The 2009 LSU Formula Society of Automotive Engineers will host their fourth annual Campus Cruise ‘n Car Show on Saturday.
The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the commuter parking lot next to Patrick F. Taylor Hall.
Participants will be charged $10 to show their cars, but there will be free admission for those who attend.
Owners of all types of cars, such as classics, foreign and domestics, are encouraged to enter.
Prizes will be awarded in each category for the best in class and show.
More than 20 cars participated this past year, and the team expects even more this year.
The team raised more than $30,000 in 2007, which went toward fundraising efforts to build a competitive open-wheeled formula race car to compete in the annual Society of Automotive Engineers competition held in Michigan.
“We’re trying to get a fundraiser going to get some money to build a car for next year,” said Ryan Zimmerman, mechanical engineering junior.
The team and race car will travel to Michigan International Speedway in May 2009 to compete against more than 100 universities.
Formula SAE is the largest and most prestigious student design competition, organized by the International Society of Automotive Engineers.
Teams are required to design, build and drive a race car that will be judged on presentation, design, cost analysis, acceleration, skid pad, autocross, endurance and fuel economy.
The team plans to start designing the car this summer and build it from the ground up starting in the fall.
SAE in Michigan sets parameters for the car, and the design must be built around them, Zimmerman said.
The non-passenger race car is built for performance and is required to have a set horsepower engine.
“Basically, we want it to go as fast as it can with as little weight as possible,” Zimmerman said.
The race car is also the seniors’ final design project, which is required for graduation.
Zimmerman said underclassmen who join the project can get good experience.
“We’re always looking for underclassmen to join,” he said. “That way, they get involved and get a technical elective credit.”
—-Contact Leslie Presnall at [email protected].