Western senior Michael Owen is the business director for Western’s Formula SAE team. Owen said Formula SAE is a program that provides hands on experience building a race car. A Formula One car is a one seat, open cockpit race car with the engine positioned behind the driver’s seat.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) sets the standards for the cars and hosts competitions globally. Additionally, Western’s program is one of two in the state and one of four in the Northwest.

As the highest ranked undergrad team, Western’s team is 19th in the world. The team consists of 20 to 30 members who build a car almost completely from scratch.  The parts are compiled from  donations as well as purchases by the team.

At the competitions the car is tested in response time, endurance and design.

Overall, the team wants to try to “sell” the car to the judges as if they were a manufacturer.  Owen said the only part of the car not built by the team is the motor.

The team usually uses a motorcycle engine, which is smaller than a normal car’s engine, but still powerful.

Tyler Osborn, team captain, said even though a major part of the competitions are racing the formula cars, design is a key element in being successful.

“[The car] can have the best engine in it,” Osborn said, “but if it isn’t designed properly, it’ll die before the race is even over.”

Worldwide there are six official competitions each year, however there are only two held in the United States.

Western’s team has competed in both the United States competitions in Fontana, Calif. and Detroit, Ill. In 2009 the team placed 6th in the California competition and placed 11th out of 120 schools in Detroit in 2010.

The team also attends other small competitions in the area, said Owen. The teams attended an autocross race in Bremerton, Wash. over Halloween weekend and attended the Seattle Auto Show at Qwest Field the weekend of Nov. 12.

The team tries to be as proficient as possible throughout their competitions and racing, said Osborn.

While the team still has fun, they are also respectful, he said. This makes the team seem more legitimate.

“I just like being able to work on a professional racing team while I’m still in college.” Osborn said.

The team is not only for engineers.

Osborn said the club is open to any student who is willing to put time in to the car. Many other schools keep their teams strictly to seniors, he said.

Sophomore team member Alan Luan joined his freshman year, even though he was planning on majoring in business.

Owen said the team depends on students in other majors to help with different aspects of the car. For instance, business majors help the team obtain sponsors because the team receives little funding from the school, Owen said.

Senior Jonathan Ide said having business majors on the team is beneficial because it provides  them with hands-on experience working with engineers.

“It’s good practice for them,” Ide said. “We engineers speak our own language.”

Osborn said the older members teach the new members how to work on the car. This is part of their mission statement, he said. Due to this teaching cycle, a lot more people are able to join the team and work on the car, he said.

“Everything we’ve learned has been passed down to us through SAE,” Osborn said.

Osborn said there are usually large groups of people who start out working for the team at the beginning of the year. By the end of the first quarter it thins out to the people who are dedicated to the team, he said.

Luan said he does not mind the amount of work the team requires because it has taught him a lot about vehicle engineering.

“There is a lot of free time in college, and I feel like a lot of people waste that time,” Luan said. “When I think about my freshman year I honestly couldn’t be more satisfied with devoting a lot of my time to SAE.”

Luan said he would never forget being able to work on the team and going to competitions.

A few of the team’s sponsors are the Porsche Club, Pro CNC of Bellingham and Hexcel.

Owen said an important part of being involved is the opportunity to network and meet people in the industry.

Many of the sponsors hire Formula alumni directly after they graduate. Owen said this is often for the work they have done with the sponsor’s parts on the cars.

“I already have an internship lined up because of SAE,” Owen said. “I may even have a job once I graduate for the same reason.”