College of Engineering student-built car club A.R.T (Automobile Research Team; faculty advisor Professor Hwang Yun-hyung) won the Silver Award in the Baja category and the KATECH Technology Award at the recently held '2026 University Student-Built Vehicle 20th Anniversary Competition.'

The competition, hosted by the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers (KSAE) and the Korea Automotive Technology Institute (KATECH), was recently held at the Saemangeum Automobile Racing Track. The Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) team participated with support from the RISE Mobility Future Project (Director: Professor Im Ik-tae, Division of Mechanical Design Engineering). Using a vehicle they designed and built themselves, they competed in acceleration, braking, and driving performance events and earned the overall Silver Award.

In particular, they ranked first in the endurance racing segment—which accounts for 40% of the total score—by completing approximately 50 km in 1 hour, 32 minutes, and 20 seconds. Their vehicle construction and the technologies demonstrated at the competition were also recognized, earning them the special KATECH Technology Award.

This achievement resulted from addressing shortcomings identified at last year’s competition and raising the vehicle’s level of completion through repeated field testing. The students applied methods used in standard passenger cars to the student-built vehicle and installed an instrument panel that displays speed, distance, and time to monitor driving data.

Club president Song Byung-hoon (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2020) said, “I am very pleased that months of hard work by team members led to this good result. We will work harder to achieve strong results at the next competition and bring honor to the club and the university.”

Participants in the competition included club president Song Byung-hoon and students Jung Young-jun, Kim Hwan-seo, Kim Hye-rin, Choi Jin-woo, and Kwak Dae-geun (Department of Mechanical Engineering); Kang Geon (Division of Mechanical Design Engineering); Jeong In-hwan (Department of Aerospace Engineering); and Namgung Seon (Convergence Technology Engineering).