Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the dates and location of the team’s past wins.

For the first time in ten years, Oregon State University’s Global Formula Racing Club has returned from the Formula SAE Electric competition in Michigan with a first place trophy in hand. 

“When they called our names, it was just such a rush for all of us,” said GFR’s management lead Ruby Kilpper. “We all ran up to the stage together, and it was just totally an extraordinary feeling to share this victory with the whole team, and to know that all the work we’ve put in collectively really amounted to something so concrete.”

GFR, founded in 2009, is an international partnership between OSU students and university students from Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg in Ravensburg, Germany who work together to design and build competitive race cars. 

Recently, 46 members of GFR traveled to compete in the Formula SAE Electric at the Michigan International Speedway. The team spent the past year building and preparing the competition race car. 

Despite a multi-year winning streak about a decade ago, GFR had been unable to reach the podium since 2021. Kilpper said GFR was facing challenges such as student turnover and the transition from combustion era vehicles to electric vehicles. However, this recent victory has turned the tide for GFR. 

“It’s been many, many years in the making,” said Kilpper. “It’s pretty phenomenal for all of us to see.” 

According to Kilpper, for this year’s vehicle, the team prioritized redesigning the car’s battery system for stronger reliability and focused on being innovative within each system. 

The team won first place by earning the highest total score from a series of events over the course of the competition, including an endurance race, a design presentation and more. 

At the competition, the team was able to overcome unexpected technical challenges during the 22 lap endurance event when two of the car’s motors failed. Despite this hiccup, the team was able to set a competitive lap time and secure the third place position in the event. 

Kilpper said that going into the awards ceremony at the end of the competition, the team did not know if they would make the podium, but that they were proud of their work no matter the outcome. 

“We haven’t been able to complete (the endurance) event since (2023), so practically nobody on our team has really experienced seeing the car that they’ve worked on complete that event … already that was a really emotional precursor to the awards ceremony,” said Kilpper. 

Competition season isn’t over for GFR, and in the upcoming weeks, the team will be traveling to Europe to see how their car fares in competitions in Austria and Germany. 

For anyone interested in joining GFR, the team is based out of Room 128 in Rogers Hall and is open to students of all majors. 

“We always say the best way to get involved is just show up,” said Kilpper. “Anyone who’s interested, we would love to have them join us.”