For the second year in a row, Cornell University engineering students won a fiercely fought contest to design, build and race a Formula SAE racing car, overcoming competitors from 90 other top engineering schools in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Great Britain.

Cornell's engineering team went into the national competition, held in Michigan at the Pontiac Silverdome May 28-31, as a favorite. But the students had to fight off a challenge from top contender University of Texas-Arlington (UTA), whose team had won the competition in 1995 and 1996. Last year Cornell broke UTA's winning streak.

Cornell prevailed again this year with a total score of 924.62 to UTA's 887.02. The two universities account for nine Formula SAE victories in the 18-year history of the trials. Cornell also placed first in 1988, 1992 and 1993.

Cornell's team was advised by Albert R. George, the J.F.Carr Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and A.Brad Anton, associate professor of chemical engineering.

The team leaders were Brandon Baker, Greg Hunter, Blair Jenness and Jesse Yorio. Other team members were Jamey Amrine, Don Anair, Ryan Carag, Gloria Chan, Jesus Duenas, Gary Gannon, Brent Goll, Lee Griffiths, John Haug, Matt Harlan, Izaak Koller, Ben Kolp, Peter Krimmel, Tim McGovern, Wade McLaughlin, Bill Riley, Margaret Saunders, Joe Torres, Nathan Wilmot, Braman Wing and George Witman.

Cornell received $7,500 in prize money and six Goodyear racing tires. The students also receive academic credit for their work, as a yearlong special project in Cornell's Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

The teams were judged in seven events, including design, cost and customer presentation, technical inspection and endurance. The most crucial category, economy, tested the reliability and fuel economy of the cars. In this category Cornell earned a 40-point lead over UTA.

The Formula SAE trials are sponsored by General Motors Corp. Chrysler Corp. and Ford Motor Co., and are administered by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Neil Schilke, director of engineering for General Motors of Canada, said the Cornell team performed with "diligence, class and professionalism." He was, he said, impressed by the team's accomplishment.

"The student team from Cornell gave the most outstanding presentation in terms of technical content, relevance and delivery. And the performance of the car was awesome. This car was so well engineered, so well prepared, so well driven and so well maintained that it withstood the rigors of this severe competition and never missed a beat. I think only half of the cars were able to even begin the endurance run on the final day of competition, let alone finish," he said.

As evidence of Schilke's praise, Cornell earned, in addition to overall first place, several top awards:

• The Spirit of Excellence Award.
• The Russell Racing School Dynamic Performance Award.
• The US DOE/Argonne Lab M85 Award (including best fuel economy).
• The Hoosier Racing Tire Autocross Award.
• The Transportation Research Center Safety/Crashworthiness Award.
• The Best Engineering Design Award.
• The VRP Recyclability Award.
• The Roush Industries Value Engineering Award.
• The Best Presentation Award.

Formula SAE is one of eight annual student design competitions held to give engineering students hands-on experience in designing and building a vehicle as part of an automotive or aerospace team.