Formula SAE (student formula)

^I have that shirt too. It's so cute! :D

Anyone have suggestions to constrain the shafts to spin at the same rate of the gear it's attached to? Last year we used pins, and that snapped. I've been thinking of internal splines inside the bevel gears.
 
In what aspects can one get involved in Student Formula if you're studying electronical engineering?

For example engine managment (ECU), CAN Bus, Bluethooth, engine monitoring system etc. there is plenty of things we mechanical engineers don't like to do. ;)
 
Sweet! Love it when shit finally starts coming together. Unfortunately we won't be taking last year's car o/seas this year because we barely got it running. This year hopefully we'll kick ass though. Anyone using the Standard Impact Attenuator design this year? I've had a look and unfortunately it doesn't fit our car, so I've been tasked with designing a new one.

Ah, maybe next year you'll find your way to this side of the pond. We're using the SIA this year as we made so many huge changes to the vehicle design (0% carryover from last year) that we figured the time required to design and test a new attenuator would be much better spent on other things. It sure is one big-assed chunk of foam, but it will fit our new bodywork pretty well.

Also, I can't entirely agree with your relationship analysis; I've been in one for just short of 7 years, with over half that time spent on the FSAE team. It can be made to work, although it's never guaranteed. :p
 
The current status of our racer, hope we will get it running this summer, been at it since 2007.

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Tube chassis is carbonfibre and steel tubes. Engine will be Yamaha Genesis 500cc with custom oil pan and 2-speed custom gearbox.
 
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Wow that's a lot of tubes. How heavy do you expect your chassis to be when it's done?
 
Somehow it looks huge but it might be the angle of the photo which let this look huge.
At which events will you participate?
 
We?ll probably try to enter in the British and German, but if they get full then other European events
 
We will attend Austria, Hockenheim and Hungary this year.
 
I'm going to be doing co-op in Germany this summer so I really want to make it to Hockenheimring for FS Germany. Should be fun and probably lots to learn from the European teams.
 
Ah, maybe next year you'll find your way to this side of the pond. We're using the SIA this year as we made so many huge changes to the vehicle design (0% carryover from last year) that we figured the time required to design and test a new attenuator would be much better spent on other things. It sure is one big-assed chunk of foam, but it will fit our new bodywork pretty well.

Also, I can't entirely agree with your relationship analysis; I've been in one for just short of 7 years, with over half that time spent on the FSAE team. It can be made to work, although it's never guaranteed. :p

Oooh, last year was our wholesale change year (new chassis, engine, gearbox, suspension geometry etc). I sincerely hope that you guys manage it better than we did.

I'm waiting for the IA to arrive from the States with our next shipment of engine bits, then I'll be benchmark testing it and comparing it to other prototypes. Design freeze is in less than four weeks so I hope it arrives soon.

And true, relationships can be made to work, I guess it didn't help that we were living more than an hour apart (more like two with public transport) and some other things.
 
Our Team got evicted today by the university from our workshop :(
 
That sucks! :( What happened?
 
Our Team got evicted today by the university from our workshop :(
Then it's not 'evicted', but 'relocated'! You make it sound like you guys were forced to stop doing FSAE :p
 
Me and a couple of classmates are actually thinking of building an FSAE car but we only have a vague idea of what it involves(we're in our second year of Automotive Engineering). Any links/info/documentation would be really appreciated as there are some members here involved in this. And any advice/stories of how you got sponsors or are your cars mainly sponsored by your Unis? I seriously doubt our Uni has the money for this so we should start looking for private sponsorship as soon as we get some work done on the project.
 
In order to get sponsors you have to contact your local industry otherwise you won't get enough money to build the car and cover the costs.
 
Local sponsorship is a must. Also don't always expect money from sponsors, but whatever service they can offer is really helpful. For example there's a local company here that lets us use their equipment (lathes, mills, painting facilities, etc.) during their evening shift. That's been extremely helpful as it allows us to keep working when the shop at school closes. Another company did our brake rotors, and another supplied us with our fasteners. These are all little things, but they add up and are extremely helpful in the big scheme of things.
 
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