Nittany Motorsports gains momentum with all-electric Formula 1 racecar

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — “Nothing but Guts: All Throttle No Gas” boasts a decal on the rear wing of Penn State’s Nittany Motorsports’ Formula 1-style electric-powered racecar. Nicknamed “Sabrina” after the pop singer Sabrina Carpenter, the car can zoom from zero to 60 miles per hour in 3.1 seconds and reach a top speed of 75 miles per hour. But what is a racecar doing on campus? 

Putting their classroom engineering skills to a practical test, a group of undergraduates has designed, built and is now testing the single-seat, open-cockpit racecar to prepare for the annual Formula SAE Electric competition, which will take place from June 17-21 at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. 

At the competition, 90 teams from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore will be judged in both static and dynamic events including cost analysis, design, business acumen, acceleration, autocross and a grueling endurance race. To qualify for the racing portion, teams must pass through a six-part technical inspection and receive a sticker on their car indicating they passed each stage.   

Last year, after passing through each inspection for the first time since switching from petroleum to electric in 2023, the team took 25th overall against 78 other teams and 12th in the acceleration event. It was the team’s best finish in 15 years, after over 20 years competing. 

“I’m proud of all the team achieved in building our car this year and think we have a good chance at placing even higher this year,” said rising fourth-year mechanical engineering major and team captain Adrian Michael. “All our team leads this year attended the competition last year, so we have a better frame of reference for what went wrong and how to improve.” 

“Sabrina” is named after the pop singer’s small but powerful nature, according to Michael, as well as having the word “car” in her last name. The car is also known as PSR25, which stands for Penn State Racing 2025, a nod to the team’s original name.   

“In naming Sabrina, we are keeping a team tradition of relating each name back to a musical artist or character,” Michael said. “Last year, we raced the ‘Billie Jean,’ so named because of the jeans material we used for the chassis of the car.” 

After more than a decade of competing in the petroleum fuel-powered competition under the name Penn State Formula Racing, the team rebranded to Nittany Motorsports and switched to a fully electric-powered build in 2023.  

“One of the main reasons for our switch was the transition in the global automotive industry toward electric vehicles,” said rising fourth-year electrical engineering major and outreach lead Alex Ackerman. “With many companies pledging to switch their models to electric, in order to best prepare our members, we felt it was right to switch the team to match industry. It also was a way to appeal to students from more majors, like electrical engineering and computer science.” 

Steve White, a project coordinator for the Learning Factory who provides support to the team as its leadership and engineering coach, said the team has experienced remarkable growth, both in technical expertise and team development, since switching to electric power.  

“The transition from petroleum-based fuel to electric power was a challenge, but the team persevered thanks to strong leadership and the dedication of its members,” White said. “What truly sets Nittany Motorsports apart is the sense of community it fosters. The team's growth is not only reflected in its engineering prowess, but also in the increasing involvement of students from diverse fields — business, communications, architecture and more. This multidisciplinary approach leads to innovative results and provides students with invaluable, real-world experience." 

Becca Baker, a May 2025 industrial engineering graduate, guided Nittany Motorsports in the shift from petroleum power to electric over her five years in the club. Together with other leaders, Baker developed 10 project teams led by student project managers: systems integration, aerodynamics, controls, brakes and safety, chassis, electronics, finance, outreach, powertrain and suspension.  

“There was a huge shift in the team culture, from a small group of mainly mechanical engineering majors working on the car to a much larger, more diverse group of students working on each aspect of the racecar in smaller teams,” Baker said. “We never before had project managers and leads for each aspect of the project, which made everything more organized, and going that route has improved student retention on the team.”  

The team had its most successful year of recruiting — at one point, 1,000 students were in the group chat, Michael said — and 60-75 students regularly did measurable work on the car. 

However, because the team can only take 35 students to the SAE competition due to competition limits, team leaders put together an inaugural spring banquet at the Engineering Design and Innovation Building on April 12, which honored the contributions of all team members while unveiling “Sabrina” for the first time. Team members who have committed the most volunteer hours to the car have the privilege of driving it and racing it at the competition. 

Though students were responsible for manually building the car, they had financial and expertise support through industry sponsors. The team partnered with Autodesk, who provided significant monetary support to the team, to produce 3D-printed aluminum suspension components, known as bell cranks, using AI-enabled generative design.  

Since completing the build, team members have been test driving the car at Penn State’s Larson Transportation Institute test track to ready it for competition.  

Participating in Nittany Motorsports has allowed team members’ resumes to rise to the top of the list at recruiting events, Michael said, giving undergraduates professional development opportunities and project management experience that many engineering industries look for in top candidates.   

“FSAE teams are well regarded in industry because we receive near-industry level experience in college,” Michael said. “We use the fundamentals we learn in class to propel us in competition and justify our design decisions. You’re limited in exercising all of what you learn in class if you’re just taking classes – 75% of what you need to know to be successful happens outside of the classroom, through knowledge transfer from one student to another, or by getting your hands dirty and failing until you get it right.”