Race to Finish: Year One with Nebraska Engineering's Figure 8 Race Team
Aaron Nix
Author
07/24/2025
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8
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Description
University of Nebraska–Lincoln's new student organization, Figure 8 Racing, spent countless hours planning, designing, and building a race car in hopes of competing in Nebraska's Figure 8 circuit. Watch as they journey to finish their first race. Learn more about opportunities at the College of Engineering at https://engineering.unl.edu
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- [00:00:02.458](rock music plays)
- [00:00:32.458]It is a heck of a fun time.
- [00:00:34.958]I mean, you go out there and you just don't want it to end.
- [00:00:38.791]I hope that we at least finish our race for once.
- [00:00:41.166]That's my goal tonight.
- [00:00:42.750]You got it, Anna.
- [00:01:30.375]So this club was kind of a dream of my best friend and I.
- [00:01:34.166]We decided it's like,
- [00:01:35.125]you know, it'd be really cool if UNL had a race team.
- [00:01:39.625]Figure 8 is a style of racing that takes place typically on a dirt track.
- [00:01:43.750]As the name kind of suggests, it's a track
- [00:01:46.625]that's in the shape of an eight or an infinity symbol.
- [00:01:48.625]That presents a very interesting engineering problem for students to
- [00:01:52.875]solve, it’s like, how do they make a a car that is strong enough
- [00:01:56.000]to withstand hits to the side or something like that, or hits to the back
- [00:01:59.083]where it won't cave in?
- [00:02:00.916]-You want me to get a pick?
- [00:02:02.208]-It's been really nice to be able to work on something that I've never,
- [00:02:04.416]never had an opportunity to.
- [00:02:05.875]And the more and more I'm with the club and the more I dig into the project,
- [00:02:09.833]the more invested I get, which makes me want to do more and more.
- [00:02:13.291]So I'm working on this car with these guys.
- [00:02:16.250]and then hopefully when the next project comes in,
- [00:02:18.333]I can work more on that car and then another car after that.
- [00:02:22.458]So this is my first time here.
- [00:02:23.791]To be honest, I walked through the door, and I really didn't know what to expect.
- [00:02:27.875]I didn't even know what car they were racing.
- [00:02:29.208]So all I knew that they did was Figure 8.
- [00:02:31.625]So I figured I'd just come in and check it out and see what they did.
- [00:02:36.875]One of our hopes for the club was that,
- [00:02:38.833]we'd be able to bring in engineers that didn't have any experience
- [00:02:42.416]with cars or automobiles at all and teach them.
- [00:02:45.208]So it's like,
- [00:02:45.750]so they understood when they get out in the field some day,
- [00:02:48.166]okay,
- [00:02:48.458]this is what life for a welder
- [00:02:50.083]or a manufacturer looks like after they pass on their designs. We wanted
- [00:02:54.583]the engineers graduating from Nebraska to understand both sides of that coin.
- [00:02:58.458](music plays)
- [00:03:13.541]Uh, we've had quite a few problems.
- [00:03:16.000]I think this is our third motor.
- [00:03:18.416]So, obviously many car guys know
- [00:03:22.166]there's always issues and you're always going to find something wrong.
- [00:03:26.333]We're finding those.
- [00:03:30.625]We're going to be racing against people that have,
- [00:03:32.500]you know, probably 20, 30,000 sunk into their cars.
- [00:03:35.708]And we're working with like easily under ten
- [00:03:38.625]and hopes and dreams.
- [00:03:42.291]All of our races happen in Nebraska.
- [00:03:43.875]Most racers are from Nebraska.
- [00:03:45.791]But because of that, we won't be going up against
- [00:03:48.916]other universities, we’ll be going up against just private citizens.
- [00:03:52.916]I guess the best way to to put it.
- [00:03:57.041]Obviously, this is the first year.
- [00:03:59.333]Not a whole lot of people here right now.
- [00:04:01.875]It's so easy to come in and fill a role.
- [00:04:05.708]Things aren't really set in stone.
- [00:04:08.125]So there's a lot of play in things and how things can be done or should be done.
- [00:04:11.875]And so it's very enjoyable to be able to come in here, help out with those things.
- [00:04:18.333]So, fFigure 8 is a really good example
- [00:04:20.166]of what we're trying to do here, and kind of the start of a new era.
- [00:04:24.333]We want to make sure that people have the opportunity to try these new things out.
- [00:04:28.666]We want to give the literal space, as well as the tools and the equipment
- [00:04:33.083]for students to work on their projects.
- [00:04:36.666]Kiewit Hall and the College of Engineering is really built on empowering students
- [00:04:41.000]to come up with big ideas and execute on those big ideas.
- [00:04:49.791]I'm like, this seems like a lot of fun.
- [00:04:51.708]I work on my own car, so I'd get experience working on a car
- [00:04:54.958]that does get hit, gets like maintenance that would need regularly.
- [00:04:59.458]I'm like, this is a good experience for me.
- [00:05:02.458]I think this just goes to show what Nebraska offers here.
- [00:05:05.291]And I think this is a great opportunity.
- [00:05:07.250]And we think everyone here in Nebraska has made it possible.
- [00:05:09.750]And I hope things like this can continue growing.
- [00:05:12.500]And there's more opportunities like this in the future.
- [00:05:22.500]So, Aaron.. -Yeah.
- [00:05:23.750]-If today doesn't pan out, don't put any of this in the video.
- [00:05:39.208]We showed up.
- [00:05:40.458]We needed to weld the doors on
- [00:05:42.166]because our welder stopped working.
- [00:05:44.250]We got it all set up out there to go run it.
- [00:05:48.833]And we got it out there running it. On the first turn,
- [00:05:52.416]the battery shorted out and we lost all power,
- [00:05:56.208]Uh, problems for Herbie Husker already?
- [00:06:00.541]Shaking his head.
- [00:06:02.791]Even though it didn't go as planned,
- [00:06:04.375]I think we definitely got good attention out of it.
- [00:06:07.208]We got people that are happy to see some college coming out here
- [00:06:12.125]and doing a sport that doesn't have any, like, college support
- [00:06:15.666]in it.
- [00:06:18.041]We’ll get you pushed out.
- [00:06:19.125]You’ll have to come back for a cons.
- [00:06:20.583]-Okay.
- [00:06:21.375]-Alright, go work on it.
- [00:06:22.458]-Okay, thank you.
- [00:06:37.875]We're going to go watch some races.
- [00:06:39.250]See the competition, see what we've got going on out there
- [00:06:43.208]and see what our next plan of action is.
- [00:07:10.666](music plays)
- [00:07:18.041]The first race felt good.
- [00:07:19.458]I was out there doing just fine.
- [00:07:20.958]We ended up hitting the rear end of one guy, and car just shut off dead.
- [00:07:26.916]Sounds like a fuel line came off.
- [00:07:28.916]And then a spark plug wire,
- [00:07:52.916]Last race, we were a lot slower
- [00:07:55.083]on trying to get things back, figuring out, diagnosing things.
- [00:07:58.291]This race, you knew what it was like that, fixed it and were able to get back.
- [00:08:04.041]That's something that takes a lot of teams years to figure out.
- [00:08:06.875]So the fact that we were able to diagnose, fix and be ready for the next race
- [00:08:11.041]was amazing.
- [00:08:12.708](music plays)
- [00:08:35.333]This track, because it's so small and wet, you have to be able
- [00:08:38.250]to kick your back end out, which we can't do without power steering real well.
- [00:08:42.291]And with our wheel, wheels bent in, it takes a lot more
- [00:08:45.833]oomph
- [00:08:46.500]to get that wheel turned.
- [00:08:56.250]That’s a race completed!
- [00:09:03.625]-Good job. -That was awesome.
- [00:09:05.291]-We finished one!
- [00:09:06.916]-Something broke.
- [00:09:07.958]-The shock did. -Yeah.
- [00:09:10.291]-But you finished it.
- [00:09:11.458]-We finished.
- [00:09:12.458]I mean we came into this we’re like, well, haven’t finished a race yet so
- [00:09:15.916]this is uh, the goal is to finish it uh
- [00:09:18.375]also break it in.
- [00:09:19.416]Everyone was worried it looked so good.
- [00:09:20.833]Now it doesn’t look so good.
- [00:09:29.458]That’s a race completed right there.
- [00:09:32.375]And I wasn’t lapped.
- [00:09:34.125]That’s all that matters.
- [00:09:35.583]The nice part about having this many races is you quickly learn
- [00:09:38.333]the car, the track and how to drive.
- [00:09:41.541]And it helps out our crew too, because it's all that design process
- [00:09:45.166]and figuring out how to change things quickly
- [00:09:47.666]and then be able to design for the next race.
- [00:09:49.833]Other clubs don't get that experience and just have to go out and run one race
- [00:09:54.083]and figure out what's wrong.
- [00:09:54.958]We have a week now to fix it. Try again.
- [00:09:57.833]Honestly, I think it comes up to
- [00:09:59.375]we’ve been in the same shop
- [00:10:00.541]so much and we’ve all spent so many hours together
- [00:10:02.583]that at this point we’re getting to be more of, you know,
- [00:10:05.250]an oiled machine. We may not be well-oiled by this point.
- [00:10:07.708]We’re getting there.
- [00:10:10.958]I think next goal is beating somebody and winning the race.
- [00:10:14.000]Right?
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