The 51st running of the Purdue Grand Prix will take place on Saturday, April 19, 2008, and for the first time in the history of this landmark race, an American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) team will be attempting to qualify, race and win!

Last year, then chemical engineering juniors, Will Taber and Dan Logsdon got hooked while watching the running of the Grand Prix. Taber states, “Growing up in Indiana, I have always been a huge race fan, and after watching the Grand Prix last spring, I knew I wanted to build and race a kart.” That spark launched Taber and Logsdon last summer to recruit an AIChE team, learn what was involved in building a kart and obtain funding. Currently, the AIChE team is sponsored by Celanese Corporation, Chevron Phillips Chemicals and LyondellBasell. They are optimistic that they will find additional corporate sponsors going ahead.

Each kart is built from scratch with the chassis type and Yamaha KT-100 engine being specified. The AIChE team will look to customize areas like roll cage design, engine timing, clutch timing and weight distribution to optimize their kart performance. The 160 lap, 50 mile, race will be run for the last time on the Grand Prix track adjacent to the football practice fields. Next year, they will have a new track. The seven member AIChE team (driver plus six crew members) are excited to set history. They want to return to Purdue fifty years from now and say “I was a member of the team that built and raced the first AIChE Grand Prix kart.”

For more information on the Purdue Grand Prix, the “Greatest Spectacle in College Racing”, click here.