Who we are
Born from the mountains…
VIM Racing is a student motorsports 501(c)(3) organization at Montana State University. Our dedicated team is committed to improving the educational experience at MSU and growing the field of automotive engineering as a whole.
In 2025, the first year Montana State University was represented at a Formula SAE competition in nearly a decade, we achieved our goal of building an ICE car to pass technical inspection at competition. This year, we are taking our program to the next level. Through optimizing our operations, we have enabled our engineers to create a platform that we believe will be truly competitive at a national level. Students in our organization gain technical, hands-on experience designing, manufacturing, testing, and racing as well as valuable facilitation, planning, and management skills.
Our Plan
2024-2025: Making it happen
Our goal: pass technical inspection at competition. This critical step knocks ~60% of competitors out of the competition before it’s even begun. Scope management is critical here; we are developing a baseline ICE car to pass inspection and to give us a foundation to build upon in the future.
2025-2026: Electrification
Our goal: Be competitive with other, much larger and better-funded teams at a national level. We believe that Montana State Engineers are some of the best around, and we plan to prove it through success at national Formula SAE competition.
Our goal: beat out the competition. Innovation will come forward as we find ways to get ever more competitive at home and at competition. A potential transition to a hybrid drivetrain will give us more flexibility, more room for innovation, and a far more diverse engineering experience for our team.