Hope College Formula Racing (Formula SAE)

Accelerating Engineers to the Top

Hope College Formula Racing is a co-curricular group of students with majors ranging from engineering to business to religion. The team acts as a small company built around race car manufacturing, responsible for designing, fabricating and testing a prototype for competition at the international Formula SAE events. They also must develop a business plan for how to market their vehicle, procure funds for its production and demonstrate how to turn a prototype into a commercially viable vehicle.

 Using the mission statement, “Empowering learning through real-world design, manufacturing, and development processes validated through rigorous competition,” team members regularly work together to further the team’s goals. In a typical week, members attend a team meeting, conduct drive practice(s) and work on projects during structured work times. Members also engage in design reviews where they receive valuable feedback on their work from various mentors and alumni. In addition, newer members of the team are encouraged to attend focused workshops, in which they learn and practice useful skills that apply to the car in progress.

Competition

Formula SAE is an international collegiate racing series organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The Formula SAE engineering design competition is for both undergraduate and graduate students. There are three United States-hosted competitions, two that take place at Michigan International Speedway (the internal combustion engine and electric vehicle events) and one hosted in New Hampshire for hybrid vehicles.

The team has consistently placed highly in competitions since 2018. Most recently, the team took 11th overall with top 10 finishes in Endurance (5th) and Autocross (8th). The team is in the top 15% of US and International Teams in the World Rankings.

Overall Competition Results

• 2024: 11th place/108 teams (GM Everyone In Award)
  
• 2022: 14th place/89 teams 
  
• 2021: 9th place/55 Teams (1st place Fuel Economy, Cummins Innovation Award, C-TECH Organization Award)
  
• 2019: 30th/108 teams
  
• 2018: 11th/67 teams
  
• 2016: 77th/115 teams
  
• 2010: 76th/102 teams (Rookie of the Year Award)

Learn. Do. Prove.