Formula HardRocker Racing

The South Dakota Mines Formula SAE Hardrocker Racing Team is committed to excellence. Our team designs and manufactures a new race car from the ground up every year. We then compete against other engineering schools on a national level. The quality of our performance in engineering design is nationally recognized.

The vehicle for this competition is a 4 wheeled, motorcycle engine powered, open wheeled, and open cockpit formula style race car. Overall it must be light, fast, well designed, and must be able to navigate a parking lot style autocross course. The competition itself includes 7 events.

"The Formula SAE® competition is for SAE student members to conceive, design, fabricate, and compete with small formula-style racing cars. The restrictions on the car frame and engine are limited so that the knowledge, creativity, and imagination of the students are challenged. The cars are built with a team effort over a period of about one year and are taken to the annual competition for judging and comparison with approximately 120 other vehicles from colleges and universities throughout the world. The end result is a great experience for young engineers in a meaningful engineering project as well as the opportunity of working in a dedicated team effort. For the purpose of this competition, the students are to assume that a manufacturing firm has engaged them to produce a prototype car for evaluation as a production item. The intended sales market is the nonprofessional weekend autocross racer. Therefore, the car must have very high performance in terms of its acceleration, braking, and handling qualities. The car must be low in cost, easy to maintain, and reliable. In addition, the car's marketability is enhanced by other factors such as aesthetics, comfort and use of common parts. The manufacturing firm is planning to produce four (4) cars per day for a limited production run and the prototype vehicle should actually cost below $25,000. The challenge to the design team is to design and fabricate a prototype car that best meets these goals and intents. Each design will be compared and judged with other competing designs to determine the best overall car." 

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