2008 Formula SAE at Michigan International Speedway

[RacingManiac]

Album:
Picasa Web Albums - Andrew - Formula SAE 2008

Winner is University of Western Australia from Perth. 2nd goes to University of Stuttgart, and 3rd goes to Technical University of Munich. My school's team(University of Toronto, of which I am no longer a part of this year, but went to competition to help out and take pictures) finished 11th. 105 teams showed up this year.

[LeonOfTheDead]

just the last week the organizer of the Italian event called me to know if i could help them in those three days like last year. i actually don't if i will because of my exams...
last year the university of Stuttgart won the Italian Event, but the Tu Graz had a better car even if it was a little "too much" for a car created by students with "only" 100.000 euros...
probably this year the Italian event will join 40 teams, while last year there were only 26 IIRC. Glad to hear it's growing.
btw, Racing Maniac, why are you no longer part of the team?

[LeonOfTheDead]

looking at the photo album...that #30 car has some huge wings, i am wondering if they really work at the speed the cars run. when we designed the autocross and endurance circuits last year we delimited with cons every bend in order to prevent the cars to take them at high speeds, so the wings became kinda useless, but IIRC there weren't wings at all...

[RacingManiac]

I was only a part time student last year, so I didn't really work on the team anymore....but then I did work for the previous 5 years....lol

The competition at Michigan have always had bigger and faster track setup then other comp, thus aerodynamic does play some role if the teams chose to pursuit that path....At the speed of these cars anyhow big wings will probably do more than undertray like TU Graz uses.

[clutch-monkey]

sweet..my friend worked on our uni's car two years ago..was pretty interesting. are they closely matched enough that the driver makes the most difference?

[LeonOfTheDead]

Originally Posted by clutch-monkey

sweet..my friend worked on our uni's car two years ago..was pretty interesting. are they closely matched enough that the driver makes the most difference?

i felt the driver could make a huge difference in a good car, but a lot of car simply aren't good enough to let a good driver express his abilities.

[RacingManiac]

Driver can make a big difference, a fast driver can flatter the ability of a mediocre car, and a inexperience guy in a fast car often only get a mediocre result. You have to remember the drivers are all students, and most have little to no real experience in drivng a race car, while the cars are all capable of some pretty scary speed....I remember from previous years in the same car, one driver from a team is some 8-12 sec a lap faster than their 2nd driver. That first guy passed our 1st driver on track, only to have their 2nd driver to not only be re-passed by our 2nd guy and also be lapped by our 2nd driver....

[LeonOfTheDead]

Originally Posted by RacingManiac

You have to remember the drivers are all students, and most have little to no real experience in drivng a race car, while the cars are all capable of some pretty scary speed...

i'm not sure they are all stundents, those of Tu Graz are a little too much old to be students, for examples, and even those from the Firenze's University were not IIRC.

but, for sure, a lot of good cars are driven by guys with a very low racing experience.

[RacingManiac]

Its by rule that they are students, be it as undergrad or graduate students.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Originally Posted by RacingManiac

Its by rule that they are students, be it as undergrad or graduate students.

well, i am sure those of the Tu Graz weren't young enough to be students anymore, i would say they were 35. i have a copy of the rule's book, i will check.

[blingbling]

Originally Posted by LeonOfTheDead

Italian event

do you have a website for this event (hopefully in english)

Originally Posted by RacingManiac

University of Toronto, of which I am no longer a part of this year

you didnt like the uoft experience? i am trying to get into that school haha

[RacingManiac]

I love the experience, which is why I was on the team for 5 years. But since I was only a part-time student this year I decided not to participate on the team. I went down to the comp to help out in anyway I can since I have not started working yet.

FSAE is an awesome experience to be a part of. But you have to have the determination to be willing to sacrifice a lot, school work, partying, life, jobs, sleep...etc. Unlike some other schools, most Canadian ones do not take FSAE as any sort of academic activity, unless you do a 4th year thesis on the car, you will not get any credit or recognition academically from the program. But you get to learn a lot, and meet awesome people along the way....Its not uncommong to have 30+ hours of school work a week, only to also have the same time or more spent on the FSAE team to get things done. On my internship year I work 40 hours week at work, spend 40 hours a week on the car, about 4 hours sleeping, and the rest of the time commuting from home to work to school to home.....

[LeonOfTheDead]

Originally Posted by blingbling

do you have a website for this event (hopefully in english)

i found this Home — ATA

Originally Posted by RacingManiac

Unlike some other schools, most Canadian ones do not take FSAE as any sort of academic activity, unless you do a 4th year thesis on the car, you will not get any credit or recognition academically from the program. But you get to learn a lot, and meet awesome people along the way....Its not uncommong to have 30+ hours of school work a week, only to also have the same time or more spent on the FSAE team to get things done. On my internship year I work 40 hours week at work, spend 40 hours a week on the car, about 4 hours sleeping, and the rest of the time commuting from home to work to school to home.....

AFAIK here is not different...

[blingbling]

Originally Posted by RacingManiac

I love the experience, which is why I was on the team for 5 years. But since I was only a part-time student this year I decided not to participate on the team. I went down to the comp to help out in anyway I can since I have not started working yet.

FSAE is an awesome experience to be a part of. But you have to have the determination to be willing to sacrifice a lot, school work, partying, life, jobs, sleep...etc. Unlike some other schools, most Canadian ones do not take FSAE as any sort of academic activity, unless you do a 4th year thesis on the car, you will not get any credit or recognition academically from the program. But you get to learn a lot, and meet awesome people along the way....Its not uncommong to have 30+ hours of school work a week, only to also have the same time or more spent on the FSAE team to get things done. On my internship year I work 40 hours week at work, spend 40 hours a week on the car, about 4 hours sleeping, and the rest of the time commuting from home to work to school to home.....

and this is as a PART TIME student? you are crazy man (i respect that).

[RacingManiac]

that was 2006 for my Professional Experience Year, it was also the first car that I was a design leader(suspension system), so me and all the ones in my year pretty much had to pull that to maintain continuity....it was hell but then it was also the first car we can call our own. We also finished 11th that year in Michigan, and won Formula Student UK in July, so some rewards did happen...lol