The Tufts Racing Team began in 2008 under the leadership of Matt Liberatore (E’09) and with support from the School of Engineering Dean’s Office and the Peter and Denise Wittich Family Fund for Alternative Energy Research.
In 2009, the Tufts Racing team, comprised of more than a dozen students from the Tufts School of Engineering, competed for the first time as a “hybrid-in-progress” (all-electric) car in the Formula Hybrid International Student Competition at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The Tufts team placed second out of four entries in the hybrid-in-progress category.
In 2010, Tufts Hybrid Racing competed again, this time in the gas-electric category, under captain Tom Williamson (E’10). The team placed 12 out of 19 entries in the hybrid category.
After the disappointment of the previous year, the team came back ready to get on track at the competition. In 2014-15, under captains Alyssa Hatch (E’15) and Ray Bjorkman (E’15), the team worked tirelessly to get the car ready and were rewarded by getting on track and were the only all-electric entry to do so. The team came in 1st place in the Electric Division at Formula Hybrid 2015.
In 2015-16, in an effort to defend the title and push the level of engineering, the team under the leadership of Grace Olsen (E’16), Nick Famiglietti (E’16), and Jackson Bockhorst (E’17), took on the challenge of a direct drive powertrain and moving the battery box inboard. However, the motor was critically damaged and the team could not run at competition.
In 2016-17, the team looked to return to form with a new drivetrain and rear suspension design, captained by Jackson Bockhorst (E’17), Catherine Gao (E’18), and Jordan Stone (E’18). However, after realizing the motor controller did not communicate with our brand-new motor three days into the competition, the car did not make it out to the track.
For the 2017-2018 season, the team took on the massive challenge of designing a brand-new chassis with an accompanying redesigned braking and suspension system. Led by Catherine Gao (E’18), Jordan Stone (E’18), and Martin Majkut (E’19), the mechanical improvements were successfully completed and the car passed mechanical inspection. Despite valiant efforts by the team, the previous year’s electrical systems were not fully integrated with the new chassis before the start of the competition and the car did not make it out to the track.
Coming so close to racing on track the year before, for the 2018-2019 season, the team set its sights on getting the car on track. The team redid the seat tub, beautified the steering wheel, addressed strength issues with suspension A-arms, and fixed coolant system leaks. Under the leadership of Martin Majkut (E’19), Paul Gelhaus (E’20), and Abey Klotz (E’20), the team worked diligently all year and the car finally made it out onto the track. We finished the competition placing in 5th place!
After losing 2 graduating classes due to COVID-19, the Tufts Electric Racing Team is back and better than ever to enter the 2022-2023 season. They focused on integrating all of the subsystems of the car that have been stripped prior to the pandemic and even redesigning some of them. The brakes, cooling and high voltage systems were entirely redone to make the car competition ready. Led by Calvin Seeg (E’25) and Matthew Dilsizian (E’23) the team entered the 2023 competition under static events only, and will be racing in 2024!
Tufts Hybrid Race Car FH2010 2022
