The ISU Formula Society of Automotive Engineers Racing Team has completed its eighth annual race car, which will compete in the largest recognized collegiate engineering competition in the world.

The team is composed of undergraduate students who design, construct and test a formula-style race car for competition as a completely independent project.

This year the Formula SAE team will showcase the car on May 18 to 22 in Pontiac, Mich. This is the team’s second car powered by E-85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

Choosing to build an ethanol-burning car has given the team a better promotions angle and has allowed the team to find sponsors willing to donate to an economically and environmentally friendly race car, said Andy Eis, project director and senior in mechanical engineering.

He said the team has received approximately $70,000 in cash, product and service donations through fundraising. Without large donations from companies like ICM Inc., an industry-leading ethanol plant design and engineering firm based in Colwich, Kan., that donated $20,000, Eis said, the team would not be able to build its car.

“We are confident that out of the 140 international teams, including many of the top engineering programs from this country, we will be among the best and fastest,” Eis said.

The team placed 13th last year for acceleration power, said Jason Tracy, technical director and senior in mechanical engineering.

He said this year’s car, which contains a Kawasaki ZX-6R engine, has a top speed of at least 110 mph and can reach 60 mph in less than four seconds.

“If you put it on any short track, it could beat any Porsche or Ferrari,” Eis said.

In the past, the team was still working on the car days before the competition, but this year they completed it eight weeks early, said James Jarvis, engine team leader and senior in computer engineering.

He said the early completion has allotted more time to test drive the car, occasionally in the parking lot behind the Molecular Biology Building, Eis said.

“Testing is going amazing. We’re breaking things, which is good, because it’s better than breaking things during the race,” Jarvis said.

The five-day competition contains both static and dynamic events, Eis said. He said the static events include design, marketing and cost analysis judging. The dynamic events test the performance in categories such as skid pad, autocross and fuel mileage, Eis said.

“A lot of the competition is having a good driver,” Tracy said.

He said about 50 percent of the points come from driving events.

Jarvis said team management and keeping members motivated to work on the car are always constant struggles.

“Managing the team is like managing a business,” Eis said. “We have budgets, schedules, events, meetings, politics — you name it. That is all on top of actually building the car.”

The team tries to get new members in the car to drive just to motivate them, Jarvis said. He said when he was a freshman, riding in the car for just one minute was enough to keep him motivated to work on the car the entire year.

Eis said he estimates the team has put in approximately 15,000 hours working in the shop, located in the Nuclear Engineering Laboratory.

“We work during the week and all weekend, every weekend. But we still have lives — at least most of us,” Eis said.