where the rubber meets the road and grease meets the fingernails

Participants in SAE International's Collegiate Design Series (CDS) generally lack in one significant area: Sleep.

“It takes an incredible number of all-nighters by the students when they're trying to finish their cars,” said Peter Jones, adviser to the Formula SAE and Baja competitions at Auburn University. “If you see an engineering student at 7 a.m., it's because they haven't been to bed yet.”

Auburn is like any number of schools that have embraced the CDS as a tool for giving students a chance to take classroom knowledge and apply it in real-life situations. Jones, a professor of mechanical engineering, annually guides two teams of students that produce vehicles for the Baja SAE competitions. He has been adviser to 10 formula teams and 16 Baja teams.