If the words Ohlins shocks, carbon fiber aero, steel spaceframe chassis, decoupled suspension and a 600 cubic centimeter Yamaha R6 motorcycle engine mean anything to you — or even if they appear lifted from a sci-fi script — Ram Racing’s door is open.
Formed in 1996 as Colorado State University’s entry into the international Formula SAE — the Society of Automotive Engineers — design competition series, Ram Racing is CSU’s largest engineering club, with dozens of dedicated team members along for the ride annually, the team said.
Formula SAE tasks students from around the world with designing, manufacturing, assembling and fielding a full-fledged single-seat race car with an exorbitant power-to-weight ratio, drawing hundreds of student teams to Michigan International Speedway each May and June.
For the first time since 2015, Ram Racing plans to bring two race cars to Michigan in May 2026, with an updated version of the team’s internal combustion-powered “dauntless” car being joined by an electric battery-powered prototype. While the EV car will be used for data-gathering purposes and not competition, team members said the successful building of a prototype signals the club’s positive momentum.
Ram Racing’s revival has largely occurred over the past three years, with the team failing to regularly compete from 2016 until the COVID-19 pandemic completely shut down operations.
Before a car is evaluated for acceleration, braking and cornering ability at competition, it first passes through a rigorous technical inspection that threatens to undo months of work instantly. Also part of the inspection process is a comprehensive business presentation in which each team must defend their design, manufacturing and funding efforts as if a real-world company was contracting the team to produce a production race car.
Hang-ups in inspection have yet to hinder Ram Racing from competing in Michigan since the team’s revival for the 2023 competition season, having finished No. 90 overall in 2024 before climbing to No. 59 in May.
“For us, this is our second family, … all the hopes, dreams, defeats and agonies are all a shared experience.” -Jimmy Pounders, Ram Racing vice president
Beyond the technical details of Ram Racing’s daily operations, team members praised the community created by the club’s inclusion of all students across CSU’s campus. While results lag behind the University of Colorado Boulder and the Colorado School of Mines, club Vice President Jimmy Pounders, a business administration major, regards the club’s inclusion of nonengineering majors as central to Ram Racing’s identity.
“The thing that I think makes us different from pure engineering schools is that I wouldn’t be on this team, … Danika (Fickler), our president, wouldn’t be on this team because some schools make it exclusive to engineering majors or just make it a grad or senior design project,” Pounders said. “For us, this is our second family, … all the hopes, dreams, defeats and agonies are all a shared experience.”
The balance between encouraging outside involvement from new students while maintaining a strong existing cohort of engineers was evident in the team’s annual orientation meeting Sept. 10, when dozens of prospective members from across campus were introduced to the team.
Fickler has been racing since she was 6 years old and competes as a National Hot Rod Association drag racer when she isn’t pursuing her degree in psychology and serving as president of Ram Racing. In addressing the orientation group, she encouraged new members to devote themselves to their work before expecting privileges like competition attendance and driving duties, but reinforced the team’s familial atmosphere.
“We strongly believe that access to motorsports should be something that can be accessible to everyone,” Fickler said. “We don’t want this scene to be limited to anyone in any kind of way. … I will say this: I’m not aware of many people who casually join this team; you either love it or you never come back.”
At the CSU Engineering Research Center, where Ram Racing’s internal combustion team practically lives and stories permeate the air with the same effectiveness as decades of oil, dirt and elbow grease, the team’s recent history can be chronicled through the parts strewn across every corner of available space. Ram Racing designs and manufactures approximately 90% of the thousands of individual components of their race cars from their facilities across town, making resource and knowledge transfers between club members crucial for the team’s long-term success.
In between lamenting broken control arms and detailing last-minute impromptu repairs at the expense of the team’s car transport trailer, engineer Daniel Valencia highlighted the team’s “two-week push” to finish development on the EV prototype ahead of an all-important vehicle reveal event in April.
Valencia almost single-handedly designed and fabricated the 86 kW electric battery pack used in the EV prototype and remarked on the impact of the team’s dedication through a personal statement provided to The Collegian.
“We could have accepted that the car would wait,” the statement reads. “But this was our chance to be recognized by the department, to stand in front of companies, to show the university what we were building. To prove that a project that started as ‘just an idea’ could stand on its own wheels.”
As Ram Racing embarks on another busy season of promotional events, testing and competition, a strong basis of community serves as a positive indication of the team’s future success.
Reach Sam Hutton at life@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
