Pellissippi State Motorsports, composed of engineering and engineering technology students, is building a car to race at Formula SAE Michigan. The local team will compete against 119 other teams May 8-11 at Michigan International Speedway.
Pellissippi State is the only community college in the competition, which includes teams from Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Poland, Singapore, South Korea and Venezuela, in addition to those from the United States.
Christian Boone, a former Pellissippi State student who has transferred to the University of Tennessee to complete his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, is spearheading the motorsports club. Boone is a Knoxville native who graduated from Farragut High School in 2014.
The students have divided themselves into sub-teams of chassis, suspension, propulsion, aerodynamics, safety and business and will be selecting four drivers to race the car. They work on the car at 5 p.m. Wednesdays through January with a goal to have the car built by February. Instructor Lynn Klett, coordinator for Pellissippi State’s mechanical engineering/industrial maintenance program, is serving as faculty adviser.