Alfred State College first-year Motorsport students ensured brand-new high-performance Factory Five vehicles built through the Winners Circle Project were race ready.
Winners Circle Project recap video
Winner Circle Cars photo gallery
Alfred State has been collaborating with Winners Circle Project for seven years. The Factory Five cars are built through a high school program. Once the cars are built, they are sent to Alfred State for inspection.
Assistant Motorsport Instructor Caryl Koch knows the importance of this work. “My first-year motorsport students get to work on and go through the whole car to make sure that they are completely race ready. This project really encompasses everything that we do in the motorsports program. Everything from brakes, steering, suspension, engines, and transmissions. They get the opportunity to check every single thing on that car.”
Mark Dougherty, Director of the Winners Circle Project, traveled to the automotive garage on the Applied Technology campus to work with the students this year. “The partnership between Alfred State and the Winners Circle Project is crucial. We need Alfred State and the expertise that the instructors (and students) bring to the program to inspect and make sure that these cars are safe. I need them to look at these cars with a critical eye and find any possible mistakes that were made on the cars.”
The students had one week to do thorough inspections and repairs to the cars before the cars are sent to professional race car driver Chris Dyson. Dyson will race the cars at Lime Rock Park (Salisbury, CT) and each car is evaluated.
Calvin Braun (Webster, NY) has served as the car manager for the John Jay Factory Five Shelby. “I have overseen making sure everything as safe as it can be. Ensuring every bolt has been tightened, nothing is going to fall off the car and just making sure it is running right and it is good to go for the track and for the people that buy the car.”
Koch concluded, “Everyone here looks forward to this project every year. It is a great partnership between Alfred State Motorsports and the Winners Circle Project.”
Schools that built cars this year included Arlington, Dover, John Jay, Ketcham, Owego, Pine Plains, and Roosevelt.
The Winners Circle Project is a non-profit organization designed to inspire young, innovative minds through a STEAM program embedded in the exciting world of car racing. Through our work the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math come alive for students on, and beyond the race track! Through the course of one academic year, high school students build a Factory Five vehicle from the ground up, learn how to promote their project through multiple channels in an integrated marketing campaign, and build a multi-department race team.