LSU FSAE EV Racing Team Leaves Michigan with Heads Held High

Perseverance is the perfect word to describe the 2025-26 LSU Formula SAE EV (Electric Vehicle) team. After failing to place in the top 70 last year at the Formula SAE Electric competition, this year’s team decided that would not happen again. This past June, the team— consisting of 26 LSU Engineering students from Mechanical (16), Electrical & Computer Engineering (7), Biological Engineering, Computer Science, and Information Systems and Analytics—gave it their all and placed 31^st out of 100 at the 2026 Formula SAE Electric competition on the Michigan International Speedway.

“As Team Captain during competition, I got to reap the rewards of seeds I had been sewing all year,” LSU ME senior Gareth Oram of Baton Rouge said. “Instead of collapsing into a panic when things went wrong, the team communicated and worked efficiently and actually performed better. We placed 31 out of 100 overall, which was a huge milestone for our team because we have found ourselves in the bottom 10 of competition the past few years. We accomplished this by doing exceptionally well in the cost events and by passing technical inspection for the first time in the team’s EV history. In all honesty, the team made being captain very easy for me.”

Former team captain and ME senior Mizuki Teruyama of Baton Rouge says the racing team is constantly working towards the same goal.

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“FSAE challenges you both as a person and as an engineer,” he said. “Every day, I am inspired by the brilliance and drive of my teammates.”

Syph Guo, a senior in Information Systems and Analytics, joined TigerRacing in 2025 when she saw that there was a lack of documentation for the financial administration side of the team, so she created a bill of materials system for the team and revamped their PO sheet for current and future teams to easily reference what was on their 2026 car. Now as the group’s treasurer, Guo procures all orders for the engineers and bookkeeping transactions.

“With our president, vice president, and PR lead, we sourced sponsorship and grants for financial and in-kind donations,” she said. “Alongside treasurer duties, I’m also passionate about photography, so I’m always at team events with my camera to capture winning moments. I can’t wait to see what next year’s team leaders will bring to the track. Geaux faster!”

LSU Electrical Engineering junior Thomas Au of Shreveport was the public relations lead for this year and maintained the team’s social media accounts. He also worked with the president, vice president and treasurer to coordinate sponsorships and grants from local and national companies.

“The original reason I wanted to join this club was because of my passion for automotive photography, but the reason I stayed was because of the engineering experience that you gain from FSAE,” he said.

“There is so much experience gained solely from this club. It’s the closest experience you can get to an engineering project in industry. With the club being EV and passing technical inspection this year, it allows for more electrical engineers to get more hands-on experience that opens up a large number of different opportunities.”

Thomas Au, LSU Electrical Engineering junior

TigerRacing FSAE is LSU’s student-led Formula SAE Electric team that designs, builds, and races a fully electric formula-style race car from the ground up, competing against universities worldwide while gaining real-world engineering experience.

For more information, visit www.formulalsu.org. You can also follow them on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.