Formula Buckeyes Drive Home a Third Place Finish
The Formula Buckeyes brought home some hardware with an overall third place finish at the Formula SAE competition at the Michigan Intl’ Speedway. This is tied for the highest the team has ever placed at the main Formula SAE competition and the best since 2001. The University of Illinois placed first followed by Wroclaw University of Technology who placed second.
120 collegiate teams from around the world competed in this four-day event which included design and business presentations, cost analysis, static tech as well as autocross, skidpad, acceleration, and endurance events. “We did not have a single event where we were higher than 5th place,” said team advisor and CAR Research Scientist Jeff Chrstos. “But the consistency across all the events got us to the top three.”
The team pushed through many challenges at competition. The most challenging being passing the noise
inspection test. Engineering decisions and actions under pressure at the track had to be made to ensure they passed sound and could compete in the dynamic events.
Throughout the year, the team designed and built the car with a competition mindset. Every decision was made by answering the question ‘what will get us the most points at competition?’ The team also emphasized testing and consistency across all events. “While we might not have dominated any one event, our point scoring across the board was unique and allowed us to finish above the competition,” said Formula Buckeyes Business Director, Danny McCray.
“The team worked amazingly well this year and is on a great trajectory of improvement. I do not see it being 22
years before our next top three and I do not see any reason why 2024 should not yield a higher finish. Let's shoot for two better!” said Chrstos. “But, while the results are nice and everyone should be very proud, for me, seeing how the team culture continues to improve is even more satisfying.”
“Achieving our overarching team goal of top three at competition was definitely the highlight of the season,” said McCray. “Everything we did was to place as well as possible and to see it pay off was truly special.”
