One advantage to building a super-car with your buddies as a graduate school project lies in the freedom it gives you to make interesting choices that a large car company could not risk. We enjoy taking the opportunities to try something different that might not have been tried before (and might not ever be tried again). Does this mean that we think we have taken the most practical road at all times? Nah. It simply means that we came upon an idea that we found neat, novel, or maybe even innovative. Maybe.
Here are some examples.