Since 1986
Our history
Sun Devil Motorsports was founded in 1986 and won four awards at its first competition in 1992. The program has died and been reborn more than once since — through Formula Lightning, the 2012 revival, COVID, and the rebuild that followed. This is the whole story.
1986 — 1994
The beginning
With the Formula SAE competition only being established just 6 years prior, many technological innovations were already occurring. From turbochargers to composite usage, early teams were doing anything to get a leg up on the competition. A group of ASU students in 1986 decided they would take on this challenge of innovation, and bring with them one of the first aluminum/carbon fiber monocoques in the competition's history.
For 6 grueling years these students passed down knowledge and research to eventually reach competition in 1992, winning multiple awards: best use of composites, best prototype fabrication, best M85 fuel economy, and first place in engineering design. In '93 the team reworked the carbon fiber body for a cleaner, slicker design, rocking only black and yellow by the time they rolled up for competition. In 1994 the team returned with a nearly identical car, this time in maroon and gold — but this would mark the end of ASU's first era in FSAE as bigger projects were on the rise.
1989 — 2004
The Arizona Horizon Project
The Arizona Horizon Project Electric Vehicle Research Group was founded in 1989 to facilitate undergraduate participation in national intercollegiate design competitions. The team went all in on Formula Lightning — a chassis-spec series where teams had full control of the electronics and how their EV batteries put power to the ground. ASU was different: not only the first car with dual electric motors, but the first four-motor electric vehicle with a brushless motor setup.
ASU's approach was all about efficiency — not the fastest car, but needing one fewer pit stop every race kept them in contention for years, with multiple podiums and an event win across the decade the series ran. This series, sponsored by ABB, laid the foundation for later series like Formula E and FSAE Electric. After 2004 the car was sold to the Historic Electric Vehicle Foundation and loaned to the Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum, where it sits today.
2001 & 2008
Two returns
In the midst of the Formula Lightning stint, a small group of engineers took on Formula SAE again. With very limited funding and resources, a team of 9 members and 2 faculty scrapped together a car and got it to the 2001 competition at Michigan International Speedway.
ASU would return once more in 2008 under the name ASU Motorsports — again a very small team, twelve members, revitalizing the program even if only for a short year. After that competition the team went dormant until 2010, when a new group of students got together with one goal: compete again.
2012 — 2020
The revival
The new team withdrew from 2011 — the turnaround was too short to do the car justice — and set its sights on 2012. The reevaluation paid off: SDM-12 completed every dynamic event. The car ran again in 2013 while the team focused on teaching new members so the club would survive, then took a hiatus in 2014. Through these years the team steadily grew from a handful of people to 30+.
The learn-first approach showed results in the back half of the decade: 2017 completed all dynamic events again, and after a down year in 2018, the 2019 team set the then-highest point total in team history — 414.8 — despite technical issues. The team was preparing an even better car for 2020 when the world shut down. The car was scrapped, work moved online, and by the time competitions resumed, most of the historic 2019 team had graduated — leaving a young, inexperienced group to pick up the pieces.
2022 — 2025
The rebuilding era
When lockdown ended, students returned with renewed vigor — but no one was left to teach them. Members who joined in 2020–21 took the reins and converted the unfinished 2021 car into the 2022 car. It made it to competition, though it was still being assembled in the paddock and officially became a roller on the last day. In 2023 the car weighed 560 lbs at the scales but was running before the team left Arizona: it passed tech, hit the practice pad, placed top-10 in business presentation — then the throttle cable snapped right after the endurance driver change, dashing the first shot since 2017 at completing every event.
In 2024 the team that couldn't get it done came back with a score to settle — and not only completed every event, but set a new team record of 470.1 points. 2025 brought the best and most prepared car of the decade, with a team-record skidpad time and three months of testing — until SDM-25 blew its engine as April began. A quick swap of SDM-24's engine seemed to save the season, but BSPD issues at competition kept the car from passing technical inspection, leaving the team heartbroken.
2026
SDM-26
SDM-26 — car 106 — carried the maroon and gold back to Michigan in 2026 and finished 31st overall, the program's strongest modern-era result. The program now stands 46th of 467 FSAE teams worldwide, and 33rd of 130 in the United States.
2027 & beyond
More alive than ever
With 100+ active members on the IC team, SDM decided to reestablish the EV team — the second attempt at returning to electric competition since the Formula Lightning days (a 2018 effort faded for lack of interest and a satellite-campus location 25 minutes from Tempe). With recruitment and talent retention the goal, Sun Devil Motorsports has amassed 300+ members across both teams.
This year the team is chasing a top-10 finish in Internal Combustion with the first full rebuild since 2024 — and for the first time in the modern era, manufacturing an EV, with a hopeful debut at Formula SAE Electric in Michigan, June 2027.