SAE-A is just made up of people, and they make mistakes. I've talked to Geoff Pearson about how comp is organsied, and I understand it to be made up of very few people, and quite a few volunteers.

Thus, I think teams (at least local Melbourne ones), should get in touch with SAE or Big Bird to see how they can help out (rather than just complain on these forums); I hope SAE-A would appreciate a more pro-active approach to helping the admin side of things.

I for one would like to see much more detailed past results, and am thinking about helping out to make this happen (as long as SAE-A is ok with it). How do other teams feel about this? (i.e. Are you ok with someone who is actively involved with a current team (MUR) doing stuff at SAE-A?).

The SAE-A offices are in the city, and Melbourne Uni is very close by, so it's very easy + convenient for me to drop by.

Sorry, haven't been on these boards for a couple of weeks. I'll be back in the SAE office on Monday and will see what can be done about publishing full results. I know how useful such data is.

Thanks Rex for the above support. It is very easy to sit at a computer and complain, but having been on the other side of the fence now I now know first hand what a huge effort is put in, and by a huge number of volunteers. I know all the officials were knackered by end of Sunday, and many had to front back up again for clean-up, reviews, etc etc.

The results confusion was unfortunate, and we are putting procedures in place to try to prevent it ever happening again.

But as per Rex's comments above; if you want a perfect event, by all means tell us how it could be better - but then tell us how you can help us to make it better. The latter is the important bit

Cheers all,

Pat is back with another great write-up, this time with insights from FSAE-A.

http://www.formulastudent.de/f...article/pats-corner/

That's our car (Melbourne Uni/MUR 2011) "featured" in the Design Error of the Month.

Amusing photo of the Design Error of the Month

Our 2010 car had problems with the crimped ends pulling off (throttle cable being used as clutch cable - more force = more likely to slip). Thus, I wanted the 2011 guys to use a method that would not fail at the termination. This was our/my solution. And it has not slipped/failed where it used to; but it does put unnecessary stress on the cable now.

Hopefully, this will make the 2011 guys use a proper clutch solution (we have a Magura hydraulic clutch, and that has a proper end on it).

quote:

Originally posted by Rex Chan:
That's our car (Melbourne Uni/MUR 2011) "featured" in the Design Error of the Month.

Amusing photo of the Design Error of the Month

Our 2010 car had problems with the crimped ends pulling off (throttle cable being used as clutch cable - more force = more likely to slip). Thus, I wanted the 2011 guys to use a method that would not fail at the termination. This was our/my solution. And it has not slipped/failed where it used to; but it does put unnecessary stress on the cable now.

Hopefully, this will make the 2011 guys use a proper clutch solution (we have a Magura hydraulic clutch, and that has a proper end on it).

Everyone get scared when Pat make a pic of a car but you are "sans merci"! :-)

Haha, Pat was worried about not identifying you...:P

About the clutch, what we used is basically a cylinder with a blind threaded axial hole (M6) and a 3.5mm radial (through) hole for the cable to pass through. Then you just tighten the M6 bolt and leave it at place -it never slipped once, and we used it since 2007. Of course, if you do-undo it for 10-15 times, then your cable needs replacement....

Hi all,

I can't say much right now, but just to let you all know that the results issue is still being attended to and we will announce findings soon. On behalf of the SAE-A we apologize for the delay, obviously over the Xmas break we have had key people away on holiday and they are slowly returning.

As an aside - and I fear opening the floodgates here - if you have any feedback about the event please PM me and I will bring it up at the official debrief. Obviously the results issue will be addressed amongst other things...

Thanks for the PM's received thus far. Keep 'em coming!

And another idea...

Lets get a register together of what sort of volunteer resources we have available to commit to improving the event. We would probably all love to see proper garages and event buildings, maybe track improvements, viewing mounds, etc etc. If we were to just pay someone to do all this it will never happen, the funds just ain't there. But if we can find alumni, friends and family willing to donate some of their time to a better cause, we might start getting somewhere.

Got a builder / plumber / sparky in the family? Know people in construction, roadworks, etc? Ask around, lets see what we have available. It is a good cause. And of course, anyone willing to do labour work helping out builders, etc would be a great help too. Seriously, we are engineers. We like doing stuff. Don't we?

Now any site improvements will require approval from Vic Uni (landowners), but there is no harm in starting to organize ourselves. Insert cliche here about the greatest journey starting with a single step

There are a lot of people passionate about this event. Let's start organizing ourselves and making stuff happen. Leave a post on here, or PM me with your contributions and I'll get a database together.

quote:

Originally posted by Rex Chan:
That's our car (Melbourne Uni/MUR 2011) "featured" in the Design Error of the Month.

Amusing photo of the Design Error of the Month

Our 2010 car had problems with the crimped ends pulling off (throttle cable being used as clutch cable - more force = more likely to slip). Thus, I wanted the 2011 guys to use a method that would not fail at the termination. This was our/my solution. And it has not slipped/failed where it used to; but it does put unnecessary stress on the cable now.

Hopefully, this will make the 2011 guys use a proper clutch solution (we have a Magura hydraulic clutch, and that has a proper end on it).

Better to have an ugly quick fix than a DNS!

Rex,

Don't they teach you kids how to tie a proper knot anymore?

(Mumble, mumble, "education system's shot.....")

Z

What!? Melbourne Uni teach something practical? Never.

We don't even have lathes/mills: we're getting our new flat sump machined off campus, through a friend of a team's.

+1 on not doing anything practical, we jump through hoops to use lathes only to land and find they changed the game...

I have friends doing arts degrees with more experience on mills and lathes than most engineers I know...

quote:

Originally posted by NickFavazzo:
+1 on not doing anything practical, we jump through hoops to use lathes only to land and find they changed the game...

I have friends doing arts degrees with more experience on mills and lathes than most engineers I know...

I don't start talking about italian university because I will have an easy win on Australia... :-)

Hi guys,

I know there was a company taking photos and video to produce a dvd of the event, they were advertising in the marshals tent though I have lost the business card.

Can anyone please forward me on the details so I can get myself a copy of the dvd and photos?
Regards,

I know there's usually a company called JJ's Photography; not sure if this is the one you're talking about?

Might pay to ask SAE-A directly.

Yes, I think it's looks like a JJ'photography. I saw the same kind of photo somewhere. How to pay SAE-A directly? I don't have any idea about this.

"As an aside - and I fear opening the floodgates here - if you have any feedback about the event please PM me and I will bring it up at the official debrief. Obviously the results issue will be addressed amongst other things..."

Just a bit of a bump - official debrief coming up soon, so any please send any feedback through by tomorrow (Thurs) night.

Cheers!

Geoff

Any updates on the results?

Will be advised / confirmed after Friday