Formula SAE (student formula)

[avusilvia]

All the other threads are stale so Im re-upping this (mods do what you want).
I just joined the Formula SAE team for the University of Central Florida. Anyone else on here part of an FSAE or Formula student team? If so, what school and where?

[FATMOUSE]

Why not just bump an older thread up?

Columbia FSAE, 2008, 2009. Then I graduated.

[nsx_23]

Monash University Australia. Aerodynamics team member.

2009 car:

[Ford Prefect]

Jesus, how heavy are all those wings?
Do you reckon it actually helps? I didn´t see a single car with wings at Hockenheim...
the radiator also looks extremely exaggerated...

[nsx_23]

The wings, all up, are about 14kg from memory. Carbon-fiber (1 or 2 layer) + Kevlar (for some elements) with foam core and alu-honeycomb endplates.

There is a bit of a debate over running aero packages in F-SAE. We get almost 60kg of downforce at 60km/hr, so its not completely meaningless, and when we do hillclimbs at the end of the year the aero package really helps. It really just comes down to whether you can design it properly or not.

The fact that we have an actual wind tunnel to verify CFD data is pretty damn useful too.

[Ford Prefect]

According to our chassis guy, there isn´t much debate. But I haven´t really researched anything in that direction, the engine keeps me busy enough.

I suppose it makes sense if you´re running the car at non-FS events, which would also (sort of) explain the giant radiator. And of course, if you have a wind tunnel, then why not make use of it, I suppose that´s really the spirit of FS...

anyway, this one´s ours:

[nsx_23]

Nice. Specs?

There's talk that we might head to Germany next year, so I might see you at competition

I mean, at the end of the day, I see no reason why we shouldn't try and run an aero package. Our team has always been one of the few with wings, and there's no reason why an aero package won't work at low speeds if you tune it right.

Great article on low-speed aerodynamics:

http://www.sm-designs.co.uk/pdfs/solowings.pdf

[Ford Prefect]

Off the top of my head I can really only tell you that we get 65kW and 63Nm from the engine. Weight was right around 240kg if I remember correctly. It´s our second car though, so there´s loads of room for improvement...

We´re actually considering going to Australia in 2010. We´re just not quite sure how we´ll go about doing that yet.

Interesting article, I´ll have a look! What engine do you have? From the little that I can see it´s the PC37...?

[vikiradTG2007]

Guys, a question here. How is it possible to get a university to participate in this kind of competition? I'm thinking of proposing this to the University at some time later in this school year (once I create myself some connections...)

[nsx_23]

@Ford prefect: Honda CBR600RR engine with some modifications (obviously).

I can't remember the kW and Nm numbers, but yeah. We're planning on running a pneumatic shifter on this year's car, but its a difficult development process. Fingers crossed it all comes through though.

I'd be more than happy to show you around if you come to Australia next year

As I was saying, there's no reason not to run aero if you do it right. It'd be fucken gay if SAE moves the competition deliberately to ban aerodyanmic aids since it'd essentially be cutting another avenue for teams (especially relatively poor teams like ours) to be creative and find that extra performance edge. SAE shouldn't be heavily dictating what direction car development has to take place.

Here's the old 2008 car:



@vikiradTG2007: You should probably just speak to someone at uni and see if they are willing to compete in it. However, you need to show them a thorough plan of how things will be run, so if you can get as many industry sponsors on board early as you can find then you'll have something "substantial" to present and convince the uni to fund you.

F-SAE is really more a management competition than a technical competition IMO. Getting things on the car done on time and motivating team members to stick to schedules is the key.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by nsx_23

F-SAE is really more a management competition than a technical competition IMO. Getting things on the car done on time and motivating team members to stick to schedules is the key.

tell me about it... When I joined I did it to have some fun taking engines apart and burning massive amounts of fuel on the dyno, then they made me engine team leader and all of a sudden I´m trying to get people to finish their work and spending the vast majority of my free time trying to get everything done in time. But when you´re at the Mahle party in Hockenheim and you´ve got about 10 pints of beer inside you it seems like it was actually fun.

[nsx_23]

2008 car videos:

+ YouTube Video

+ YouTube Video

[rowd22]

Originally Posted by nsx_23

F-SAE is really more a management competition than a technical competition IMO. Getting things on the car done on time and motivating team members to stick to schedules is the key.

Very true.

We were probably a bit behind on our schedule, but recently had a few major setbacks, including the rear rockers which we were going to use on the new car. They broke during a testing run and now, due to that and a few other things, we wont have the 09 car down there in Dec.
Bit of a shame, but the 08 car will have to do for the moment....

Management definitely takes up the most time and can be difficult with leaders changing or leaving.



On a lighter note, there is a lot to be learned from the FSAE forums apparently:
http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1...48/m/569100543

[airmenair]

I haven't been on it in 3 years, but here is the car when I was team member



Honda CBR250, turbocharged, 20K RPM

[nsx_23]

Oooohhhhhh, turbocharged.

How did it run?

[airmenair]

When it ran it was amazing. Our engine guy was a little green so we had alot of issues. We grenaded probably 3-4 of them. Including one in competition in California, rebuilt it in the mall parking lot overnight, and then blew it again in brake testing the next day. That was the end of it, very disappointing . We were using 5 injectors to combat it leaning out only to find out a few months later that someone had forgotten to drill the hole for the 5th injector.

I have a coupe videos lurking around somewhere if you're interested.

[Ford Prefect]

yes please

We briefly considered switching to single cyl and forced induction, but I consider myself too "green" to get that working properly. Plus we had a serious manpower problem in the engine team this year.

The people problem has gotten worse as well because most of the people who actually did the majority of the work have graduated or dropped out. Of the old teamleaders only me and the chassis guy are left, and the new people we recruited have yet to prove if they are willing to put in the necessary effort. But we´ll see...

[nsx_23]

Sure. Why not.

[airmenair]

+ YouTube Video

+ YouTube Video

+ YouTube Video

+ YouTube Video

I think these are all I have. Enjoy

[nsx_23]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

yes please

We briefly considered switching to single cyl and forced induction, but I consider myself too "green" to get that working properly. Plus we had a serious manpower problem in the engine team this year.

The people problem has gotten worse as well because most of the people who actually did the majority of the work have graduated or dropped out. Of the old teamleaders only me and the chassis guy are left, and the new people we recruited have yet to prove if they are willing to put in the necessary effort. But we´ll see...

We're switching to a single cylinder engine next year, so it'll be a big job since it'll be a "clean-sheet" car.

Originally Posted by rowd22

On a lighter note, there is a lot to be learned from the FSAE forums apparently:
http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1...48/m/569100543

ROFL