1. About the Team

Every year, we design, manufacture, validate, and race a new four-wheel, open-cockpit, formula-style race car against universities from around the world! Our annual competition is at the Michigan International Speedway in Jackson, Michigan around June. We are building our 12th car (Mk. 12) this year, and this is our 4th year building an electric vehicle! Our 8 cars before that were Internal Combustion (ICE) Vehicles and were in our very last years 10th/114 (Mk8) and 5th/48 (Mk7)! This past year, we made huge strides as a 3rd year EV team, passing all 6 technical inspections for the first time as an EV and competing in all 4 dynamic events, including the grueling 22 km endurance event - not to mention achieving a Design Event score of 105, the highest in our team history! Our 2026 car placed 26th out of 89 teams, and we’re looking to achieve a top 10 finish in 2027!

We have 10 subteams and 3 committees that work together to build the car, including:

Mechanical technical substeams x7 (Aerodynamics, Chassis, Driver Interface, Suspension, Vehicle Dynamics, Drivetrain, Powertrain)
Electrical technical subteams x3 (High Voltage, Low Voltage, Software, Powertrain*)
Committees x3! (Business, Marketing, EDI - Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion)

each tackling a different part of the car and integrating into one big cohesive hands-on project.

We accept members of any and all variety, so if you’re interested in joining but don’t know a thing about it? We’ll teach you anything you need to know, no matter your year or major. There is nothing more fulfilling than watching something you helped build and actively contributed to racing and winning and looking great while doing it. So yeah, it’s super cool.

Find all our links at linktr.ee/bruinformula !

Subteams / Committees

Subteams and Committees make up the primary structure of our team. Each subteam/committee focuses on different parts of the car, while also working together in collaboration to produce the overall vehicle! Try out as many subteams and/or committees that may interest you, theres no limit! (Lead names are given in parentheses. Once you join the slack, feel free to message them for more information!)

Mechanical

Aerodynamics - Designs and manufactures all aerodynamic surfaces on the car. Nosecone, front & rear wings, side panels, underbody, sidepods. Focused on fluid dynamics simulation and composite manufacturing/analysis.
Driver Interface - Designs and manufactures everything needed for the driver to control the car. Responsibilities include steering wheel, brakes, seat/harness, and firewall. Focused on structural analysis, ergonomics, and driver safety.
Chassis - Creates the primary tube frame of the car. Heavy focus in structural analysis, fixturing methods, and carbon fiber monocoque research.
Suspension - Designs and manufactures shock mounting, A-Arms, antiroll bars, wheels, hubs, uprights, steering rack/clevises. Focused on structural analysis, topology optimization, tolerance and fits, complex multi-step manufacturing processes.
Vehicle Dynamics - Sets load cases, builds model of vehicle, determines vehicle performance parameters. Focused on suspension kinematics, data analysis and simulation.
Drivetrain- Responsible for all components that transmit power from the motor to the wheels. Includes differential mounts, motor mounting, sprockets, sprocket adapter, half shafts. Focus on structural analysis and tolerance/fits.
Powertrain - Creates mechanical and thermal management systems of accumulator and tractive system. Includes accumulator segments, accumulator cooling, and tractive system cooling. Heavy focus on fluids, thermodynamics and structural analysis. Mainly a mechanical subteam but also heavy integration with High Voltage and electronics.

Electrical

High Voltage: Responsible for high voltage accumulator wiring and overall integration of high voltage power with the rest of the car. Heavy focus on systems engineering and PCB creation.
Low Voltage: Responsible for electrical shutdown circuit and dashboard. Focuses on electronic circuits specific to low voltage systems, PCB design/manufacturing, and data collection.
Software: Responsible for all custom software and data visualization. Includes custom VCU, website design, and DAQ visualization from various subteams.

Committees

Business - Leads all sponsorship, fundraising and money acquisition efforts to be able to produce the car. Focused on sponsor outreach, funding applications, competition business presentation, and supply chain management.
Marketing - Responsible for public facing external communications of the team. Focused on social media publicity, promotional photos/videos/graphics, as well as merchandise and livery design.
EDI - Standing for equity, diversity, and inclusion, focuses on fostering an inclusive team culture through socials, trainings, surveys & more. Making sure new members & returners alike feel welcome are able to beautifully grow in our BFR space!

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🚨 Want to learn more or dont know what to join? Dont worry, join us at our Bruin Formula Racing Welcome GM on Week 2, Tuesday 10/6/25 @6 PM in Boelter Hall Room 3400 to learn more and see the car!

Feel free to also Slack any of the Directors too with any questions you may have! (Managing: @Parth Kasmalkar @Kevin Yang | Mechanical: @Nandana Venkitesh | Electrical: @Pol Pichittanarak | Financial: @ANI HOVANESIAN)

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2. Joining the Team

Slack

First step in joining the team is joining our Slack to get team updates and communicate with teammates. Slack is our main medium of communication.

To join the Slack, login to ucla.enterprise.slack.com with your UCLA email. Once you login there, you should be able to find the Bruin Formula Racing workspace. We have accepted all previous requests for the Slack and will continue to do so moving forward - if you are having troubles see the doc here!

New Member Onboarding

To officially join the team you will have to complete a New Member Checklist (more information to be released during BFR GM on Oct. 6th!)

The checklist includes the necessary waivers, trainings, and people to meet with in order to receive a @bruinracing.org email, signifying you as a full-fledged member of our team!

<aside> 🚨 Even if you haven’t completed your new member checklist, feel free to attend any subteam/committee meetings or any BFR related events !!!

Feel free to take a sneak peak at the form but dont worry too much about everything within as we will go over it at BFR GM!

OFFICIAL NEW MEMBER ACTIVITIES WILL NOT START UNTIL FALL WEEK 3.

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Meetings

During the school year, our team has weekly meetings (”Workdays”) every Saturday at the shop at 10AM.
Each subteam has an additional subteam meeting as well, which you can find the most updated times in the Slack!
If you’re specifically interested in a subteam, be sure to show up to their meeting. If you are unsure of what subteam to join, come to our workday and meet the leads! </aside>

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3. Places to go

Locations

“The Shop”

The Bruin Racing shop is located INSIDE the Boelter Courtyard and houses all 3 Bruin Racing Teams. The majority of our meetings occur here and there is a common “middle room” break area for everyone to hang! Our official room number is 2730A.

The easiest way to get to the shop is to go down the alleyway between Boelter Hall and Parking Structure 9. The entrance to the courtyard is on the left, just before the steps to Court of Sciences). If you are coming from the court of sciences, the entrance to the courtyard is at the bottom of the steps to the right.

The “Machine Shop”

The student / UCLA machine shop is on the 1st floor of Boelter, next to the Boelter Makerspace. The machine shop houses heavy machineries from manual toolings to CNCs to the connected welding shop.

To get to the machine shop (which you will need to go to sign up for machine shop training), go to the ground floor alleyway between Boelter and Engineering 4.

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4. Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Bruin Racing and Bruin Formula Racing?
1. Bruin Racing is our parent organization and consists of Bruin Racing Baja, Bruin Supermileage, and us Bruin Formula Racing!
2. We are a set of 3 teams under the Bruin Racing umbrella, where
  1. We build a formula-style performance Electric Vehicle
  2. Baja builds an off-roading Internal Combustion Vehicle
  3. Supermileage builds fuel-efficient Solar and Hydrogen Cars.
3. We highly encourage everyone to try out the different teams and see what you like best!
When is the first meeting?
What does the application process look like?
Which subteams/committees am I allowed to join?
What are the main softwares/applications we use on the team?
What trainings do I need to get?
How do I get started? </aside>