Dartmouth Formula Racing, a group of graduate and undergraduate students at the Thayer School of Engineering, will race the College's first high performance car later this month.
This year is the first time Dartmouth will compete at the Society of Automotive Engineers' annual competition in Detroit, said Jeff Buck '95, a Thayer School student and initiator of the project.
Roughly 60 colleges send 70 different cars to the competition, which will be held from May 15 to 18, and will include a race as well as a technical competition.
In the past, Thayer School students have built a number of solar cars and hybrid cars, powered by a combination of electric and fossil fuel or natural gas, said Jeff Giberstein '95, a member of the team and current Thayer School students.
But "there has never been a Formula-style race car, that is, a race car specially designed for high-performance racing," he said.
The students recently completed the Formula SAE car, a scaled-down version of the Formula One car used for professional racing cars.
"The car is more exciting to drive than any production car out there," Buck said. "It is both engineering at its greatest and most challenging level and also a world of fun because the thing goes fast."
"One of the reasons why the car can travel fast is because it's only two inches off the ground," he added.
At the competition, the students will present the care to a panel of professional engineers and race car experts, Giberstein said.
"The car will be taken apart and judges will interrogate us on the design of it," he said. "The actual engineering of the car is as important as how well it performs in competition."
"We finished engine testing last week," Buck said, "We'll be test driving it this weekend at the Claremont Speedway."
With the help of faculty advisor Doug Fraser and a grant from Ford Motor Company, the students began the project last summer, Giberstein said.
"We started by adapting a motorcycle engine with a fuel injection system," Buck said.
"After the summer, more people got involved in the project," said Daniel Frem '96, a member of the team. "During the Fall term, we had somewhere between 20 and 25 people."
"Since then, we've worked further on the engine to give it more horsepower and to make it more efficient," Frem said.
"The team is kept together through the leadership of individuals like Jeff Giberstein," Buck said. "This project consumes lives, and I mean that in a positive way."
"Brian Locke's influence and expertise in the machine shop has also been of great help," Buck said. "It brought the project to a new level of craftsmanship and technology."
Locke is a machinist at the Thayer School. Other major contributors to the project include Todd Newman '96, a psychology major who designed the bodywork of the car, and Alison Japikse, a graduate student who designed the intake manifold.
The manifold is a system of pipes that feed air into the engine, Giberstein said. Its design is important because as more air goes into the engine, more power is generated.
Buck described the project as "an incredible experience."
"It fills me with pride to be a part of a project of such excellence," Buck said. "It is beauty in engineering in every aspect -- in design and fabrication and implementation."
Both Giberstein and Buck stressed the importance of teamwork in the project.
"We have 20 to 25 people putting serious input into this vehicle," Giberstein said. "It has been an amazing thing for me to see the dedication of the team."
"I can't wait to get started on next year's car as soon as this one's over," said Giberstein, who plans to pursue a masters degree at the Thayer School.
Major sponsors of the project include Ford and Nearburg Exploration, an oil and gas company in Dallas, Tex.
