At the University of Kansas, automobile visionaries in the School of Engineering find their way to Jayhawk Motorsports. Each year, this group of seniors and volunteers designs, builds and tests a Formula SAE racecar to vie against other colleges and universities from around the world in a competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers.
It’s both a capstone project for engineering seniors and a wonderful opportunity for developing team-building skills.
“Maybe 10 to 25 percent of the students go into automotive engineering,” said Jayhawk Motorsports faculty adviser Robert Sorem, associate professor of mechanical engineering. “This project is about learning how to work effectively on teams. Oh, by the way, we just happen to build a really fast, really cool racecar that competes on an international level.” 
The process begins each fall, as the new car is designed to specifications set by SAE, which conducts its competitions each May in Michigan. Only a few parts, such as the engine, can be purchased or donated. The rest of the vehicle must be designed, machine tooled, formed and assembled by the students.
“This is the reason I got into mechanical engineering,” said team member Seth Turner of Overland Park. “Instead of being given a problem like a leaky radiator to fix, we’re given the task of designing the radiator itself. We’ll design parts and write the manuals that others will get trained to work on.”
The 2009 Jayhawk Motorsports team is broken down into workgroups that conceptualize and fabricate different systems of the racecar. There are teams specializing in the vehicle’s chassis, power train, suspension, aerodynamics and electronics.
“It’s got to accelerate fast, it’s got to turn fast, and it’s got to stop fast,” said Michael Puckett, senior, who acts as Jayhawk Motorsports’ team leader. “And we have to get all of our own funding.”
Recent Jayhawk Motorsports teams have built an increasingly successful record in the competitive world of Formula SAE racing. KU students won top-10 finishes at the 2007 and ’07 Formula SAE competitions. Between 2001 and 2007, Jayhawk Motorsports was the only Formula SAE team to finish each competition.
