Category: Motorsports

By Nathan Inman

Clemson Formula SAE (CUFSAE) is hitting the ground running this semester. With multiple competitions under its belt, CUFSAE is already seeing success through the early portion of the semester.

Just days after the semester officially began, CUFSAE started off on the right foot on Aug. 21 and 22 when the team traveled to Summit Point Motorsports Park in West Virginia for the Pittsburgh Shootout. Team lead for CUFSAE, Kyle Jobman, spoke to RHBSSI to detail the early accomplishments.

“We had two competitions already, one at the end of August, the Pittsburgh Shootout up in West Virginia. We placed fourth out of 25 there for internal combustion,” Jobman said.

In addition to placing fourth overall, the team placed third in the south autocross competition and fifth in the north autocross.

“It’s been very helpful,” Jobman said. “We actually, at LPG, ran a test with two water pumps for our cooling system, because we’re looking at adding two water pumps this year. So it was helpful to get that data and actually see if it would be beneficial to us.”

Jobman also mentioned that the team has looked at data on other elements of the car, which has allowed them to identify additional areas for improvement.

Alongside the competitions and ongoing design of CUFSAE’s next build, the team has also been hard at work recruiting new members.

“Recruitment has been very good,” Jobman said. “I think after all the recruiting events, we had about a little over 120 new members join the team. We’ve been getting them a bunch of new-member projects to get them kind of into the flow of how we do things as a team.”

Jobman added that for the team’s final event of the semester in November, there is no cap on the number of members allowed to attend, giving new members their first taste of live competition.

CUFSAE was also a recent beneficiary of RHBSSI’s awarding of funds to multiple Clemson student motorsports organizations, which, Jobman explained, will help the team immensely as it begins planning for its major Michigan competition in May.

“That $2,500 will definitely go towards helping us out a lot,” Jobman said. “We’ll probably end up buying competition tires with that; those usually come in at about $1,000 a set. So we’ll probably end up buying two sets of those, and that’s really helpful for us because, going into Michigan, we want to have a fresh set of tires. And then obviously testing leading up to Michigan, we want to use a fresh set of tires there, too, so that should help us out there.”

With a hot start to the semester for CUFASE, the team is only just getting started, and it appears that the sky might truly be the limit.

By Nathan Inman

The American Rally Association hosted the Overmountain Rally in Newport, Tennessee, on
Sept. 18-19. Among the numerous volunteers in attendance at the event were several members
of the Clemson Tiger Racing team.

The opportunity to attend the event all began when the head of the ARA academic relations
team reached out to CTR about volunteering as marshals for the race weekend. After an
extremely successful and enjoyable weekend, there is now an opportunity for CTR to create a
deeper relationship with the rally organization.

“We’re looking to form an academic partnership with the ARA, which will provide our members,
in the future, opportunities to go work in the sport of rally, whether that’s with teams, in the crews
or as engineers, or to volunteer at rallies moving forward,” Matt Flaim, assistant team principal
and driver for CTR, said. “It also opens the door to potentially, sometime in the future, create a
collegiate rally program for us, which would enable us to have our own rally car and compete
against other schools who already do something similar, like UNOH and Oregon.”

Throughout its brief history, CTR has primarily focused on endurance racing, which would
seemingly make the transition to adding a rally component a bit difficult. However, several
members of the team appear eager to make it happen after their experience.

“We were all on a group chat together after the rally, and we were all starting to look at Subarus
on Facebook Marketplace, because we were like, ‘dude, we have to get involved in this,’” said
Hadley Smith, operations lead for CTR. “It’s so much fun, and we need to — our next CTR car is
1000 percent gonna be a Subaru that we can just rip around and rally race with.”

Going into the event, many of the CTR members had varying levels of familiarity with rally
racing. Many of those who said they had no clue about the motorsport before the event now say
they are fans for life.

“I’ve been racing for 10 years, from carts, formula cars, sports cars, on tarmac, on the road, on
street courses, never off-road, but I’ve been aware of Rally,” Matteo Naranjo, lead driver for
CTR, said. “It was a unique experience that’ll definitely influence me on where I want to go next
in my racing career.”

“Rally is such a diverse motorsport, which I had no clue of,” CTR member Garrison Dull said.
“I’ve seen the clips growing up, never really followed it to a T, but when you look at it, it was like,
you’d have a driver who’s a 68-year-old Hollywood stunt driver, all the way to Def Leppard’s lead
guitarist. You’d have a 17-year-old who was a co-driver, I mean, you’d have a carpenter, a
veteran, you name it — it was such a diverse sport.”

For other members, though, the experience was a dream come true for lifelong rally fans.

“I’m a die-hard Subaru fan since as long as I can remember,” said Victor Cruz, race engineer
and mechanic for CTR. “I’ve been watching on TV since as long as I can remember, but I’ve
never been able to go to one because I just never knew where they were. So, with CTR, they
finally gave me the chance to see this in person, and I’m eternally grateful.”

“I knew what Rally was because of that, of course, but I had only really seen clips,” CTR
mechanic Brody Heinick said. “I hadn’t really fully gone in and watched Rally, and just seeing all
my favorite cars in their element at the rally up close… it was just really awesome to see that out
there.”

For one team member, the experience created a full-circle moment.

“I grew up in Ireland, and rally is kind of what got me into motorsports,” Ryan Oliver, head of
media for CTR, said. “I grew up around a lot of rally drivers and corner marshals, and now, after
spending the last few years getting more into motorsports and becoming a corner marshal last
weekend, it just showed a whole different light on rally from what I remember as a kid.”

With the experience now having come and gone, the future of CTR could very well be defined
by the event. Only time will tell if — or, more likely, when — the team will make the ambitious
leap into rally racing.

By Nathan Inman

Earlier this year, Clemson Baja SAE partnered with the Clemson construction science and
management department to construct a brand-new test track with support from Blanchard CAT.
Within months, the track was fully designed and constructed, giving Baja a new way to test its
vehicle ahead of competition.

In prior years, Clemson Baja would travel to competitions with the durability of its builds not
completely tested. The new test track now gives the team the chance to diagnose and fix any
issues before making the trip to compete, an opportunity, the team says, that will prove
immensely helpful.

“We’re super excited to have it for this upcoming year, get the car done a couple weeks earlier
and be able to actually get out there, test stuff, break stuff and then resolve it,” chief engineer
Kevin Blakeney said. “You can only simulate so much — getting out there and putting the car
actually in a situation and getting that testing done. If something breaks, we can go in, figure out
what in our simulation was wrong and how to resolve that problem before competition.”

While the test track was completed ahead of Baja’s summer competition, their vehicle was not
race-ready, leaving the team unable to test it on the track before traveling to New York.
Blakeney said testing the build would have allowed them to catch certain issues that they did
not find until the competition began.

“Unfortunately, the car was not done in time to actually test on (the track) beforehand, but we
have gotten out there and tested a few times afterwards,” Blakeney explained. “It’s definitely
safe to say that, had we been able to get it out there earlier on the test track, we would have
found a couple of the issues that we had to resolve at competition when we found them.”

As Clemson Baja enjoys the test track and the advantages that come with it, Blakeney said that
other schools have shown interest in traveling to Clemson to run the track ahead of competition.
Earlier this month, ahead of Clemson football’s home opener against Georgia Southern, the
Georgia Southern Baja SAE team traveled to Clemson to run the course.

“Really, it was very helpful for both of our teams,” Blakeney said. “We got to see what each
other does, and how each of our different cars and our setups run on the track. It was also nice
because they got into the competition coming up in a couple weeks, and it was good for them to
be able to get out and rip on the car.”

Blakeney added that the Georgia Southern team found an issue with their vehicle after running
it on the track — an issue that likely would have gone undiagnosed if not for the test session.
Since that track day, Blakeney says that other schools have also reached out with interest in
testing on the track. As interest continues to rise, the possibility of an unofficial competition
weekend rises with it.

“We’ve definitely gotten some interest in some schools coming down moving forward,” Blakeney
said. “I think it’s a great thing to have them out there. With the construction science department
being willing to continue adding onto our track, we would love to get it a little bigger, a couple
more obstacles, and maybe even host a local, non-official competition where we bring in
schools from the Carolinas and Georgia, and maybe up in Virginia.”

With the school year now fully underway, Clemson Baja is hard at work on its new build for next
year’s competition. Time will only tell as to just how beneficial the team’s new test track will
prove to be.

By Nathan Inman

When college football players graduate and their time as a collegiate athlete draws to a close, they often wind up in careers within the football industry. Whether it be playing professionally or coaching at different levels, those are the typical paths former college football players take. 

Two former Clemson Tigers opted to take a much less-traveled path. 

Landon Walker, ’12, and Jonathan “Tig” Willard, ’13, played football together at Clemson over their four seasons, including the 2011 ACC Championship game, which delivered Clemson its first conference title in 20 years. 

When the two players transitioned into their professional careers, they saw their paths take them in a very different direction than they had expected — a direction that has led the former teammates to become competitors. 

Landon Walker 

Walker went undrafted in the 2012 NFL draft, but later intended to sign with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent. The only thing that stood between Walker and his NFL dreams was a physical. 

However, the physical revealed arthritis in his knee, leaving Walker to face the reality of the condition. 

“I got hit in the face with some reality really fast,” Walker said in a 2023 interview. “The reality of the decision was that you either try to continue to play football with a knee that has failed an arthritis physical, or you try to do something different.” 

Soon after the physical, Walker was contacted by Hendrick Motorsports, the winningest team in NASCAR history. The team wanted Walker to attend its pit crew combine, something very similar to the workouts Walker participated in as a football player. 

That was 14 years ago. Walker officially joined the organization shortly after the combine and has remained with the organization as the fueler for William Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet. In the last several seasons, Walker has been part of numerous victories on the No. 24 team, including two consecutive Daytona 500 wins in 2024 and 2025. 

Jonathan “Tig” Willard 

Like Walker, Willard went undrafted in the 2013 NFL Draft. However, Willard wound up signing with the Tennessee Titans that offseason and joined their practice squad. 

Willard did not appear in any games for the Titans throughout the 2013 season and did not return at season’s end. This left Willard in a position similar to the one Walker had been in a few years prior, contemplating what life would look like after professional football. 

In the years that followed, Willard found himself joining motorsports giant Chip Ganassi Racing ahead of the 2017 NASCAR season. Throughout his stint with the organization, Willard served as a jackman for numerous pit crews across the three major NASCAR national touring series.  

Prior to the start of the 2022 season, Chip Ganassi Racing’s NASCAR program was purchased by Trackhouse Racing, a brand-new NASCAR team. Fortunately for Willard, he was able to remain with the organization in the same role — a role that led to his being part of NASCAR history. 

In 2023, NASCAR took to a street circuit for the very first time in Chicago, and Trackhouse entered a special entry for three-time Australian Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen to take part in his first-ever NASCAR race. Willard was the jackman for Van Gisbergen, who went on to win the race — the first driver to do so in their first NASCAR Cup Series start since 1963.  

In the years since then, Willard has joined Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing in 2024 and is currently the jackman for Ryan Preece and the No. 60 Ford. Just last month, Willard was part of the pit crew for Preece’s first career victory that secured him a spot in the NASCAR Chase.  

A chance for a championship 

Both former Tigers now have an opportunity in front of them to accomplish something they have never done before: win a NASCAR championship. Their respective drivers, William Byron and Ryan Preece, both qualified for the NASCAR Chase — the sport’s version of a postseason — and have a chance over the last 10 races to secure the title. 

The Chase began on Labor Day weekend in the Palmetto State at Darlington Raceway, and continued this past Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis. With just eight races remaining in the season, the two teams have their work cut out for them, as they both sit more than 100 points behind championship leader Denny Hamlin. 

While that gap might seem insurmountable, anything can happen, and both Walker and Willard will be working with their teams to put together strong performances to potentially cap off the season as NASCAR champions. Only time will tell if one of these former Tigers will be helping their teams hoist the Bill France Cup in just eight weeks’ time.  

By Nathan Inman

Just over a year removed from graduating, a Clemson alum is already making his mark on the world of motorsports.  

On Aug. 27, the Collegiate Racing Series and the International Motor Sports Association announced the establishment of the National Advisory Board for Motorsports Education. Jack Hobbs, ‘25, is the founder of CRS, the official sanctioning body for collegiate motorsports that provides students with opportunities to gain racing experience on and off the track.  

In just its early stages, CRS already has more than 80 schools participating in the series. 

Through the partnership, NABME will “help ensure academic programs more closely reflect the skills, experiences and professional expectations required throughout today’s motorsports industry,” according to a release from IMSA. 

“That’s been a project we’ve been working on for 18 months,” Hobbs said after the announcement. “We’ve been working silently in the background, checking boxes, putting things in place to make sure that you know that announcement was not premature, and so we finally got to a point where all the boxes were checked.” 

Hobbs added that “it’s been great and it’s just really special to see the industry kind of come together and understand that education is supremely important to their success.” 

Before founding CRS, Hobbs co-established the Clemson Tiger Racing team. CTR currently races a repurposed Mazda Miata gifted to them by the Department of Automotive Engineering, a car that is now the base of CRS through a separate partnership with Mazda Motorsports.  

“There are several key people and entities that we would not be here without them, period, amen — Mazda is one of them,” Hobbs said. “They’ve given us unbelievable support in developing the car that our series uses. This is a ground-up car, CRS and Mazda really worked hand-in-hand with big names — Penske (and) OMP — to design a car that was both supremely affordable, but confidence-inspiring and safe.”  

Hobbs later elaborated on whether he could have ever imagined the partnership with IMSA coming together when he originally founded CTR. 

“What happened is not shocking to me, when it happened is,” Hobbs explained. “We firmly believe, and have believed, that college and motorsports needed to happen. And we firmly have always believed that the industry would welcome it, and they have.” 

Hobbs added that the timing of how all this came together shocked him the most, as did the level of interest the motorsports industry has shown in supporting the series.  

When discussing his time as a Clemson student, Hobbs explained how the University set him up to see this level of success. 

“Clemson does a really good job of preparing you for the unpreparable,” Hobbs said. “There isn’t a class in the world, there isn’t an opportunity in the world that can prepare you for things singularly. But the culmination of my Clemson experience, the petri dish that it is, to go out and work with Nathan (Chang) to create CTR, and to enjoy that experience… It’s the culmination of the four years that put me in a place mentally and leadership-wise just to be in a position to handle it all.” 

As CRS is experiencing rapid growth in such a short period of time, Hobbs was asked what his goals look like for 5-to-10 years down the road.  

“If we had to have our goal, we would just hope that the industry recognizes this platform as a legitimate funnel for talent development,” Hobbs said. “The goal is to develop better people. Something I learned very early on at CUICAR with the Deep Orange program is that the product is not the car — the product is always the student, and that’s something we’ve taken to heart with this program… This is for the students, and it always will be.” 

By Nathan Inman

Today, RHBSSI’s first semester of the all-new Motorsports Monday is coming to an end. To wrap up the first iteration of the series, the Institute provides a synopsis of the history of motorsports at Clemson and a glimpse into what the future may look like.

To learn more about the topic, RHBSSI sat down with its endowed Alan Kulwicki Professor of Motorsports Engineering, Dr. Rob Prucka, from the Department of Automotive Engineering. 

Prucka arrived at Clemson in 2008 as a professor in automotive engineering. Since then, he has moved through the department and now sits as the interim chair. Prior to coming to Clemson, Prucka worked with the Ford Motor Company and was a consultant for the manufacturing of racing engines. Right before he began his professorship, Prucka was offered a job in the racing industry. However, Prucka turned down that offer, believing there was something bigger in the automotive program at Clemson. Nearly 20 years later, it’s safe to say that assumption was correct.

Throughout his time with the department, he has helped lead students participating in Deep Orange, a vehicle prototype program that gives graduate students the opportunity to build a vehicle of their own. Over the course of 16 projects thus far, two have specifically involved motorsports. The first of those two projects was Deep Orange 9, which was completed in 2018 and was a Next-Generation Rallycross racecar built in partnership with Honda. This project was particularly impactful for Prucka, saying it “totally changed my career path.”

“The director of Deep Orange left,” he added, “and I just stepped in and said, ‘either this program goes away, or I run it,’ and so I just ran it.”

Just two years later, another racecar model came out of the Deep Orange program. In 2020, graduate students completed the build of Deep Orange 12, a completely autonomous IndyCar. When the car was completed, it was taken to the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indy 500, to be put to the test. Prucka mentioned that, when the car sailed off into turn 1, he wasn’t fully certain whether the car would survive.

“We weren’t really sure the whole time we were designing that car if it was ever gonna work,” he said, “because we know all the engineering and all the numbers are fine, but we weren’t sure when that thing really went into a corner at high speed, the steering would actually work.”

So, when the car went into the first turn at 140 miles per hour, Prucka braced for the worst. Instead, the car made it through completely fine, and the hard work of all the students involved in the project had paid off.

“I almost fell to the ground,” he said. “I was just so shocked, you know, all these calculations we did worked. That was just overwhelming, because it was at such a famous place, and me as an engine person, like, ‘here’s this engine we helped design,’ and it’s blasting around this track.”

With all that has been done over the last several years, it’s clear that motorsports are rooted deep in the heart of Clemson. So, what does the future look like for the years to come?

In recent years, the automotive engineering program has launched the careers of many students, as they have gone on to land jobs in motorsports shortly after graduation. Notable places past students have landed include the Cadillac Formula 1 team, Roush Yates Engines, and other various F1 and NASCAR roles. Prucka says the goal for the future is to keep the program evolving with the rest of the world, so that it can continue to produce results for its students.

“I just look forward to working with students and truly trying to build this new generation of talent that needs to be out there in the industry, because they need it, right?” Prucka said. “And so, there’s a great opportunity, the industry wants to help.”

Prucka added that this all goes back to that decision he made in 2008 when he turned down the racing world and came to Clemson.

“To me, that’s the best part,” he added. “I mean, that’s why I’m in the academic world and not out in the racing world, is that I really just enjoy working with students. I feel like it’s a good fit for what I like to do.”

As Dr. Prucka continues to lead the future of motorsports at Clemson forward, he hopes he can continue to provide these students with all the opportunities their hearts desire. And if the past is any indication, those students will be in good hands.

By Nathan Inman

As the semester draws to a close, Clemson Formula SAE remains busy, polishing the final touches on the team’s Tiger 26 race car. With less than a month until the car takes to the track for the main competition at Michigan International Speedway, the build is officially in its final stages.

RHBSSI sat down with Alex Daichendt, a senior electrical engineering major and FSAE’s chief engineer, to discuss the progress made this semester and the final preparations being made before the team makes the long trek up north next month.

“We ended up with a rolling car right at the beginning of spring break,” Daichendt said. “So, it was a really, really big accomplishment for us.”

With the base of the car completed prior to the break, the team was left to focus on putting together the mechanical and electrical components. With those additions completed, the team was able to begin testing the car and ensure it was up to snuff. 

Following testing, the team went back to work, focusing on potential areas for improvement to make changes. 

“There’s still plenty of work to do in regards to the suspension tuning,” Daichendt added. “Hopefully, we’re getting the full aero package on the car this week for this weekend for testing, so we can get everything dialed in and what we need to be.”

With the build nearly completely put together, the finishing touches on the car will include applying the wrap of the car’s livery. Daichendt mentioned that the wrap will be in the team’s hands within the next two weeks, meaning it’ll be the end of finals before Tiger 26 reaches its final form. Daichendt added that isn’t a bad thing, though.

“It’ll really go on right before competition, which is completely fine with us,” Daichendt said about the wrap. “You know, less rock chips makes it look nice and pretty going into competition.”

With the car nearly complete, the team is focused on May 13, when Tiger 26 will hit the track at Michigan International Speedway for a multi-day competition against roughly 100 other schools from the United States and around the globe.

By Nathan Inman

Of all the creatures on planet Earth, only humans are aware of their own mortality. It’s often a taboo subject in day-to-day life, but it’s especially sensitive in the world of motorsports. There’s an old adage in life that the good ones are taken way too soon, and the same could be said for motorsports. Two of the greatest racing drivers to have ever lived raced in two very different forms of motorsport — but their fates were all the same. 

On March 30, RHBSSI Faculty Fellow Dr. Felipe Tobar and a colleague from the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department were published in the Routledge Handbook of Dark Events. Their chapter, titled “Death at play: Celebration and memorialisation of motorsport’s dead,” covers the public’s reactions to the deaths of Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna and NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt.

The chapter focuses on how the drivers are memorialized, both at the racetracks where they lost their lives and back in their respective hometowns. According to Dr. Tobar and Dr. Ramshaw, memorials at racetracks tend to be more somber, recognizing the dangers of motorsports. This contrasts with how the drivers are remembered in their hometowns. Compared with these memorials, others are more celebratory, focusing more on the lives the drivers lived and their identities. 

Senna’s life was taken on May 1, 1994, during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Italy. At nearly 200 miles per hour, Senna’s car veered off track and slammed head-on into a concrete barrier. Upon being rushed to the hospital, Senna was declared dead shortly after, at just 34 years old. In just 10 full seasons in Formula 1, Senna had earned 41 race victories and three World Drivers’ Championships. His death remains one of the biggest “what ifs?” in racing history, as Senna likely had several more seasons ahead of him. 

According to the chapter, Senna has been memorialized at Imola in various fashions. Notably, on the tenth anniversary of his death, there was a ceremonial lap around the circuit in one of Senna’s Formula 1 cars driven by one of his former teammates. Years later, on the 25th anniversary of Senna’s death, there was “a Catholic Mass at the Tamburello curve at 2 PM (the time and exact location of Senna’s fatal accident).” Additionally, there was an exhibition at the track featuring multiple of Senna’s former race cars. This contrasts with how Senna is remembered in his hometown of São Paulo, Brazil. Shortly after his death, the Brazilian government declared three days of national mourning, and his funeral was attended by more than three million people. 

In the years since, Senna has been memorialized in numerous ways throughout São Paulo and the rest of the country. Notably, he has been recognized through the “naming of numerous racetracks, metro lines, bus stations, streets, neighborhoods, bridges and a federal highway.”

Following Senna’s death, in a twist of fate, Earnhardt would go on to win the NASCAR Winston Cup Series race later that day at Talladega. Upon exiting the car in victory lane, Earnhardt opened his post-race interview remembering Senna.

“I want to send our thoughts and prayers to the family of Ayrton Senna and all his fans,” Earnhardt said. “He was a great racer, and it’s a great shame to see him go as he did. You know, it’s tough.”

Less than a decade later, on February 18, 2001, Earnhardt was running third on the final lap of the Daytona 500. With half a lap to go, he sat behind two race cars he owned, including the No. 8 that was piloted by his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Attempting to fend off the rest of the pack for his drivers ahead of him, Earnhardt was turned at a high rate of speed into the turn four wall as the field raced towards the checkered flag. Earnhardt’s drivers would finish first and second, as his own car rolled down the banking and came to rest in the infield grass. Much like Senna, Earhardt was rushed to a local hospital and declared dead shortly after. In the moments following his death, NASCAR president Mike Helton made an announcement that brought the nation to a halt.

It was just five words, but they held a weight much heavier: “We have lost Dale Earnhardt.”

In the years since his death, Daytona has constructed a statue of Earnhardt winning the 1998 Daytona 500 near the track’s tour entrance, where fans often leave flowers and other memorabilia. Additionally, on years that align with the anniversary of Earnhardt’s death, fans in the stands hold out three fingers on the third lap of the event.

According to the chapter, the memorials throughout Earnhardt’s hometown of Kannapolis, North Carolina, are much more celebratory. Since 2023, the city has hosted an annual street race named the Earnhardt Outdoors Showdown. The chapter describes this as “hardly solemn,” as the event celebrates the legacy the driver left behind. Much like Daytona, Kannapolis has erected its own statue, but it is very different from the one on display at the speedway. The statue in Earnhardt’s hometown “features a statue of Earnhardt in Wrangler jeans, cowboy boots and a button‑up shirt rather than a racing suit” and is even often a site for wedding ceremonies. This exemplifies that the statue is much more celebratory than it is somber.

These variations in how drivers are memorialized showcase how hometowns mourn differently than a national audience. Regardless, whether the memorials be solemn as they are at the racetracks or celebratory as they are in the drivers’ hometowns, one thing remains certain: the lives and legacies of the drivers will forever be remembered.

By Nathan Inman

As the semester is entering the home stretch, so too is the newest vehicle build for Clemson Baja SAE. After months of designing, the vehicle is now in its final stages of the build phase as the team prepares to compete in a competition in New York this June.

The RHBSSI sat down with Nicholas Roessler, a freshman automotive engineering major and the team’s chassis lead and head welder, to discuss how the build has progressed over the semester.

“The new build’s coming along well,” he said. “We’re kind of in the final steps of welding together our chassis. Suspension is finally getting finalized, so we can start making the suspension and figuring out where it goes on the car.”

As the chassis lead, Roessler is responsible for ensuring the chassis meets the standards required for the vehicle to handle the rough terrain it will encounter in competition. If one thing went wrong with the chassis, it could derail the entire build.

With that in mind, Roessler said he understands the important responsibility placed upon him and is confident that the chassis will be able to handle whatever is thrown its way.

“Driver safety is the most important thing to us, 100%,” he said. “As I’m getting there, and as I’m designing the chassis, that’s the main thought. We really can’t chance having something break, and so structural integrity is definitely the most important thing.”

Roessler mentioned that throughout the semester, one particular challenge with the chassis has been making it entirely in-house. The team has primarily focused on not outsourcing any development and on making the vehicle entirely student-built.

“There’s a learning curve to kind of bending our own tubes, and there’s been a lot of mistakes actually putting the chassis together, but we’ve kind of got it figured out and on a roll,” he said.

When Clemson Baja last spoke with the RHBSSI, the team focused on a brand-new test track under construction for them to test their newest build right here in Clemson. Roessler says the track will help the team ensure all the pieces are in place for the build to hold together before they compete in June.

“It’ll probably be one of the most beneficial things that has happened for Baja in a long time, he said. “We’ll be able to actually test our vehicle, and that way, if anything fails, hopefully it fails with the shop five minutes away, and not in Rochester, New York.

As the build nears completion, the team has its sights set on June 11 for its first competition in Rochester with the new vehicle.

By Nathan Inman

February 28 was a day that was nearly three years in the making for Clemson Tiger Racing. After being established in 2023, CTR finally ran its first-ever endurance race late last month.

It could have been easy for the team to take it easy and just log laps to gain experience, leaving car number 223 to be an afterthought to its competitors. Instead, though, everyone knew they were there. The team finished fourth in the Saturday race after a solid showing throughout the day, leaving CTR with a shot at a podium finish. Unfortunately, the team was unable to cross the finish line, as the car ran out of gas and slowed to a stop out of the final corner.

While the race finished in heartbreaking fashion, the result was still one the team could be proud of.
“I think we were all flabbergasted that we made it through,” said Hadley Smith, a sophomore engineering major and race engineer for CTR. “We were so incredibly excited and proud of ourselves that we made it through the first day.” The pride Smith mentioned was echoed by several of her fellow team members.

“It’s hard for me to put this feeling into words,” said Macy Jersek, graduate student and operations lead for CTR. “I’m just so happy and really proud of this team. I think we all were just thrilled to see the car finish, and to be so successful and to be competitive with our little Miata with 80 horsepower.”

“I’m also very proud of everyone,” added Kieran Rogers, junior automotive engineering student who is the race engineer lead and a driver for CTR. “There’s a lot of work that went into it, so it’s very rewarding when you see we’re able to go on for as long as possible.”

As Saturday drew to a close, the focus shifted to Sunday, when the team would hit the track once more for the second race of the weekend. After the learning experience of their first race, the team was hopeful they could compete for a podium position once again.

Not only did CTR compete for a podium in Sunday’s race, and the team also led at the break after the first hour and held the lead for several hours afterwards. It appeared that CTR was going to have a shot at winning a race in its first-ever race weekend. Unfortunately, with roughly 90 minutes remaining, the car suffered a failure in the rear differential. With so little time remaining and the car extremely hot, CTR was unable to make repairs and was forced to retire from the race.

While the end result was not what the team had hoped for, the team members had every reason to hold their heads high and mark the weekend as a success. A car fully engineered, maintained and driven by college students lasted an impressive 341 laps and nearly 13 hours throughout the two races, leaving the expectations heading into the weekend in the dust. Even more impressive was that the parts built and installed by the team stayed in shape, and the only thing that prevented the team from completing all 14 hours and potentially earning a race win or podium was one that was never touched by the students besides fluid changes, serving as a testament to the work of the mechanics.

“I think it just really shows how hard every single one of the mechanics has been working,” said Matthew Flaim, an automotive engineering graduate student, as well as driver and lead mechanic for CTR. “Just the effort that has been going in to make sure that we’re making, not only a consistent and competitive race car, but also a safe race car.”

With CTR’s first race finally in the books, the team is now looking ahead to more races and hopes to be back on track in May at Atlanta Motorsports Park. With the experience of the first race weekend and the knowledge gained from it, the sky is now the limit for the team’s future success.