money by reusing as many parts as we can.”
Teams ask companies for money, ask people for gifts, and dig deep into their own pockets to pay for their dreams. Archdale thanks the NIU Student Government Association for giving them $10,000, which saved them from disaster. Archdale says that SGA saved the day for us. “We had to have it. We had used up all of the parts we could use again, and we were also out of many other factors.
In this exciting field, some colleges are different. Some have a better financial ace up their sleeves.
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