Students in classrooms around the world have doodled racecars in the corners of their notebooks. However, the undergraduates of the MIT Motorsports team go several laps further, not only designing and building their vehicles, but also racing them in competitions. With support from the Edgerton Center and several departments, the MIT “Formula SAE” team got started in 2001, completing its first vehicle in 2003. What often begins as an extracurricular activity at MIT often ends up reshaping the curriculum. Today, interested students can opt to join a special section of Mechanical Engineering’s 2.007 course and work on the annual car project for academic credit. Students spend lab sections, nights, and weekends in the workshop and in parking lots around Boston, where they learn about all aspects of automotive design and engineering through hands-on experience.

photo: Michael Cardinali for MIT Museum