In video: Our fully electric formula car, the

LMØ

A team with

momentum

What we do

Lafayette Motorsports is a club motorsports team from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Our annual highlight, and what we spend most of our time working towards, is the Formula Hybrid + Electric competition (FHE), which is often considered the most technically challenging undergraduate student competition sponsored by SAE. We compete with a fully electric car, LM0, which has been in development for three years. This year’s FHE competition was the first time Lafayette Motorsports was able to pass all of the rigorous technical inspections, allowing us to compete in all dynamic events. While we are proud to have earned 12th place this past year, we have even more ambitious plans for 2026 and beyond. In the short term, we hope to make LM0 even faster and more efficient for the 2026 competition, while also working on the design for the next generation racecar, LM1.

Who we are

The team is composed of undergraduate students, mostly majoring in a discipline of engineering. While the team is most popular amongst engineering students, we attract those majoring in computer science, physics, economics, and even English. Since we have no requirement of pre-existing knowledge to join the team, we offer a great educational opportunity, both formal and informal. The team is split into 3 subteams which deal with different parts of the car – the mechanical, electrical, and electromechanical subteams. After going through some training members can join one of these subteams, and go to the subteam meetings every week to help with the car. In addition to the hands-on learning experience of working on one of these subteams, we offer classes in using CAD, operating and maintaining 3D printers, soldering, and designing and assembling PCBs.

Where/When do we meet?

The motorsports team has a General Body Meeting in Hugel 100 almost every Monday at 5PM during the school year. During these meetings any important news will be announced, and the subteam leads will go through the work planned for the week with the members of their subteam. Anyone looking to join the club is free to show up to one of these and talk someone in the leadership about joining. Other than that, each subteam decides on a meeting time during the week where they will either meet in our main shop in AEC 134, or another work room if needed for 1-2 hours. Subteams meet twice a week to get their work for the week done, and team members go in individually during the week to do work if needed. Events hosted/attended by the club are talked about at the General Body Meetings.
Lafayette Students – If you’d like to join, show up to a General Body Meeting (Monday at 5:00 in Hugel 100)! If you have any questions, email our Coordinator at whitejoh@lafayette.edu.