Georgia Tech Motorsports Races to Historic Podium Finish at Formula SAE Michigan
June 10, 2025
By Chloe Arrington
Georgia Tech Motorsports (GTMS), one of the oldest competition teams operating at Georgia Tech, sped into a historic third-place overall finish at the 2025 Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) Michigan, marking the first podium placement in over two decades and tying the program's best-ever result.
The FSAE competition challenges university undergraduate and graduate student teams to conceive, design, fabricate, develop, and compete with formula racing-style vehicles. Teams are required to participate in a series of events, both on and off track, and have the chance to demonstrate their creativity and engineering skills against groups from other universities around the world. This year, a staggering 108 teams entered the competition.
Entries are tested in endurance, acceleration, design, cost, and sales presentation. GTMS performed well in all events, and their composite scores led to their place on the podium.
"This year marked several historic firsts for us," said team lead and neuroscience and business administration major Alexander Merryman. "We won the Endurance event for the first time, a 22-kilometer test of vehicle reliability and efficiency that many teams don't even complete."
The result is GTMS' first top-three finish since 2002. This year's performance represents a breakthrough for the student-run organization that operates out of Georgia Tech's Student Competition Center (SCC).
"GTMS could not have done this without the support the Woodruff School provides the SCC," said Jacob Tompkins, mechanical engineer III in the Woodruff School, and staff support in the SCC.
GTMS has 123 active members, affectionately known as "membos," from various majors, including several mechanical engineering students in leadership positions and other roles. Thirty members traveled to Michigan for the competition, representing current leadership and the next generation of team leaders.
However, the road to the competition wasn't smooth. Early in the academic year, GTMS faced a significant financial setback when its Student Government Association funding was slashed by nearly 70 percent, part of a broader reduction affecting registered student organizations across campus.
"Our business team sprang into action, securing new sponsors and grants," said Merryman. "Leadership worked to reduce costs by 30 percent and integrated cost-consciousness into our design philosophy."
Technical challenges then followed. In January, after a successful day of testing, the team left the car off-campus overnight. A rare Georgia freeze caused the engine block to crack due to coolant expansion. GTMS runs pure water as the coolant, a decision that ultimately backfired in the cold.
Weeks later, a wheel hub was sheared off during another test, sending the front-right wheel 500 feet into a stream. Fortunately, the driver was unharmed, and the car sustained minimal damage. However, the incident set the team back by six weeks.
"These challenges underscored the importance of our biggest strategic shift this year, finishing the car early," said Merryman. "Because we completed the vehicle in December, we had time to test thoroughly and recover from unexpected issues."
By the time the team arrived in Michigan, the car had logged over 230 miles of testing, another first for GTMS. That preparation paid off. The team passed static tech inspection on the first attempt, a comprehensive safety and compliance review that often takes teams multiple tries. The goal was to have a boring competition, meaning everything went according to plan, and for the first time in years, it did.
GTMS builds a new car each year, as required by FSAE rules, but its two-year design cycle sets the team apart. The 2025 car was designed in the fall of 2023, and the 2026 vehicle is already in production. This extended timeline allows for deeper testing, refinement, and innovation.
The team's performance has also earned them an invitation to a new international invitational in Rome, Italy. The event will feature the top 100 teams worldwide and be hosted by FSAE in partnership with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the global motorsport body behind Formula 1 and Formula E.
"We're actively seeking funding to make the trip. It's a huge opportunity to represent Georgia Tech and showcase what it truly means to be a 'helluva engineer' on a global stage," said Merryman.
With the celebration, the team remains focused on the future. With their sights set on gold next season, GTMS is already back in the shop, designing, building, and preparing to push the limits again.
