Benjamin Boulch will race a blue-and-orange car as he represents UF this May.
He is one of four drivers who will race Gator Motorsports’ Formula-style racecar at the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers Competition at the Michigan International Speedway from May 11 to May 14. They’ll compete against 120 teams from around the world.
The group ripped off a black sheet covering their car as they revealed it to about 50 people Saturday at UF’s New Engineering Building.
More than 30 team members worked on the car for about one year, Boulch, a UF mechanical engineering junior, said. They had a budget of about $90,000 to build it.
He worked on the car for five hours a day, six days a week, the 20-year-old said. It weighs about 67 pounds and can reach about 80 mph.
This year, they added wings to the front and rear of the car, he said. This keeps it lower to the ground, which prevents the car from rolling over.
Stickers of the team’s sponsors, including Boeing and PDQ, cover the car, as well as a large black “2” sticker that represents the team’s overall place last year. It was the highest the team has ever placed, said Reagan Fuhr, the president of Gator Motorsports.
After the competition ended in May 2015, they started designing. In the Fall, they began building and manufacturing the car, the 20-year-old said. By Spring Break, the team was testing and driving the car.
The team has placed within the top 10 the past three years, the UF aerospace engineering junior said.
They hope to do better than last year and take first place, Fuhr said.
The car will be placed in a trailer and driven to Michigan, she said. After the 18-hour drive, the car must go through a technical inspection before the team can race it.
Fuhr said because students are driving cars built by other students, they need to take every precaution.
Fuhr said she prefers building to driving.
“I’ve driven the car once,” she said. “Never again.”
Boulch said he’s excited to be one of the four drivers racing in the competition.
He said every team member can try out to drive, but they choose the fastest, who have the most potential to win.
With no previous experience driving, Boulch said he learned through practice and persistence.
He said by building the car and driving, he gets to be involved from start to finish.
“I think you’re naturally good at what you like,” he said.
Gator Motorsports project manager David Kanner poses for a photo inside Gator Motorsports’ $90,000 Formula-style racecar, which will compete in at the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers Competition at the Michigan International Speedway in May.
