I'm sure that everyone on here has some ideas of what they would do if they had more resouces, principaly money and people to do the work. So what ideas have you dreamt of doing on your teams car before you had to take a reality check?

It would really be only money and what you could buy with it. HIgh end engine dyno, full sized wind tunnel, all the highest grade and top materials (meaning endless supplies), all tools, specialty tool, etc. And a nice big warehouse to house everything

I think we all teams had resources like these competitions would be even mroe interesting. However just like in the real world some teams are not as fortunate as others in the motorsports industry and teams have to do with what they have. If you look at Speed challenge series, team budgets range from $250K to over a million.

If your talking about systems on the car, I'd like a car with a fully moveable aero package, turbo charged engine (or at least one with a power curve that went to 70kW at 2000rpm and stayed there till 10000rpm) and all this should weigh 170kg (375lbs).
I honestly believe that in a couple of years a team will come up with something similar to this. Maybe 55kW and 185kg(410lbs).

For resources a test track that we could use 24 hours a day and was at our workshop and a CNC mill and lathe that we could get access to would be good.

All that stuff is nice to dream about but what i would like over anything else is people. Intelligent and resourceful people that push that extra bit to get things done. For Formula SAE I'd like 15 to 20 people that are 100% committed to FSAE.

People and the time they put in is what win's FSAE and all forms of motor sport, I think. Look at Ferrari their resources aren't that much better than say McLaren or Williams, but Ferrari have great drivers, engineers, mechanics and management and they all work as a team.

That's my two cents OZ (which is about 0.8 cents US)

Regards
Eddie Martin
UOW Racing
www.uow.edu.au/eng/racing

OK here's my turn. Having been working on a semi-pro race team for a while, I would have to say at our local FSAE team we'd want a good shop with 2 Bridgeport Mills with DRO, 1 lathe, a full chassis Dynojet dyno, 4 networked UG workstations with an HP plotter, conference room, good welder, and 1 high end water cooled metal tubing cutter. All of that would have been nice while I was there. Beyond that, it sure would have been nice to have the 53' Champion race trailer that I've been working out of lately to work out of at the competition last year. Amazing how a pro trailer is set up to handle everything. Having a 53' x 25' heated, enclosed tent along with your own power generation, water supply, sleeping quarters, kitchenette, and bathroom facilities sure does make the cold wet parking lot that the Silverdome is every year look much more inviting if not at a minimum bearable. If only I had access to it a year ago....if only...

quote:

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Intelligent and resourceful people that push that extra bit to get things done. For Formula SAE I'd like 15 to 20 people that are 100% committed to FSAE.

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Yep, definitely more manpower in our case as well, whether through more members or course credit...(or 40-hour days)

At the risk of not getting any work done, i wouldn't mind having a fully equipped apartment at the workshop, featuring pizza ovens and coffee bar.

Seriously, i'd settle for cupholders and an am/fm radio, or a cd player if the budget allows. If someone wanted to sponsor us for satellite navigation, that'd be cool too!

Fergus Wilson
Project Manager
UOW Racing 2003

fw01@uow.edu.au
www.uow.edu.au/eng/racing/

If you've achieved all your goals, you're not ambitious enough!

i think it woulld be so awsome if we had a huge budget. cost report aside, a killer, winning car would be full on carbon monocoque, a la F1. hell yeah. hate to brag...but our shop has several CNC mills and a CNC laith.

...yes, we wish for things. In no particular order...

1) Our own fabrication facility - we share use of the school's machine shop with other projects groups (e.g., HEV, Robocup, etc.) and machining classes. Right now, we're lining up at 7:30am to ensure access to mills, otherwise we're SOL.
2) More and consistent use of space - We share facilities with HEV in particular - our electronics folk have moved from place to place more times than I can count, and our team office may be displaced next year with the construction of a new building.
3) Parking lots - Ithaca is a tiny town with no industrial base, and therefore has virtually nothing in the way of parking lots to practice. We've been lucky at getting a smalll nicely paved lot (approx. 25s course with one shift point if you're creative with overlapping intersections) weekends and late weekdays, but we may lose that due to construction of a new residence facility.
4) Reliable Funding - We're not awash in it, despite popular assumptions to the contrary. We have an decent budget but it's never guaranteed - one of our major sponsors drops off and we're in trouble. Leads to panic points and some purely bottom line decisions every year.
5) Weather - weird request, yes, but when we finish the car in February, we'd like to drive it. Inevitably we can't. Not only is Ithaca on the cold side but the area has as many rain days as the Pacific Northwest.
6) Resources for R&D - Innovation takes both, and many good ideas have to be put on multi-year development plans for lack of either.
7) Pimpy race trailer - We're jealous of a few people. We've got a sketchy trailer and rent a Penske truck.

With real money I'd get a custom made race engine/gearbox specifically designed for restricted performance add to this continously variable intake and exhausts and controllable variable valve timing.

With enough manpower and hard work all of these would be do-able for pretty low amounts of cash but at this point I'd be impressed if someone gave me an intake that didn't collapse on itself.


Maybe once I got this thing fast enough then I'd think about wings and a wind tunnel. Until then wings are simply a fancy lookin ballast weight as far as I can tell.

with lots of time and money i would have cro-mo and carbon fibre everything, bigger, better wings and an engine that doesnt f%$k up. That aside all I want is some sort of fancy low speed traction device;- but where am i going to find that?

Bob Wright
Monash University
Australia

Many people have said quality people are your best asset and I totally agree. Considering this is all fantasy anyway... I'd start by building a time machine and travelling to the past to poach the best engineers, drivers and leaders in all of history.

I reckon Chapman for suspension, Costin and Duckworth on engine, Issigonis for driveline and packaging, Gordon Murray for innovation, Smokey Unic to find loopholes in the rules and Henry Ford and Tyler Durden to oversee the manufacture.

For drivers I'd put Aussie topdoorslammer Victor Bray in the acceleration (after we trimmed him down by 80kg), Stirling Moss and Don Bradman(teach him to drive first) for Skidpan, Schuey and Fangio for Autocross and Jim Clarke and Nuvolari for the enduro.

Sponsorship manager would go to Richard Branston, its hard to look past Bill Crystal to MC the design event and Troy McClure would be gold for the presentation. Costing duties would be shared by Nick Leason and Christopher Skase both masters of bending the books.

Pulling together a team of this calibre wold be tough, and although I considered Oprah Winfrey, Mark Taylor and Moses, I think I'd have to go with Napoleon even if it meant designing some extra adjustment into the pedal box.

Who would you pick?

Regards,

Scott "Maverick" Wordley &
Roan "Goose" Lyddy-Meaney
MOnash FSAE Wingmen

Hi, I'm from Universidad Simon Bolivar in Venezuela.
In case anybody hasn't heard about the Venezuelan situation on this moments, I'll give you a brief explanation.
Since December the 2nd (2002) Venezuela is in a National civil strike, it means that no major company (Petroleum and Oil companies, food companies, tube companies, material companies, etc etc etc) is working since then. And no only major companies, any little shop, or restaurant or mall which decides to support the strike is closed since that date, we have had no classes since then. This Strike is organized by the Venezuelan Workers Chamber (CTV), the Venezuelan Federation of Commerce and Production Chambers and asociation (FEDECAMARAS) and The Democratic Coordinator and it's main and only objective is to find president Chavez's resign to his awful, fascist and "dictatory" government.
Since December the 5th the strike turned to National Active Civil Strike, it means that the population goes to marchs walking or on bikes, supporting the strike.
So, as you can imagine, the team has been unable to work since the strike began. Besides, we of course want that fu%#$%&$ Chavez to quit and we have been marching in support of the strike. It's really hard to concern about building a car when you feel your country and its people need you to support and be part of these events defending the Democratic system.
And of course, all the big companies are closed so we have a lot of design stuffs ready but we can't get into their construction because of the strike, we do not have the materials, for example: chassis. Last week, we decided to work in what we can like designing or building any part for the car with the materials we already had in the lab.

So...getting into the theme of the resources (and I'm sorry about the "brief" explanation)you can understand we are not very concern about them. Our first and main concern right now is to make the tirant Chavez to quit, that would be our wish list as Michael said:
1)Chavez to quit.
Then, when we have a country living in a real democracy, we would worry about having all the resources we can, so we can finish our car (that will be very good) and see you all guys in Pontiac.
Thanks for your time, and expecting all the best for my country and for F-SAE USB, Venezuela, good bye, Alfonso Ochoa.

Listening to Alfonso really makes me realize that I DON'T really wish for anything more than what we have.

Sure a new chassis dyno would be great, and perhaps an ample supply of free aluminum billet. But realistically, having FSAE at all at our university is a privilege and I'm happy for everything that we have.

Sure it sounds dorky, but whatever, it's the truth!

Nigel Lavers

Good Luck with getting you car done and I really hope that you are able to make it to FSAE. If you do, come find the U of C tent and well all go out for a few cervezas.

Brent

www.ucalgary.ca/fsae

Its interesting hearing your point of view on the situation over there. At the risk of poluting this forum with political discussion(too late) I had a few questions which you might be able to answer....

Wasn't Chavez elected democratically in the first place? Not once but 3 times?

What exactly has he done for you to call him a dictator?

If I'm not mistaken it was the Opposition (who you seem to suppot) who led a military coup in April, and this after Chavez had survived three elections and two referendums on the matter.

I don't even want to get started on the hand Washington has played in supporting the whole strike thing, I think they can smell the option of private investment in the lucrative state owned oil company.

From my understanding (and even what you say) the strike is coming from the top, ie the business owners and managers or in other words the rich people. This seems unusual to me. Further more I've heard reports of the workers actually breaking into closed factories and places of business TO RESUME WORK because they don't believe in the strike but weren't given a choice in the matter.

I apologise if I've got it all wrong (please correct me) but it sounds like a very small rich minority are attempting to shut the country down just because they can no longer afford to fly to Paris(or Pontiac?) for the weekend under Chavez's government. Which sounds pretty far from democratic in my opinion.

So before we hear any more bleeding heart stories and before anyone else offers their apologies and support, why don't you explain how you and your team can build a $US15,000 FSAE car and compete in Pontiac this year when around 80% of your population is living in poverty?

And to then complain about the situation your in.... it just blows me away.

I know we've all got it lucky compared to you but you've also got it lucky compared to the people living in the barrios. I don't mean to discourage in your quest to build a FSAE car but just have a think about that.

If anyone wants to know a bit more I'd suggest you read this story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41444-2003Jan11.html

Apologies for killing the mood but something had to be said.

Regards,


Scott Wordley & Roan Lyddy Meaney
Monash FSAE Wingmen
http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae

Does anyone ever stop and think for a minute about how big the universe is? Do you ever think about how small everyone is, and how many people there are, running around the world doing their own thing? Once you realise that each person is insignificant in the context of the universe, do you ever stop and question any of your actions? Why we spend so much on an education? Why we're determined to earn more than it would cost to survive? Why we don't give more to those in need? What the point to FSAE is: 2000+ people involved each year, out of a world population of well over 6 BILLION.

I do stop and think about the people who are disadvantaged in this country (closer to 10% than 80), and what the money that UOW Racing has spent over the last 2 years could have done for them. But, at the end of the day, we agreed to take on this project, for whatever reasons. We choose to put in 40, 60, 80, or even 100 hour weeks on this project. And when most teams are desperate for cash, we don't question the morals of our sponsors. We take what we can get.

Despite the fact that we are small, insignificant beings, we take our lives as they come to us, and make the most of the opportunities presented. Everyone taking part of this project should be thankful for it, but we'll always want more. Really monash wingmen, if your sponsor offered you an extra $5000, would you donate it to charity? I sure as hell wouldn't!!!

An upside of spending so long on this project is that I don't have much time to watch TV... which means i miss out on those world vision ads that make me feel guilty....

Fergus Wilson
Project Manager
UOW Racing 2003

fw01@uow.edu.au
www.uow.edu.au/eng/racing/

quote:

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Originally posted by Scott & Roan:
Its interesting hearing your point of view on the situation over there. At the risk of poluting this forum with political discussion(too late) I had a few questions which you might be able to answer....

Wasn't Chavez elected democratically in the first place? Not once but 3 times?

What exactly has he done for you to call him a dictator?

If I'm not mistaken it was the Opposition (who you seem to suppot) who led a military coup in April, and this after Chavez had survived three elections and two referendums on the matter.

I don't even want to get started on the hand Washington has played in supporting the whole strike thing, I think they can smell the option of private investment in the lucrative state owned oil company.

From my understanding (and even what you say) the strike is coming from the top, ie the business owners and managers or in other words the rich people. This seems unusual to me. Further more I've heard reports of the workers actually breaking into closed factories and places of business TO RESUME WORK because they don't believe in the strike but weren't given a choice in the matter.

I apologise if I've got it all wrong (please correct me) but it sounds like a very small rich minority are attempting to shut the country down just because they can no longer afford to fly to Paris(or Pontiac?) for the weekend under Chavez's government. Which sounds pretty far from democratic in my opinion.

So before we hear any more bleeding heart stories and before anyone else offers their apologies and support, why don't you explain how you and your team can build a $US15,000 FSAE car and compete in Pontiac this year when around 80% of your population is living in poverty?

And to then complain about the situation your in.... it just blows me away.

I know we've all got it lucky compared to you but you've also got it lucky compared to the people living in the barrios. I don't mean to discourage in your quest to build a FSAE car but just have a think about that.

If anyone wants to know a bit more I'd suggest you read this story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41444-2003Jan11.html

Apologies for killing the mood but something had to be said.

Regards,

http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae/forum2.jpg
Scott Wordley & Roan Lyddy Meaney
Monash FSAE Wingmen
http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae

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Well said. America has never liked left wing south american governments. I think Brazil should be on the lookout as well.

As for relevance, the current economic downturn due to the war against whoever Bush hates today is almost certainly the reason we are struggling for cash to get to the Silverdome. The amount of people who are now saying parts rather than cash if anything means we'll have a car, but the US is looking unlikely.

Ben
UBRacing

In reply to the Washington Post Article Discussion:

From what I have taken from speaking with members of the Venezuela team and from the news the situation in Venezuela is economic mostly. The reason is that they have a multitude of resources yet are still in poverty, hmmmmmmmm might have something to do with the govenmental policies of chavez? Honestly, if I live in Alberta Canada and we have alot of oil as well. If Alberta was still very poor because our provincial govenment had poor economic policies and planned to not change for the next 6 years (i think) I would be a little bit pissed off too. And the arguement that being elected doesn't make chavez a dictator is completly wrong. Look back at the history of the elections......was there any reasonable competition? And to further that point, Hitler was elected, try to prove that he wasn't a dictator. reading one or two articles from the American media does not make you an expert....I'm more inclined to agree with the people who actually live in Venezuela and have to deal with the system that you think is fine. Also, very few major political changes are initiated by the poor, as they do not have the means to enact change. Look at the American Revolution, George Washington wasn't a poor little farm boy before he became General!

Brent

www.ucalgary.ca/fsae

quote:

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I'm more inclined to agree with the people who actually live in Venezuela and have to deal with the system that you think is fine. Also, very few major political changes are initiated by the poor, as they do not have the means to enact change. Look at the American Revolution, George Washington wasn't a poor little farm boy before he became General!

Brent

http://www.ucalgary.ca/fsae

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I doubt you are hearing a balanced view from Venezuela, in amongst dealing with poverty getting an internet connection and engaging in political discussion is fairly low on the priority list I suspect.

I know state owned industry is an alien concept to many but it hardly justifies the interventionist c*** Chavez has had to deal with from his own and the US's military.

Ben

...when engineers get political.

While I would agree that there are multiple sides to this and all stories, perhaps this isn't the best forum to engage in such issues?

Whatever one's thoughts on the current crisis in Venezuela, I'm sympathetic that this must be screwing over the USB team, whatever their allegiance in the conflict.

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Cornell Racing
http://fsae.mae.cornell.edu