Formula SAE is a student design competition organized by SAE International. It challenges teams of university undergraduate students to conceive, design, fabricate, develop, and compete with small, formula style vehicles. Students of UNC Asheville’s Mechatronics engineering program designed and built a Formula SAE car as their senior design project for 2023.
UNCA competed at the FSAE Michigan event in June 2023. Finishing 47th out of 61 entries, Asheville out-scored most other first-year teams. We passed the mechanical side of tech inspection, but failed the electrical inspection. Going from zero to having a running race car in a year’s time was still an impressive feat.
What’s Next?
A goal of the 2023 senior design project was to create a legacy of FSAE at UNC Asheville. In the months following the June 2023 competition, the team recruited over a dozen new members and is currently operating on an all-volunteer basis, so everyone is contributing their free time to this project. The team’s goals for the new build cycle include:
- Raise $35,000 from local sponsors
- Decrease weight of car by 20% (214 lbs)
- Complete a 3 year build cycle to compete in the 2026 competition
- Pass mechanical & electrical tech inspection
- Compete in all 4 dynamic Events
- Recruit 20 members from varying fields (engineers, computer science, business/economics, etc.)
We are excited to keep the legacy of this team going, and we’ll see you at Formula SAE Electric – Michigan 2026!