The 2011-2012 Bradley University Formula SAE program will be comprised of three teams: Team 15 which is the Engine-Drivetrain team, Team 16 dealing with suspension, and Team 17, which is in charge of frame design and fabrication. Each individual team will work on its part of the car, but will collaborate with the other teams in order to harmoniously complete a competitive car. A budget of eight thousand dollars is granted to the teams, and will be split up amongst the three teams as they see fit. By doing so, this insures a properly simulated industry like environment.

Bradley University has been partaking in the FSAE since 1997, followed ten years later, in 2007, by the best overall finish to date of 29th place. The three aforementioned teams will work in a conjoined effort to have a running car ready for testing by the month of April 2012. This will allow the teams a sufficient amount of time to tune, and fix any minor glitches that car may have, and get it as close to "race-ready" as it can be to compete in Brooklyn Michigan on May 9th-12th 2012. Furthermore, having a car ready for testing a month before competition will also give the teams time to compare the actual data gathered from testing to the theoretical data acquired from computer program where the car was designed modeled.

SAE Background. The FSAE program started in 1978 by the Society of Automotive Engineering as was known as the Mini-Indy Program. As time went by the competition grew and evolved to become internationally recognized. Today, the FSAE competition is used to simulate a situation where a team of student engineers is asked to build a proposed open wheeled Formula style race car in a fashion making it eligible for mass production. The cars built by each school compete in both Static and Dynamic events. The project uses the cars to allow each team of engineering students to apply knowledge from classes and previous course work, and gain work experience to further prepare us for the working world.