Pit Stop
Meet the student group behind the wheel — and build — of an award-winning race car.
The Pit is never fully quiet, with the sounds of various power tools in the distance or laughter in one of the hangout spots. Hidden behind the Mechanical Engineering Building in the Engineering Annex, the Pit is home to UW Formula Motorsports (UWFM) — one of the most innovative undergraduate engineering organizations at the University of Washington.
Each year, 100 undergraduate students across 11 majors build a race car entirely from scratch, which they enter in various competitions. In June, the team took their latest car to Michigan to compete in the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers, a student design competition for formula-style cars.
More than 100 students across 11 majors are part of the UW Formula Motorsports Registered Student Organization.
If we added monetary value for every sponsor, donation or service, this car would add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
They placed first in the autocross event, a timed obstacle course that tests the driver’s skill, the vehicle’s speed and the car’s handling — and fifth overall. Next, they’re taking the car to Germany in August for an international competition that the team hasn’t competed in since 2017.
Though the wins are obviously exciting, the UWFM team thrives on the innovation of creating something from nothing. “We essentially start from scratch every year,” says Kevin Wu, ’25, who joined during his freshman year and served his final year as the aerodynamics team lead. “If we added monetary value for every sponsor, donation or service, this car would add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars” he says. “It’s crazy.”
Founded in 1990, UWFM originally focused on designing combustion cars. But 2018 marked a pivotal year for the team, beginning a new electric era.
The car’s design isn’t guesswork — it’s backed by simulations like FEA (finite element analysis) and CFD (computational fluid dynamics). “This ensures our designs are doing what we want and are beneficial to the overall vehicle performance,” Wu explains. This stage lays the groundwork for what becomes a fully functioning high-performance race car.
In May, after working on it for nearly a full academic year, the team unveiled the T36 car they took to competition. “This year we’ve done lots of new concepts,” Wu says.
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Student-built formula racecar in cherry blossoms
This year's T-36 features a newly designed and custom-built body.
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Student-built formula racecar
This year's T-36 features a newly designed and custom-built body.
This year's T36 electric car is soon headed to Germany for an international competition for students.
Last year’s design, the T35, hasn’t been forgotten, though. It’s being used by a UWFM sub-team as a prototype for a fully driverless vehicle, a concept they hope to expand on and compete with in 2026.
As for Germany, Wu says the team is excited to return to Europe after such a long hiatus, and for the first time with an electric vehicle, to compete in three different events. “I’m excited for our team to return to the international stage,” Wu says, “and also learn and compete against some of the top teams in the world.” See you at the finish line.
Story by Anikka B. Stanley // Photos courtesy of UW Formula Motorsports
