To mark the 100-year anniversary of the Society of Automotive Engineers, the UA chapter held their first car show Saturday and displayed student-made cars along with other souped-up vehicles.
Gary Tang, club president, said the society showcased the student-designed projects to update the community about what SAE is doing as a club.
Along with SAE and its daughter clubs, Formula SAE and Mini Baja, some clubs that came to display their cars were Arizona Wildcat Off-Road, The Southern Arizona Corvette Club and the Porsche Club.
Formula SAE had their most recent project on display, 2005WF5, a car built and designed entirely by the team.
The club will race their car May 18 in a competition with more than 300 universities in Pontiac, Mich., said Cameron Wyatt, the senior team member.
SAE has provided manufacturing director Dustin Wright with invaluable experience and opportunities he said he would not learn in the classroom.
"This has been the most fun and hardest thing I've done in college," Wright said of the 20,000 man-hours put into the car by the Formula SAE team.
"This club gives its members the tools and knowledge to hit the ground running," said Wyatt, an engineering management junior.
Awards were handed out to the best cars in the show. Fans, entrants and SAE club members voted on their favorites, said Tang, an aerospace engineering senior.
The fan's choice winner was undeclared freshman A.J. Gillett's 2003 Mitsubishi Evolution. Dennis Crowley won the entrants' choice with his 1953 Porsche 356 coupe, and Omeed Abedin, a marketing and business administration junior, came home with the editors' choice award for his 1995 BMW M3 voted on by SAE club members.