You wouldn’t be admonished for thinking there was no comparison between Monaco and Lincoln, Nebraska but, for this week at least, there is one key similarity. An international competition that pits universities against each other to see who can build the best scaled-down race car and the best case for producing and marketing said race car is taking place in Lincoln this week and California State University, Fullerton is one of the major competitors.

Cal State Fullerton has fared well in this competition of 85 universities when it comes to the engineering and construction of the race car. However, this competition, called Formula SAE, also has a business plan component and CSUF has not utilized its business students… until this year. Working in tandem with students from the College of Engineering and Computer Science a group of Mihaylo business students took on the challenge of developing a comprehensive business plan for the theoretical production of the race car. In Management 465B, one of our entrepreneurship courses, they worked with faculty members such as Dr. Atul Teckchandani and Center for Entrepreneurship Director John Bradley Jackson to develop a winning business plan for the competition.

And now one of those students, who graduated in May, is making the trip to attend the Formula SAE Competition to represent CSUF and bolster our chances of winning this international competition with universities from America, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, India and Puerto Rico. Trevor Smith, the lone representative from the group of business students who crafted the business plan, will be making a presentation at this event on how to commercialize this product. This will surely be an exciting time for Trevor and he knows that everyone not only from Mihaylo College but from the whole CSUF family is rooting for him.

So, do you want to see the race car, which can top speeds of 100 mph, in action? Watch the video below.

For more information about the engineering aspect of this competition please read this article from CSUF News and check out the CSUF Formula SAE website.