if you come out west we can guarantee you there will be no 15 minute hurricane warnings like in 2004...


Jeff Cortes
UC San Diego

The Cal Speedway, while the only real speedway I've been to, I thought was really nice when the GTLive event was held there.

I gotta say the Ontario Airport there was kind of surreal to come off the plane into. Everything was white, like on some Scifi set.

Is there anyone going to the east competition besides the Universities from Michigan? everyone seems to be going to California?

quote:

Yes, it will be hard to pick a "world champion". But I don't think that's the point.

Detroit will still be the mainstay for a while, given it will still be set at around 140 teams whereas others will be half that at best (including West, which they'll cap at around 70 to start, according to what was released at the captain's meeting...)

The "world championship" moniker is already rather confusing to determine and will only get more so.

I'd hope the SAE folk would realize this and try to establish a meta-championship of sorts.

I'm sure if the top five schools from all the events worldwide were invited (and received funds) to attend a true world championship, they would. Done right, the world championship could attract more than sufficient sponsorship and even media attention.

That would sure show who is the best. The funding would help as for some teams it will be a long trip (I think we could be the furtherest away team). Then we could have the best of the best, maybe with a few more events due to the smaller field.

quote:

Originally posted by Denny Trimble:
Next year, there will be 7 SAE events:

1 USA East
2 USA West
3 England
4 Australasia
5 Japan
6 Italy
7 Brazil

Yes, it will be hard to pick a "world champion". But I don't think that's the point.

Denny, do you have some personal contacts at the FSAE national level on these competitions? I'm in the SoCal SAE section and have been involved in the several FSAE events we've had over the last couple of years, including the ones at Buttonwillow and Fontana. Unfortunately, there hasn't been a great deal of info coming from National about what their plans might be for 2006 in SoCal.

If you have some info on that from this year's competition, I'd appreciate hearing it. Thanks. You can send it to me off line if you prefer. My e-mail is: gerry.larue@email.sae.org

I heard that next year's competition is going to be at Pine Knob in auburn hills. For the out of state folks, it's called DTE-Engery Ampitheatre...never been there so i dont know what the surface looks like, but that is what i heard

Gerry,
I don't have any personal connections with SAE, this list is just based on what they announced this year at the awards banquet.

To paraphrase what Steve Daum said about the West event:

SAE is still negotiating with a speedway in California to hold the event in the infield. They will let us know when an agreement has been reached. They hope to hold the event in June 2006, and to limit entrants to 70 or 80 the first year, if the site is large enough. They will open registration on October 1st for both USA events, but allow each team to register for only one event until November 1st. If there are still spots available, teams can then register for a second event.

That's all I know, perhaps you can contact Steve Daum for more info.

Gerry, Denny,

If you are looking for contacts with the organizers down here in Oz, feel free to message me. More than happy to help out if I can.

Cheers

Does anyone know who the main sponsors are going to be for the west coast event? Is Honda going to finally get to come inside the gate? Also, what kind of group is going to make up the design judges?

It's about the same distance to either event, and we're tired of getting rained on. Oklahoma will be going west this next year.

-Trey

Yea... same with Colorado State, about the same distance, but nice weather would be decent for a change. A nice surface to race on wouldn't be bad either. So if it is indeed California Speedway, then CSU will be going west. Plus June will give us extra test time hopefully... or just extra panic mode time like always.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Jones:
Detroit will still be the mainstay for a while, given it will still be set at around 140 teams whereas others will be half that at best (including West, which they'll cap at around 70 to start, according to what was released at the captain's meeting...)

This is incorrect- Steve Daum made it clear at competition that they do not know for certain how many competitors will be allowed at EITHER US event in 2006, because niether event location has been determined. They're looking to 'split the load'. Do not expect 140 slots for Detroit, it isn't guaranteed.

Have anymore teams decided where they are going yet? We're still undecided as to which event we are planning to attend.

We are planning on the WEST event, primarily due to travel/expenses/fun etc.

We will be at the East event. Michigan is far enough away as it is.

Might be easier if we copy/past this list into our posts and build upon it.

University of British Columbia : FSAE WEST
RUTGERS : FSAE EAST

University of British Columbia : FSAE WEST
RUTGERS : FSAE EAST
Dartmouth : FSAE EAST (and west if we have enough interest)

On a side note about the East competition:

Steve talked for a while in England about the competitions and said that it was almost for certain that the east event will be held at the Ford proving grounds about 20 minutes drive from the silverdome. Apparently the asphalt is absolutely perfect. Steve said he asked the grounds manager if he could cut a small strip to lay in a timing loop and the guy said he would lose his job if he tried. It must be pretty sweet. The down side is that there will be little to no parking near the pit/racing area. There will be shuttle busses to get people to and from the venue from the parking area. It also sounded like the Cal Speedway was almost set except there was some date interference with NASCAR. I'm sure they'll work it out.

-Redbeard

As far as I was told, the contract was signed with Cal Speedway recently. My contact was uncertain as to where the competition would be held, the inside track or the parking lot were the auto-x take place. I would love for them to hold the acceleration runs on the 1/4 mile dragstrip, but I am pretty sure that won;t happen. I am curious if my source has given me the correct info. Anyone from Pomona want to chime in. You guys might know more about it.

Rick
Long Beach State Motorsport

quote:

Originally posted by RickyRacer:
I would love for them to hold the acceleration runs on the 1/4 mile dragstrip, but I am pretty sure that won;t happen.

hahahaha, formula cars running on all that rubber? somebody would run a 3.0. easily.

We dont know exactly where yet, inside track or lot 12. There is a fairly new, and slick, kart track that opened a few moths ago too. last we heard they were trying to confirm a date. It will be interesting to see how many cars will show up to our practice event (autocross) in late april at the speedway.