Founded in 1905, SAE International, formerly known as the Society of Automotive Engineers, is an engineering and scientific organization dedicated to the advancement of mobility technology to better serve humanity. Engineers, business executives, educators and students from more than 97 countries come together through SAE to exchange ideas, share information, and develop technical information on all forms or self-propelled vehicles for the automotive, aerospace, and commercial vehicle industries. This information is disseminated through SAE technical standards, an extensive offering of learning sources, and conferences. The many and varied products and programs of SAE International-the collective wisdom of the global automotive industry-are available to help advance the engineering expertise, companies and the nation's automotive industries.
One such program is the Formula SAE or FSAE. The concept behind Formula SAE is that a fictional manufacturing company has contracted a design team to develop a small Formula-style race car. The prototype race car is to be evaluated for its potential as a production item. The target market group for the race car is the non-professional weekend autocross racer. Each student team designs, builds and tests a prototype based on a series of rules which are there to ensure onsite event operations and promote clever problem solving.
Formula SAE promotes careers and excellence in engineering as it encompasses all aspects of the automotive industry including research, design, manufacturing, testing, developing, marketing, management and finances. Formula SAE takes students out of the classroom and allows them to apply text-book theories to real work experiences. Today, the competition has expended and includes a number of spin off events.
