The "2003 Formula SAE West Coast Car Conference," hosted by CSUN¹s chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers, will take place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in university parking lot F10 at the corner of Lassen Street and Lindley Avenue in Northridge.

Northridge mechanical engineering students will compare their ideas and prototypes for mini formula-style race cars with teams from Cal State Long Beach, University of California at Davis, University of California at Irvine, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Fresno, Arizona State University and Loyola Marymount University.

The goal of the event is to increase the chances of a California school taking the international competition next May in Detroit, said Allain Khella, project manager for the 2003 CSUN FSAE.

"We view it as California versus the rest of the schools," Khella said.

The FSAE annual competition, held by the Society of Automotive Engineers, showcases entries of 140 universities from around the world. Participating schools design and build mini formula-style race cars in a variety of static and dynamic events. Northridge has finished in the top 30 for the past six years with their best finish in 1999, when they placed 11th.

For more information about the project and competition visit the Web site www.sae.org/students/formula.htm.