Engineering at Full Throttle: How Mizzou Racing Uses 3D Printing to Compete at the Highest Level

MatterHackers Foreword

At MatterHackers, we’re continually inspired by teams that push the limits of engineering through hands-on innovation. Mizzou Racing exemplifies how additive manufacturing empowers students to move faster, design smarter, and compete harder on a global stage. As they enter the final push toward competition, their story highlights how 3D printing has become a critical tool in building one of their most advanced cars yet.

Mizzou Racing is in the final push towards competition this season. Mizzou Racing is a Formula SAE team which designs, builds, tests, tunes, and drives an open-wheel formula racecar, and every year the team represents the University of Missouri-Columbia at competition against over 100 teams from around the world. Mizzou Racing is primarily comprised of Engineers, but the team draws members from a wide variety of majors and disciplines who are equally excited to be a part of something so unique. This multifaceted approach allows the team to approach problems with unique and often unconventional strategies.

In the last few years, the team has grown and with that has tried to really innovate year after year. This has been a major undertaking to produce one of the most competitive cars Mizzou Racing has ever built. These cars are always changing to extract every bit of potential. Car 22 has seen a 40-pound weight reduction and 10 horsepower gain over the preceding combustion car. Team engineers are constantly designing new components to fit the rules of the competition and make these aggressive performance improvements to the racecar. This quick pace can easily lead to costly mistakes. 3D printing found its way to Mizzou Racing through rapid prototyping allowing members to verify designs for machined components to minimize such mistakes, and it has grown beyond just that to become an integral part of making these cars.

This year students tackled the challenge of redesigning the upright assembly for all 4 corners of the car and machining the parts in-house. This was a large undertaking and really forced a broad spectrum of problem solving. 3D-printing allowed the suspension lead to rapid prototype revisions of the uprights and make a mock assembly to confirm everything fits correctly. These prints also greatly helped in the machining process. They made visualizing the physical challenges of production apparent beforehand so that each hurdle could be foreseen and handled.

It's become standard practice for machined components to get at least one prototype print before getting a green light for manufacture. This allows for final checks of fitment and clearance. These final real-world checks give insights into how serviceable a new component design will be, which becomes a huge advantage in a competition setting where time is tight, and fixes need to be made quickly. Having a car that’s designed to be easily worked on helps to resolve problems on the fly without issue.

Beyond rapid prototyping, the team has integrated 3D-printing deeply into carbon fiber composite manufacturing in recent years. Mizzou Racing has been able to use prints to create molds for complex forms that weren’t possible or affordable with the old techniques. This year, we plan on attempting a carbon fiber intake using a 3D-printed mold which will save weight by changing a welded aluminum component over to carbon fiber.

Formula SAE has served as an irreplaceable piece of educational experience for several Mizzou students as far back as 1985. Over that time hundreds of students have gained a wide variety of applied skills to hold onto for the rest of their lives along with lasting memories and friendships forged in the challenges of coming together for a massive project. Hopefully, Mizzou Racing will continue to serve as an entry point into the cutting edge of engineering for years to come.

Innovation Through Iteration

Mizzou Racing’s progress this season highlights how 3D printing has evolved from a rapid prototyping aid into a critical part of a modern engineering workflow. By validating designs before machining, improving serviceability, and enabling complex tooling for composite manufacturing, the team has reduced development risk while dramatically accelerating iteration. These capabilities have translated directly into measurable performance gains, including significant weight reduction and increased power, proving the value of additive manufacturing in a high-performance, time-constrained environment.

At MatterHackers, this is exactly the kind of innovation we strive to support—empowering engineers to move faster, build smarter, and turn ambitious ideas into real-world results. Mizzou Racing’s approach demonstrates how accessible 3D printing technology can elevate both competition outcomes and educational experiences, equipping the next generation of engineers with the tools and mindset needed to compete at a global level.