SOUTHFIELD – More than 100 Lawrence Technological University students, along with dozens of faculty members and sponsors, gathered in an LTU rite of spring Tuesday – the Blue Devil Motorsports team unveiling.
The event featured presentations from the leaders of five teams building vehicles for competitions sponsored by SAE International, formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers, as well as a team preparing an autonomous vehicle for the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition, to be held in June. LTU is reigning world champion in one of two classes of vehicles in the IGVC.
Included were presentations by:
- SAE Aero Design, in which teams design, build and test a radio-controlled aircraft that can carry a substantial payload
- Baja SAE, which challenges engineering students to design and build and off-road vehicle
- Formula SAE, in which students design and build a scaled-down open-wheeled race car
- Formula Hybrid, in which students design and build a similar race car that is powered by both internal combustion and electric power plants
- The IGVC team
- SAE Supermileage, in which student teams design and build a one-person vehicle designed for maximum fuel efficiency.
The Baja SAE vehicle will be competing in Maryland April 19-22. The Formula team will compete in four events over the spring and summer in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ontario. The Formula Hybrid team will compete in New Hampshire April 30-May 3. The Supermileage competition will be held at the Eaton Corp. test track in Marshall, Mich., in June, with LTU’s goal set at hitting 500 mpg. All teams said they had improved designs from last year.
LTU’s SAE Aero Design team missed competition this year due to delays in receiving components and Michigan’s foul spring weather limiting aircraft test time.
Team members also thanked sponsors and faculty members. Eaton Corp. and Denso International America Inc. made contributions to all of the teams.
For more information on Blue Devil Motorsports teams, visit https://www.ltu.edu/motorsports/.
Lawrence Technological University, www.ltu.edu, is a private university founded in 1932 that offers more than 100 programs through the doctoral level in its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Management. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 100 universities for the salaries of its graduates, and U.S. News and World Report lists it in the top tier of best Midwestern universities. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 107-acre campus include more than 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.
