Husker Racing - Engineering Built for Competition
Meet Husker Racing
Based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Husker Racing is a student-led engineering team competing in the international Baja SAE series.
Husker Racing has a long history of competing, with records dating back to 1996 and continuous competition since 1999.
Baja SAE challenges university students to design and manufacture a single-seat, off-road vehicle capable of tackling demanding terrain and a series of engineering challenges. At the competition, Husker Racing goes head-to-head with approximately 70 to 100 other university teams, with vehicles assessed through both design and dynamic events.
Husker Racing 2026
Husker Racing 2023
Husker Racing 2019
From Design to Race Day
Every year begins with a new challenge: Build a better car than the year before.
Husker Racing reviews the performance of its previous vehicle, identifying failures and areas for improvement, and uses those lessons to develop the next generation.
Students are involved throughout the complete engineering process, from the initial design and component selection through to manufacturing, assembly, testing, and ultimately competition.
Rather than simply building a vehicle that works, the team continuously looks for opportunities to improve reliability, efficiency, and performance. Each new car becomes another step in an ongoing engineering development process.
Engineering Through Experience
For Husker Racing, competition is only part of the story.
The project allows students to apply engineering principles to real vehicles, where every design decision must perform outside the classroom.
Components must be designed, manufactured, assembled, and tested before they face the demanding conditions of an off-road Baja SAE competition.
When something doesn't perform as expected,
the team analyses what happened, develops a solution, and carries what they’ve learnt into the next design.
Design. Build. Test. Improve. Race. Repeat.
Carbon Fibre Driveshaft
One of Husker Racing’s standout engineering developments is its carbon fibre driveshaft.
The component was designed by one of the team’s senior design groups and was first implemented in a Husker Racing vehicle two years ago. After proving successful, the team has continued to use and refine the design, making it an important part of their vehicles.
The driveshaft is a great example of Husker Racing’s approach to engineering, taking on challenging projects, developing their own solutions and using what they learn to continually improve future designs.
It also demonstrates how ideas developed by one group of students can be carried forward, refined and built upon by the next generation of the team.
Rebuilding & Moving Forward
Like many university Engineering teams, Husker Racing faced significant disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team experienced the loss of student involvement and accumulated engineering knowledge, creating a challenge that extended far beyond designing the next vehicle.
Since then, Husker Racing has focused on rebuilding.
Student involvement has grown, knowledge is being passed between successive generations of engineers, and every new vehicle gives the team another opportunity to learn from previous designs.
With each season, the goal is to produce another car, strengthen the team behind it and continue working towards the level of succession Husker Racing has historically achieved.
The 2026 - 2027 Season
Husker Racing is currently in the design phase of its 2026-2027 season, developing the next vehicle and preparing to move into manufacturing.
Reliability is the major focus for the new car, with the team working on a vehicle capable of passing technical inspection successfully and delivering consistent performance throughout competition. Alongside improvements to the vehicle itself, the team is also developing its manufacturing and testing processes.
Completing the car earlier will create more time for testing, giving the team a better opportunity to identify problems, refine systems and understand the vehicle before arriving at the competition.
While work continues on this year's car, the team is already considering ideas and developments that could become part of future Husker Racing vehicles.
Simply Bearings & Husker Racing
Successful engineering projects depend on smaller components just as much as the larger designs. Simply Bearings is proud to support Husker Racing and the next generation of engineers behind the team.
As part of our sponsorship, we have donated a selection of components to Husker Racing, supporting the team as they design, manufacture and develop their Baja SAE vehicle.
By providing components for their project, we’re helping Husker Racing bring their designs to life while giving students valuable hands-on engineering experience.
Supporting Husker Racing reflects something we strongly believe in: encouraging the next generation of engineers to develop practical skills, solve real-world engineering problems and see their ideas progress from initial concepts to working machinery.
From the workshop to the racetrack, we're excited to follow Husker Racing's progress throughout the 2026-2027 season and beyond.
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If you're interested in partnering with Simply Bearings, sponsoring, or sharing your build with us, get in touch with our team.
