Student racing team hosts car show for breast cancer

Passers-by turned their heads when they heard the roar of a 600-horsepower engine behind them, a sound unfamiliar to those who normally hang out at the Cathedral of Learning on a Saturday afternoon. 

Dozens of exotic cars were parked next to each other on either side of the street, and spectators walked slowly, occasionally stopping to appreciate each car’s unique beauty.

Police blocked off a portion of Bigelow Boulevard this past Saturday for the University of Pittsburgh Formula Society of Automotive Engineers Car Show. The show began at 10 a.m., and owners drove most of the cars on display away by 4 p.m.

Entry for attendees was free, while the owner of each car on display made a five dollar donation. Owners came and left with their cars throughout the day. In the early afternoon, more than 25 cars were on display.

The Pitt FSAE team, a group of 40 students who design and build a team racecar each year, organized the show. The annual event began two years ago, and is sponsored by Feel Your Boobies, a nonprofit organization based in Middletown, Pa., that promotes breast cancer awareness.

The organization was created after the founder, Leigh Hurst, was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 33. 

Hurst discovered a lump in her breast without any formal medical examination and now encourages women to check themselves for breast cancer regularly — hence, the name of the organization.

Feel Your Boobies uses public events such as Saturday’s car show to raise awareness for this cause.

According to Jen Bracken, the recruitment coordinator for the FSAE team, the event raised $2,000 for Feel Your Boobies.

Bracken, a sophomore engineering major, ran a booth that sold “Feel Your Boobies” and Pitt FSAE T-shirts. 

According to Bracken, the event had a better turnout than it did the past two years because the weather cooperated and many were willing to enter their cars in the show.

The show featured several types of cars, ranging from flashy and compact Mini Coopers to sleek and sporty Ferraris. The cars were provided by various private owners, businesses and car-enthusiast organizations, such as Pittsburgh Cars N’ Coffee and the Bobby Rahal Automotive Group.

Some cars, such as the Lexus LFA, drew more attention than others. Spectators swarmed the vicinity of the Lexus, surrounding it and slowly walking around it in order to get a view from each angle. 

“My favorite is the LFA because it has a V10 engine,” said Jeff Smith, a sophomore who attended the show. “End of story.”

Mike Laskin, a friend of Smith who is also a Pitt student, preferred one of the few SUVs at the show — the Subaru Forester XTI — “because it has a turbocharger bigger than my head,” he said.

Most displays featured supercars such as Lotus’ Elise and Exige models and the Lamborghini Gallardo, while others featured modern rally-style cars, such as the Subaru Impreza STI. One car owner decided to display from an entirely different approach and took apart his old VW Beetle, suspending its interior and shell with chains for spectators to observe.

A favorite among attendees was the Pitt FSAE racecar, which a team of Pitt engineering students built.

According to team treasurer Anthony Grazioso, the team is divided into sub-teams that each focus on designing and building a different component of the racecar, such as the powertrain or suspension. There is also a sub-team that focuses on marketing.

A sub-team leader oversees about three or four students. The work of each sub-team comes together to create a vehicle suitable for entry in the FSAE competition, a national student contest of each car’s acceleration, fuel economy, versatility and endurance. Judges also take the car’s design, cost and manufacturing into account.

Adam Paul, a sophomore mechanical engineering major who heads the aerodynamics and bodyworks sub-team within FSAE, said that the team designs a new car each year. Some years, aspects of the design carry over from previous years, but this year’s design is fresh.

Paul said that the cars the club uses are required to be kept under 100 horsepower. To meet this requirement, the Pitt team built a racecar with an 85-horsepower engine that reaches a top speed of 85 miles an hour and can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds.

The team noted that actually designing the car is one of the less problematic processes, and that the real challenge comes from passing safety tests while keeping a tight budget. Paul said the team needed to determine whether the car will be safe if it’s made out of light materials.

“If you are going to make it out of carbon fiber, you have to prove it’s as safe as steel,” he said.