Wolfpack Motorsports Prepares for Competition
By Nic Snyder

Wolfpack Motorsports has its competitions coming up very quickly, and therefore, has gone into overdrive. The competitions are held through SAE and they will judge static and dynamic events, including design judging and an endurance race.

The Formula team leaves April 22 for VIR (Virginia International Raceway), where they will be number 31, and then go to Michigan International Speedway May 14, where they will be number 75.

The Baja team will attend three competitions this year, the first being May 1 in Tennessee , where they will be number 72. The second will be May 29 at the Caterpillar plant in Illinois , where they will run number 33. The last will be held in Montreal , Canada on June 11, where they will run number 42.

The Formula team is finishing up some carbon fiber work and starting to assemble the car for testing. They are hoping to have a rolling chassis by April 17 and running the next day. The engine (a turbo charged 600cc Honda from an F4i) is still on the dyno getting the maximum amount of power pulled from it. The team needs to test the car to get any bugs worked out and tune the suspension and traction control to achieve the best handling.

The Baja team is finalizing some machining work and waiting for the rest of the parts to arrive. Once everything is in assembly it will go fast and they are hoping to have a rolling chassis by April 19 and be running not long afterwards. They run a 10 hp Briggs and Stratton engine that cannot be modified in any way. The only way to be faster in Baja is to lose weight (on the car, that is!) and this year they are hoping to lose 40 pounds bringing the weight of the car well below 400 lbs.

As time is fading away the shop is getting more and more hectic, but the cars are finally coming together and it will be interesting to see how the teams do in competition.

Computer Models of Baja Car (left) and Formula Car (right)