In this season of car gathering planning, I figured some of you may be interested. Each year MIS/SAE hosts a collegiate formula competition (see sig pic) after the spring semester. This year its from May 9th-12th. Teams fly in from Germany, Austria, Singapore, Korea, and a bunch of other countries to compete, with a total of 120 teams. I'll be going this year to watch my old team, and thought some of you Michigan locals may appreciate it too.
Parking and entry is free to spectators, there are no fees whatsoever to watch/do anything. Pretty sure spectators can get into the pits too, where teams welcome people to come up and ask questions about their cars. Easily my favorite car event ever. Its always interesting seeing what a bunch of college students can do in their free time. Students aren't paid and there are no cash prizes, it's all for the glory.
GM and Ford normally bring giveaways and their newly released toys that people can sit in. Last year Chevrolet brought the ZL1 1LE, for example. Acura had one of their NSXs screaming down the track. Ford had the new Raptor and a different GT (not the mustang) every day, including their Le Mans entry. A couple years ago Tony Stewart was running around giving autographs too.
Wednesday and Thursday are pretty tame static events (business, design presentations, car safety and technical review), with Friday and Saturday having the dynamic events (skid, acceleration, autoX, endurance). Then BeckyD's car show is that same Saturday, so it seems like a good "car person" weekend to plan for.
https://www.sae.org/attend/student-e...-sae-michigan/