About FSAE at Lafayette College

In the Formula SAE competition, schools worldwide compete against one another building a 3/4 scale Formula-style race car. The car is intended to be a prototype for a manufacturing firm looking to produce a limited run of four cars per day, intended for the non-professional weekend autocross racer. To inspire the creativity of the students, designs are left relatively free to the imagination. All schools, however, are required to meet certain safety standards and are limited to an air-flow restricted 600 cubic centimeter 4 stroke engine. Cars compete in 5 dynamic and 3 static events, The dynamic events test the cars straight line acceleration, cornering ability (skidpad), overall handling (autocross), and durability and fuel economy (endurance race). The static events evaluate the car based on the students' cost and manufacturing analysis, presentation, and design.

Leopard Racing started with the class of 2005. The 23 members of that initial year built the car, but were unable to register for the Michigan competition. The 2006 team of 16 brought their car to the FSAE West competition in California and took an impressive second place finish out of all rookie teams, and 25 out of 50 teams to compete overall. The 2008 team consists of 7 seniors and a growing pool of underclassmen dedicated to building and racing Lafayette's third formula car.