Coming off their impressive 14th-place finish at the Formula SAE competition at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, MI, Grizzlies Racing shows no signs of slowing down as they prepare to host the inaugural Oakland University Grand Prix on Saturday, June 29.
Although placing 14th out of 109 different teams is a new benchmark for Grizzlies Racing, several team members are still focused on improving ahead of their next competition.
Whether it be aspects of the car or communication issues, there is no shortage of things the Grizzlies Racing team is tackling head-on.
“Honestly, in the months leading up to competition, there’s a lot of miscommunication between certain subsystems,” Grizzlies Racing President Breckin Helfen said. “There are things that we have learned from it, and we will adapt and change to limit the amount of miscommunication we have.”
In addition to improving communication, maintaining the car and ensuring it has an optimal tune are crucial for the team to stay ahead of the competition.
“A lot of it is maintenance. But a lot of it’s also tuning, seeing how it reacted,” Chassis and Suspension Director Sal Grupido said. “Due to competition being moved up a week this year and due to having some issues with manufacturing stuff being moved back, we didn’t have a ton of time for tuning. So it is something that we’re kind of trying to catch up on a little bit.”
On top of tuning and maintenance, the team conducts thorough testing to ensure everything functions properly.
“Once we have the car fully assembled, we’ll go out, and we’ll do a shakedown in this (P37) parking lot,” Electrical Director Erin Atkinson said. “That’s when we just see, does the car turn on? Does the car run like it should? Then we start pushing it. The last shakedown we had was pretty fun, and we’re all very excited about going to competition.”
Aside from ensuring the car is in optimal condition, additional elements are crucial to making Grizzlies Racing and the OU Grand Prix possible, particularly from a business perspective.
“What a lot of people don’t know about Formula SAE is how much goes into the business side of things,” Business Director Morgan North said. “They imagine people sitting down for CAD and designing the super cool intricate part that’s going to go onto a race car. But the way it goes onto a race car is by money.”
Besides securing sponsorships for the team and raising money, North and the business team of Grizzlies Racing have had their hands full ensuring everything is in order for the OU Grand Prix.
“I think when you talk with the school about this, one of their main concerns is the risk management side of things,” North said. “Understandable — we’re a bunch of kids that are making a race car, so things can go wrong, and they have gone wrong in the past.”
“I reached out to the fire department to be like, ‘Hey, we’re doing this thing. We just want to let you know in case something happens; you know what to do and where to go.’”
An ambulance will also be present to further ensure the safety of all involved in the OU Grand Prix. Additionally, for those more concerned with satisfying their stomachs than their need for speed, rest assured, a food truck will also be present.
Regarding the OU Grand Prix, Matthew Solnik, a former OU student and member of Grizzlies Racing, will design the autocross course. The Grand Prix will be an all-day affair and will take place at parking lot P37, directly south of the Mathematics and Science Center and connected to Pioneer Dr.
“We have a lot of our sponsors coming out. We usually have sponsor days, but it’s nothing like this. It’s just new and kind of gets our name out there,” Helfen said. “So that, combined with our placement at MIS, is a very big booster for our school.”
“Performance-wise, I don’t really know what to expect. Obviously, we placed high at MIS, so I’m expecting us to do very well, and hopefully, we place top five.”
Some prominent schools competing at the OU Grand Prix include Ohio State University (OSU), Lawrence Technological University and Wayne State University. Notably, all three teams competed in the recent event at the Michigan International Speedway, and OSU placed first .
If you are interested in joining the Grizzlies Racing team, you can message their Instagram account . Alternatively, you can visit the team’s garage on the first floor of the Engineering Center in room 186. All majors are welcome to join the team.
“I think you’d be surprised with the friendships that you can make, the experiences that you can have and the paths you never would have thought you could go down, the doors that you never would have thought would open,” North said about Grizzlies Racing. “It’ll all be shown to you.”