Hey Denny,
Glad to hear the event ran smoothly, even if some of the cars didn't! We were really disappointed we couldn't make it down but hope to make it to the next one.

However we have quite a few events planned for August so I'm not sure how/if it'll work out. Anyways here is our current schedule:

Date Event Type Location
June 25th Driven To Perform Car Show BC Place
June 26th NWFSAE Northwest FSAE Racing Boeing Field
July 3rd CACC #3 Solo II Boundry Bay
Aug 7th CACC #4 Solo II Boundry Bay
Aug 27th BC Champ. Solo II Boundry Bay
Aug 28th CACC #5 Solo II Boundry Bay
Sept 18th CACC #6 Solo II Boundry Bay
Oct 9th CACC #7 Solo II Boundry Bay

Regards,

Mechanical Difficulties is a very polite and decieving way of putting it. It is still hard to comprehend that happening. Hopefully we can get everything straightened out and get a car driveable soon.

Well, I thought I'd let you guys elaborate if you wanted to, and the root cause was a mechanical issue...

Hey Denny. Thanks for putting this together. It was a lot of fun and a good chance for us to finally get significant running time on our car on a track.

I wouldn't even call the minor troubles we had Saturday "mechanical difficulties" compared to what we dealt with in Michigan. A sticky throttle cable just doesn't compare to a failed A-arm or broken half shaft.

OSU, sorry to see the mechanical issue arise. I was hoping to see your car out on the track. Good luck getting it running again.

UBC, Wow! You guys have got a lot planned. Good luck with your races.

iamlucky13 - I snapped a couple quick pictures of your car. Here's the best one of them, the others were a little more underexposed/blurry from lack of light and poor camera settings.

http://staff.washington.edu/dubster/misc/up3x5.jpg

I cropped this one to make it look a little better, let me know if you want the full sized image.

Here are a couple more pictures Jon took. Jon, mind if I post these?
Mike T
Denny having some fun!

Any one have some pictures of the OSU car? I wouldn't mind it they were posted here. Should serve as a valuable safety/quality lesson.

The only shot of your car I have is pre-drive and way in the background, and WWU's two cars a little closer.

http://staff.washington.edu/dubster/misc/pit.jpg

I didn't grab my camera when I brought our trailer over. There were a lot of cameras there so it probably won't be long before someone posts something. Until then, I can leave people in suspense with these from later in the day...

http://staff.washington.edu/dubster/misc/skids.jpg
http://staff.washington.edu/dubster/misc/curb1.jpg
http://staff.washington.edu/dubster/misc/curb2.jpg

OK, here's yet another way a stuck throttle can really ruin your day:

Course goes left... what are those marks going straight all about?

Hmmm...

Still not looking good...

How did that nose cone get so far up into the bushes?

Interesting Alignment...

Guess they'll be spending some quality time in the shop this summer...

Apparently what happened was, one of the two nuts holding the push/pull throttle cable (on the throttle end) came loose. The cable housing then slipped and jammed itself about 1.5" from where it should have been, so when the driver tried to lift for the kink (at peak HP and about 60MPH), the motor just kept pushing. He locked up the brakes and continued over the curb at probably 30+ mph (I didn't see it). He wasn't hurt, but the car will need some serious work. All four corners of the suspension had damage, the lower tube on the front bulkhead was crushed, and it sounds like the diff mount plates were damaged. I'm sure they'll find more upon closer inspection.

We've had a few stuck throttles ourselves, but luckily we haven't found any curbs or poles yet. PLEASE make sure you pay attention to your throttle system, it's the easiest way to put your car into an immovable object.

I'll see if I can find more pics of our pedal setup we developed in 2003 after three near-misses in two weeks, and a summary of the causes of all the stuck throttles I've seen.

Thanks for the shot Jonathan. No need to get the full size. I have a couple shots of the UW car on the track and some close ups of parts of the car I was admiring (like the machined shifter knob ) in case anyone is interested, but there's nothing unique about any of the shots. I also have a few closeups of the damage to the OSU car. Underthefloor, if you'd like, I can post them when I get the chance.

Thanks again denny for putting this together, it was my first time driving either of the wwu cars...35 would have run for more than 1 lap at a time had we let it warm up a bit more after we got the brakes figured out, 24 was a lot of fun before that a arm broke though.