UCLA’s largest mechanical engineering organization is working to take car racing and sustainable transportation to the next level.

Members of Bruin Racing, founded in 1999, construct and test single-seat vehicles that they race at annual competitions year-round. Students also network with companies including Boeing and SpaceX, and receive hands-on training in computer-aided design, machining and electronics, according to the club’s website.

“It’s not a requirement that you have to be in engineering,” said Michael Jay, a member of Bruin Racing. “You just have to be interested in it.”

Bruin Racing began as one team – called Baja – which engineered a vehicle for off-roading. Members later created the sister teams Formula Racing, which assembles a high-speed formula-style car, and Bruin Supermileage, which creates vehicles with fuel-efficient designs.

Baja races against other universities in competitions hosted by SAE International, a professional association for engineers and technical experts in automotive, aerospace and commercial vehicle industries, according to the team’s website.

The team’s internal combustion prototype, which uses gasoline as fuel, navigates a rough terrain course to test its durability, traction and speed in a four-hour endurance race, according to the SAE International website.

Teams compete for awards in categories related to business strategy, engineering quality and design, and vehicle performance, while earning points for their overall ranking, according to the Baja SAE website.

Formula Racing also participates in a competition hosted by SAE International, in which judges evaluate electric vehicles in six technical inspections, and then test them while stationary and in motion, said Parth Kasmalkar, a co-managing director of Formula Racing.

Preparation for the annual competition begins just two weeks after the race, which is held in June, said Kasmalkar, a rising fourth-year mechanical engineering student. The team then continues to design the vehicle in the fall, finalizes the concept in the winter and builds the car in the spring, he added.

Formula Racing members work in subteams centered on different elements of the vehicle, including the structural skeleton and power generation system, said Ani Hovanesian, the team’s incoming financial director.

Members gather in Boelter Hall each Saturday leading up to the race to construct the vehicle during the school year, said Hovanesian, a rising fourth-year aerospace engineering student.

“We’ve built this foundation as an EV (electric vehicle) team, and now we’re finally reaping the great benefits of it, and it’s super rewarding,” Kasmalkar said.

Devin Huntington, Bruin Supermileage’s incoming external managing director, said the team began using recycled materials and transitioned to a hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle design – which generates electricity using hydrogen and oxygen without emitting carbon – in recent years.

Bruin Supermileage started preparing for the next annual Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition – in which students design and race energy-efficient vehicles – this summer, said Huntington, a rising third-year mechanical engineering student.

The team has been developing a 1,000-watt fuel cell on campus over the last three years, said Dean Mac, the financial director for Bruin Supermileage.

“We would be one of the very few, if not the only, car in the competition that uses our own hydrogen fuel cell,” Huntington said. “It’s been in the works for a long time, so this would be a huge accomplishment.”

Mac, a rising fourth-year mechanical engineering student, said the club plans to conduct more outreach to the UCLA community this year, potentially allowing students to test drive the hydrogen-powered vehicle.

“It (Bruin Supermileage) seemed like a great way to not only gain those necessary, foundational engineering skills that clubs provide, but at the same time do it in a club where you get to also focus on sustainability initiatives,” said Nabeel Sonaseth, a project engineer for Bruin Supermileage.

Jay, a project engineer for Baja and rising third-year mechanical engineering student, said he enjoys collaborating with club members who specialize in diverse fields such as psychology and economics.

Bruin Racing members bond over spending late nights in the shop and tackling technical challenges together, Kasmalkar said.

“It’s very beautiful to see this thing come together,” he said. “It feels like a work of art that we produce, and I’m very glad that we’ve fostered the kind of community where people feel encouraged to be passionate about this.”