JAN. 11, 2013 -- Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) hosted 300 visitors and more than $1M in high-performance sports cars from institutions throughout the Southeast during the university’s first-ever “Restrictors Optional” Invitational Racing Competition on Jan. 5.
The SPSU Motorsports Formula SAE team staged the all-day campus event with SPSU Paintball and the Theta Chi fraternity, attracting Formula SAE teams from Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern University, Clemson (S.C.) University, North Carolina State University (NCSU), Mississippi State University and several other schools. The teams made demonstration runs with their Formula SAE vehicles on a course mapped out by SPSU students.
“We recorded quite a few impressive times, but one of NCSU’s teams won the competition,
finishing with a new track record of 25.86 seconds,” said Oscar Harrell, who handles
public relations for SPSU Motorsports. “One of the Clemson cars came in a close second
at 26.20 seconds, tying with the SPSU home record.”
The event also featured a Dyno challenge — a chance for visiting teams to test their
vehicles on a DynoJet chassis dynamometer, used in the testing and development of
past formula, electric and student-project vehicles. SPSU neighbor Forged Performance
sponsored this part of the event, and they and fellow vendors Duece Moto Customs and
Marietta Motorsports contributed raffle prizes and otherwise supported the event.
NCSU again finished first in the challenge, with Clemson in second place and Georgia
Southern in third.