FEATURE

Behind the Wheel:

Spartan Racing’s Start and Acceleration to the Top

By Marcus Ismael

Fifteen years ago, SJSU students Johanna Knudsen, '09 Mechanical Engineering, and Darren Schwald helped lead efforts to restart a formula racing team at San José State University. The endeavor was not without its struggles — limited funding and practically no machining facilities on campus meant members scraped together their own funding and relied on family and community support. The team’s first vehicle SR-1, a low-slung buggy made of fiberglass and steel and covered in sponsorship labels, is still road-worthy and, in spite of its aging components and scuffs, carries its age well.

In 2008, SR-1 was the team’s shining chariot that carried them to a Rookie of the Year award at the prestigious Formula SAE international collegiate racing competition, then held at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California — an annual competition, in which, even a decade and a half later, SJSU’s Spartan Racing teams earn top marks year after year. The competition is now held at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan.

Formula SAE competitions are comprised of two components: the first being “static events,” during which the team’s cars are presented and assessed on design and engineering and the second being “dynamic” events, spread across four trials — acceleration; skid pad, where drivers navigate a tight course designed to test a vehicle’s cornering and handling abilities; autocross, a single-lap road course; and endurance, which tests a vehicle’s long-term efficiency.

“It’s important to know how things work,” says Schwald, who went on to marry Knudsen following their time together at SJSU. “During static events, industry experts take the place of judges who scrutinize every design decision to make sure the team understands their own rationales behind build choices.”

Every building component, from the chassis to the tires and wings, had to be sourced and machined on a tight budget. In the run up to one of the team’s first competition events, Schwald and some teammates put on their best Silicon Valley-esque pitch at a lunch with representatives from UK-based aerospace engineering firm BAE Systems to secure the team’s funding. Fifteen years on, BAE Systems remains one of the top companies emblazoned on Spartan Racing’s vehicles — along with a long list of loyal industry sponsors — and the company retains a flowing pipeline of talent from SJSU. Kundsen and Schwald remain integral parts of the team’s social fabric, carrying forward their support to the new team.

From the organization’s inception, students pitched in directly, covering event registration and materials out of their own pockets. Generous individual patronage by Don Beall, ’60 Metallurgical Engineering, whose name features prominently on every Spartan Racing vehicle, significantly contributed to the team’s competitive edge and growing membership. The team began the current season with a generous $15,000 sponsorship from Beall.

The Spartan Formula team poses next to their Formula Racecar.

The 2023 Spartan Racing team at the unveiling event of their new vehicle. Photo: Robert C. Bain.

“The more interaction with industry the team can get, the better and more consistent the team will be year to year, and that proximity is a key differentiator between SJSU’s Formula SAE team and many others around the world.”

— Joey Penniman

Partners in proximity

Though the team still goes without fully-dedicated machining facilities on campus, partnership with local automobile repair shops, family connections and, perhaps most importantly, individual and corporate sponsorships help advance the club’s work. For club co-founder Joey Penniman, ’09 Mechanical Engineering, the proximity to the automobile industry is crucial. Penniman currently works on hardware product design for the electronics architecture team for Ford Motor Company’s Advanced Electric Vehicle Development team at Ford’s Greenfield Labs in Palo Alto.

“It’s easy to ‘go fishing’ with so many companies [being] a stone’s throw from campus,” said Penniman, referring to the ease and concentration of networking that students at Silicon Valley’s public university enjoy. “The more interaction with industry the team can get, the better and more consistent the team will be year to year, and that proximity is a key differentiator between SJSU’s Formula SAE team and many others around the world.”

For years, SJSU’s team fielded two competition vehicles: one a conventional, internal combustion engine car and, the other, a fully-electric car. Going forward, SR-14, the team’s seventh iteration of an electric-only platform, will be the sole competition car. In recent years, leadership of the team decided to go all in on an electric-only vehicle platform, taking inspiration from local leaders in the electric vehicle sector Tesla and Lucid Motors — both recent sponsors of the team.

Various subteams work collaboratively to make the final, finished racing product. From aerodynamics, suspension, software and chassis, to business and strategy and dynamics, the roughly 50–person organization spends roughly 10–11 months developing each new vehicle. Teams can range from five to 15 people and the entire organization is open to all SJSU students, even those without an engineering background.

Team members enjoy close access to engineers at those local companies during site tours, which often yields informal, free mentoring that students can then incorporate into vehicle designs and in their approach to competing. This proximity to industry partnership is uniquely rare across collegiate formula teams and has often led to job placements for graduating members. Keen eyes on the team’s race vehicles can spot Lucid One, Tesla Motors, Ford Motor Company and dozens of engineering, software, aerospace and car industry sponsors.

“I started out machining brackets for the pedal box to working on the chassis subteam...Now, as chief engineer, I’m leading the teams working on our latest competition vehicle.”

— Rahul Shetty

Hitting the racetrack

The road to the collegiate racing competition in Michigan can be a journey in itself. For Rahul Shetty, ’25 Mechanical Engineering, the new chief engineer for the SR-14 electric vehicle platform (EV) car, progress can be incredible.

“I started out machining brackets for the pedal box to working on the chassis subteam,” he says. “Now, as chief engineer, I’m leading the teams working on our latest competition vehicle.”

Safety remains a top priority for the team, where industry best practices and comprehensive computer modeling, done by the students, helps ensure drivers can push the bounds of the team’s technical expertise and showcase the cars’ refined technology on the racetrack. Virtual racetracks are programmed in driving simulators to prepare drivers and each of the subteams work diligently to hone their specific areas’ skills.

Vehicles are tested in a range of settings to prepare for the Michigan competition. From the team’s outpost in Crow’s Landing, a stretch of open space in California’s Central Valley, to the storied WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey County, Spartan Racing works to fine-tune each vehicle’s design and dynamics. The unpredictable range of weather the team ultimately faces in the competitions tests their expertise.

“Michigan’s climate can be a mixed bag during our competition events. That’s why we’re constantly optimizing the cars,” said Clarence Choi, ’24 Mechanical Engineering, team treasurer and public relations manager. “Understanding how the cars’ torsional rigidity, or stiffness, behaves on the track and affects the way the cars move, monitoring the lithium battery temperature and keeping it stable are some of the many ways our subteams work to keep us competitive.”

In 2022, the team placed fourth overall across more than one hundred teams, including several international universities. Last year’s impressive rankings also netted the team second in acceleration, third in design and eighth overall for the final internal combustion model car, as well as second in efficiency and fourth in endurance for the prior EV race car.

“Studying philosophy and pre-law while also being a part of a race car team is amazing. The fact that I can do both at SJSU is so fun.”

— Patrick McGowan (right)

Building more than a car

For Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering Don Beall Dean Sheryl Ehrman, Spartan Racing is a major point of pride.

“Our team is going up against other teams, especially some from Europe, with 10–20 times the budget and they still place highly at competitions,” she says. “The camaraderie that's built and maintained within an organization of this size is amazing.”

For some, joining a team of engineers isn’t solely about tinkering and iterating with the complex mechanics of a Formula race car.

“Studying philosophy and pre-law while also being a part of a race car team is amazing,” said Patrick McGowan, ’24 Philosophy. “The fact that I can do both at SJSU is so fun.”

McGowan serves as the team’s president and business team lead, working to secure sponsorships and maintain sustainable funding for team operations. “Sponsors have a unique opportunity to both empower students to develop high-demand technical skills and gain direct access to the next generation of automotive industry talent,” he says.

The world of Formula racing entices those from a variety of backgrounds like computing and software. In 2015, SJSU Engineering Lecturer Harry Quackenboss, then only a supporter and casual fan of the team, took an interest in the team’s rising success. He attended one of the team’s test sessions prior to a competition in Lincoln, Nebraska, after being connected to the group by a former colleague.

Quackenboss says he offered some small tweaks to that team’s vehicle design that would help shore up tight cornering when competing in the skid pad event. With the suggested adjustments made, that Spartan Racing group placed first out of 80 total North American teams. As time went on, Quackenboss’ role with the team evolved into that of an advisor.

“Working with the team, we set two goals to strive towards: One, to finish high in the competition, because that helps students get exposure to top-tier employers in industries beyond automotive, including aerospace and medical devices, and two, to leave each subsequent team in a stronger, better position for the next year,” he says.

Testing out a racing simulator at a Spartan Racing event. Photo: Robert C. Bain.

In the years since, Spartan Racing consistently outranked prestigious teams from across the United States and the world. In 2017 alone, the team finished sixth out of more than 120 teams and were the third-highest ranking American university team.

As Spartan Racing moves forward, they will solely be fielding an all-electric racing vehicle, instead of also building a gas-powered internal combustion engine platform.

“The switch to go all in on electric was to match where the industry is going,” says Quackenboss. “In 2019, we discussed the topic. We could have stayed focused on the internal combustion class, and continued to be a top competitor. But we agreed that the electric class was eventually going to be the premier category. We had a choice: wait for that to happen, and be rookies trying to compete, or get ahead of the curve. This latest car sets a new standard high.”

Defined by clean, dramatic lines, a deep Spartan blue colorway and overall aesthetic that taps into the team’s storied heritage design language, and, according to Shetty, $25,000 to $30,000 of military-grade hardware from Military Fasteners, SR-14 marks Spartan Racing’s bold new move into the future of electric vehicle competitive sport.

At the unveiling of the new SR-14 car, Johanna Knudsen remarked, with children in tow, “It’s amazing to think of the current team, who were about our children’s current ages now, back when we restarted Spartan Racing. Some day, our own kids might be working on something like this.”

Want to learn more?

Keep up with the team’s work and consider supporting them by visiting the SJSU Formula Racing website.