Benito Tagle Ochoa, a senior mechanical engineering student in the J. Mike Walker '66 Department of Mechanical Engineering, always knew he wanted to work with cars. Growing up in Mexico with a semi-professional racing driver for a father, he was exposed to the culture at a young age. Realizing he wanted to build cars one day, Ochoa began to look into engineering as a way to start his engines.
A Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) team poster caught Ochoa’s eye during a college fair. He learned it was a pathway to build cars while in college and instantly knew what he wanted to do. When the time came to apply, Ochoa had one question: what school has the best SAE team?
With a recent championship under their belt and a world-class education available, Ochoa found his answer in the Texas A&M University SAE team.
While Ochoa was accepted into Texas A&M, he wasn’t immediately accepted into the team due to his inexperience as a freshman. He got his start as a sophomore chassis engineer for suspension mounts on the Baja SAE team – often considered the entry point for students in the organization. As a junior, Ochoa served as their powertrain lead and earned his first taste of leadership while overseeing six people.
It takes a team
In his final year with the organization, Ochoa finally got his shot at his long-term goal: the Formula SAE Internal Combustion (FSAE IC) team. FSAE IC at Texas A&M starts with a new set of seniors every year, allowing each team to conquer their own challenges and make their mark on FSAE history. As project manager and suspension engineer, Ochoa led a team of 39 students through the process of designing, building and competing with the car. But he wasn’t hands off.
“Most schools have hundreds of members with separate leadership teams,” Ochoa said. “The cool thing about Texas A&M is that everyone on the team has a part they work on, regardless of their position. We are all students, and no one is above another.”
This attitude directly reflected the team’s design philosophy and stems from Aggie core values like leadership, loyalty and selfless service. With a goal of earning the most points possible, every single part of the car had to work together in order to win.
“Everyone has a part they are working on, but your part won’t win the race by itself,” Ochoa said. “Your work affects everyone else, so having a unified design philosophy was critical.”
With that goal in mind, the team travelled to Michigan for the 2025 FSAE international competition. After hard fought battles in events ranging from endurance races to acceleration tests, the team finished second overall out of 106 teams from across the world and first out of all American universities. This was the first overall podium finish for the program since the competition-winning team that drew Ochoa to Texas A&M.
Crossing the finish line
Ochoa believes the FSAE program offers something for everyone.
“As an engineer, the project is technically challenging. Even if you don’t want to go into the automotive industry after college, the processes and skills will help you in any job,” Ochoa said. “As a car enthusiast, you get to build your own vehicle. There are lots of technical projects out there, but this one allows you to drive 70 miles per hour.”
While Ochoa achieved his personal goal of competing at the highest level of FSAE, a new team is starting the next car, which points back to the organization’s goal for every lap: building the engineers of tomorrow.