Student racing club competes in national competition
The McLaren-Mercedes Formula 1 bolide on the Pirelli stand at the 81st International Motor Show Palexpo-Geneva on March 8, 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Fedor Selivanov
After driving three days from Arizona to Brooklyn, Michigan, the Wildcat Formula Racing club put their handbuilt racecar to the test in the 2025 Formula SAE – one of the nation's most prestigious collegiate engineering competitions. The team, comprised of University of Arizona engineering students, finished 81st overall out of 144 competing teams.
The student club designs, fabricates and builds a formula-style racecar for one year – operating on an annual cycle that begins each August with recruitment and design planning. Formula-style vehicles have three design requirements: open wheels, an open cockpit and a single seat. An open wheel is exposed without a cover, while an open cockpit has no roof or windshield.
Team member Makena Wheeler, a junior aerospace engineering student, expressed pride in their performance to the University of Arizona News: “Our car performed quite admirably. And the competition takes place at Michigan International Speedway, so we spent our time working and walking around an actual racetrack. That was really cool.”
For Wheeler and the rest of the Wildcat Formula Racing club, competing in Michigan against other student groups was the perfect end to a year spent designing, fabricating and testing – a testament to what a group of students can accomplish when they oversee a project from the first weld to the final lap.