Texas Autocross Weekend at UTA

[Dr. Bob Woods]

We are planning to have our third annual "Texas Autocross Weekend" this summer during the weekend of 23 – 25 July 2004. The original intent was to get the local teams from Texas and Oklahoma together, but it seems to have grown to much wider boundaries to include Kansas, Ohio, New Mexico, and Canada. The intent is to get teams and cars together for a practice session on Saturday and then attend a local SCCA autocross on Sunday.

Here is the schedule:

Friday afternoon: - Open house and open shop at UTA. Tour of our facility and see twenty years of FSAE car evolution, car repair, tire changing, shop talk, etc.

Friday evening: - Social at my house (space permitting). Magazines, photos, FSAE videos, games and puzzles.

Saturday: - We will setup some racetracks on our large asphalt parking lot. We will setup the 1998 FSAE endurance course, and a more open longer course. We will have SCCA timing and can record every run for your records.

Saturday evening: - Eat together at a cafeteria. Early to bed.

Sunday: - Attend the Texas Region's SCCA regional autocross. It is located about 30 minutes from campus and has a relatively small concrete parking lot. They will allow 3 or possibly 4 drivers per car instead of the normal limit of 2.

Accommodations: - There is a motel directly across the street from our UTA track. They have reasonable rates. We can park trailers on our parking lot (track) overnight.

Our shop will be available Saturday for repairs or do-it-yourself tire changes.

We will need to know if you plan to attend. Please contact me directly for further communications.

Dr. Bob Woods
Faculty Advisor, UTA
woods@mae.uta.edu

[Mike Shaw]

I imagine a few of our guys from A&M will be there, most likely Jeff and Vincent. Our car was designed with traction control, but didn't test it out enough for competition, so we might be using it there.

[BStoney]

Looks like Cincinnati will be there. Looking forward to it!

B.J. Stoney

[Steve Yao]

Wouldn't miss it.

[drivetrainUW-Platt]

If free plane tickets from Wisconsin are provided, or the funds to ship our car out there count me in http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[UTA racer rikki]

Just thought I would add my own two cents here.

This event finally gives us the opportunity to do what these cars were intended to do. And frankly, I am disappointed that nobody really got to see our car driven to its limits in Detroit. Driving the autocross in the wet was exactly a testament to the car, but that's how things worked out for us. Our first enduro driver did what he was instructed to do, he was just below the limits of the car.

If shipping the car is a problem, maybe we can help out a bit by offering some free rooms in team member's apartments. Anything we can do to help out and get more people here is possible. Anyone who has come to the past events should post something about your experience here. Its great meeting new people, and having those people show up in Detroit touting their new cars. It really gives you something to look forward to.

Well, I can only speak for myself, but I know everyone on our team here gets a lot out of the experience as well.

Hope to see you all (y'all) here!

[BStoney]

Erick,
I don't remember the guy's name..but Cinti, OSU, and Akron guys all went back to his place last summer and had a good 'ole time one of the nights during the weekend. I think it must have been Saturday night. Let me know if it was you, or who it might have been. I think he drove a Mustang if I remember correctly....

Sorry for the vagueness, but you just struck my memory. We'll have to get together again in July when we are there. Lata~!
B.J.

[UTA racer rikki]

B.J.

I think that was another guy, Dustin, that had a mustang. I too drive one, but I don't think it was me. I know we had a good time at Gilligan's one night before U of NM left. Well, we can always hang out again this year. I want to see that trailer packed with six cars or however many it was. That was a modern engineering marvel in itself!

[BStoney]

Erick,
You haven't seen anything yet....

Hopefully 9 (yes 9) Ohio cars....3 from each of us....so long as we can get Akron and OSU on the ball...but it looks like we'll have 3 from Cinti.

Looking forward to making it back down...
B.J.

[UTA racer rikki]

B.J.

9 cars from Ohio alone..... wow. We might want to start looking at a cap. Just kidding. The more the merrier I say! You guys should consider trying to make it to Nationals in Topeka. That is another great experience in itself! And if you want to go, you should check your local region SCCA for Divisionals. Enter now, or pay the late fee!

[BStoney]

Erick...
Yea we are going to try to make it out to Topeka this year. Only having a couple of guys around makes it hard to keep the cars in competition shape plus making sure it all gets ready. On top of this, our curriculum has us taking classes during the summer time as well...(5 yr school w/ mandatory co-op).

And yes, 9 cars from the Buckeye state. Gonna be a great time getting down there I'm sure. Still haven't confirmed with OSU, but Akron definitely has 3 in. So there is 6 right now...

We'll see what kind of pack job we can do this summer.... (and keep in mind, we managed to pack 6 into OSU's triple axle last year at ~2:00 AM!)

B.J.

[jdstuff]

Erick,
I can confirm Akron's interest in coming to UTA this summer.....we're looking forward to the trip! We should be able to bring 3 cars without any problem. Our fastest drivers graduated this year, so we'll be looking to get a lot of seat time this summer. Topeka is also a good possibility. See you in July!

[UTA racer rikki]

B.J.,

Yeah, I definitely want to see the cars in the trailer before any unpacking starts!

Jason,

Seat time is what it's all about!

Okay, Dr. Woods and myself were joking just last night that we may have to rename this thing to Ohio's Texas Autocross Weekend. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

See you guys there!

[BStoney]

I'd like to see Ohio added to the shirt http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif (maybe all the schools that come each year...)

Just my .02....
It's just a hella a good opportunity to drive in some good weather. And can't compare the tire temperatures to Ohio whatsoever...gotta love it!
B.J.

[Kyle Walther]

The kids from University of Oklahoma will bring one maybe even two cars this year.. I think this year we might add wheel tethers just for everyone's safety...

[BStoney]

I am trying to remember back from last year...which schools lost wheels? I can't remember except for one that missed OSU's trailer by only a yard or so and then shot like 12 feet in the air when it hit the curb and shot over the little creek area behind our trailer...

All I can say is it was quite a sight.

Good luck to everyone coming down to Arlington and I am sure it will be one heck of a good time, as always.

B.J.

[Kyle Walther]

yeah that was us. Texas also lost a wheel.

[BStoney]

Ok..I thought it was Texas...but didn't want to make any false accusations http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

Man..I couldn't imagine the size of the hole in the back end of the trailer if that wheel and tire (and partial hub) would have hit the side...man.

Those wheels were moving. Did you ever figure out why that happened?

[Kyle Walther]

yeah the hub just ripped in two. it was one of those parts designed to be pretty and light weight. like someone told us this year " Our car is more like jewlery than a race car." I just can't wait for this event. I'm pretty sure that the team enjoys it more than detroit. I think it will give us a chance to prove ourselves, something we didn't get to do in may.

[BStoney]

Fair enough...yea you can't beat the weather and also just the relaxed environment of having fun just driving and testing.

See ya in TX...

[Dr Claw]

LTU might/should be able to make it down there with our 04 car for the racing.

Depending on how things go over the next month, we might end up with an old school formula SAE competition http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif.

-Ken

[Pavan Dendi]

UT Austin will be there with one, maybe two cars.

[alfordda]

I was watching the news this morning, and it looks like we might need some pretty good rain tires when we come down there. But thats alright we did some rain testing the other day.

http://www.localriders.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=7139&size=big&papass=&sort=1


http://www.localriders.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=7138&size=big&papass=&sort=1

[Dr. Bob Woods]

Our fourth annual Texas Autocross Weekend is rapidly approaching. It will be held on the weekend of 23-25 July. On Friday, it is shop tours, preparation, and a social at Dr. Woods' house. On Saturday, it is racing on the UTA campus with the 98 FSAE endurance track in the morning and a more open SCCA track in the afternoon (after lunch BBQ). On Sunday, we will attend the SCCA Solo II regional autocross named the "Carroll Smith Memorial"� in honor of Carroll who attended several Texas Region events. This should be the largest AM class in SCCA's history.

We have heard from the following schools: UTA (9 cars, we have to match all of Ohio!), Texas A&M (2 cars?), UT Austin (2 cars?), Oklahoma U (2 cars?), Ohio State (3 cars), Akron (3 cars), Cincinnati (3 cars), Kansas (2 cars), New Mexico (3 cars?). Lawrence Tech, Wisconsin-Madison, and Arizona have said they are interested. Other regional schools are possible, but I haven't heard from them. A team from Mexico plans to attend to watch. Brian Lewis from Performance Electronics plans to attend. Several of our sponsors and local SCCA autocrossers will attend. Yes, that could be 12 different universities with over 30 cars.

We need to start making final plans. I need to know (1) the names of everybody that will be here from your school (we will make name tags), (2) the names of all drivers for the Sunday Autocross and which car each will drive (we will pre-register you), (3) the car number on your cars (we have to select racing numbers for Sunday), (4) how many tee-shirts and what size you will want to buy (we will pre-order only the requested shirts, we got stuck with 50 shirts last year), and if you plan to attend the social on Friday night (I may have to buy a bigger house).

The motel directly across the street from the UTA track is Park Inn International (toll free 866 432 7275, and local 817 860 2323). They have offered us doubles (up to 4 per room) for $45 and singles (up to 2 per room) for $40. They have a continental breakfast are walking distance from the track and fast food. You should make your reservations early since they have about 30 rooms right now.

Please e-mail me at woods@mae.uta.edu with this information, the sooner the better. This is the last public announcement; I will start giving more details by e-mail only.

Dr. Bob Woods

[Dr. Bob Woods]

On Saturday July 24, eight Formula SAE teams converged on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington to practice driving, to compete with each other, and to share ideas of design and driving of these unique racecars that are designed and built from scratch by universities in a time period of one year. The universities represented were the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), the University of Texas at Austin (UT), the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), Texas A & M University (TAMU), the University of New Mexico (UNM), the University of Oklahoma (OU), the University of Kansas (KU), and the University of Cincinnati (UC). UTA brought out 8 cars (2 more cars were left in the garage due to lack of drivers), UC brought 3 cars, and TAMU, UNM, and KU each brought 2 cars for a total of 20 cars and 53 drivers.

The morning session used a track from the Formula SAE endurance event that was representative of the specifications for the Formula SAE cars. In the afternoon, a second track was setup that was more open and faster representative of a Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) autocross course.

In the morning session, Jordan Mussler TAMU took the fastest time of the day (FTD) in the 04 car (no wings) with a time of 50.240 seconds around the 0.504 mile course with an average speed of 36.1 mph. In second place was Ken Hassler UTA with 51.535 in the 99 250 cc car reving to 20,000 rpm. Erick Kohler UTA placed third in the winged 04 car with a lap time of 50.128 plus a 2 second penalty for a cone he hit. Rounding out the top ten were Chris Vogt TAMU with 52.491, Ken Hassler UTA with a lap time of 50.703 plus a 2 second penalty for 1 cone, Carl King UNM with 52.726, Ryan Reineck TAMU with 53.305, Jon Huddleson UTA with 53.748 in the 04 car, James Lawrence UNM with 53.994, John Burford UTA with 54.491 in the 98 250 cc car, and Pavan Dendi UT with 54.631. Erick Kohler UTA set the fastest lap time of 50.079, but he hit 4 cones dropping him out of first place.

In the afternoon session the cars with wings got a better workout around the 0.555 mile course. Erick Kohler took FTD with a 48.749 in the 04 winged car with an average speed of 41.0 mph. The car recorded a turn at over 1.6 g's on the asphalt parking lot. Ken Hassler UTA took second with 49.470 in the 99 250 cc car without wings. Rounding out the top ten were Jon Huddleson UTA with 50.007 in the 04 car, Chris Harrington TAMU with 50.159, John Burford UTA with 52.094 in the 99 car, Scott Schmidt KU with 52.250, B.J. Stoney UC with 53.424, Vincent Shepherd TAMU with 51.978 plus a 2 second penalty for 1 cone, Pavan Dendi UT with 54.434, and Jeff Stroh TAMU with 52.976 plus a 2 second penalty for 1 cone. Dr. Woods UTA would have placed in the top ten in the 1988 car but there was a timing error. Jane Willis who took first place at SCCA Nationals in FSAEL last year in UTA's 03 car ran 51.768 in her first drive in the 04 UTA car.

On Sunday July 25, the FSAE cars gathered for the Texas Region SCCA regional autocross for the largest AM (or FSAE) class ever held. There were 15 cars and 41 drivers entered. SCCA named the event the "Carroll Smith Memorial Event"� in honor of the legendary author and racecar engineer. Carroll was the design judge for FSAE and attended several Texas Region and Texas Autocross Weekend events. SCCA has prepared a traveling trophy to the team that takes FTD in FSAE in this annual event. This year UTA will hold the trophy.

Erick Kohler UTA took the top time of 36.007 driving the 04 car with wings. Jordan Musser TAMU took second with 36.365 in the 04 car without wings; wow what a spectacular display of driving of a car that had handling issues. Dr. Bob Woods UTA placed third with a 36.702 in the 03 winged car. The two UTA cars with wings recorded 1.7 and 1.8 g's respectively on a high-speed sweeper on the concrete parking lot. In fourth place was Jeff Stroh TAMU with 37.244. Rounding out the top ten were Jon Huddleson UTA with 37.583 in the 04 car, Ken Hassler UTA with 37.721 in the screaming 250 cc 99 car reving to 20,000 rpm, Chris Herrington TAMU with 37.952, James Lawrence UNM with 38.665, Chris Vogt TAMU with a single run of 38.867, and Denver Stone UTA with 39.282. The full results for event 5 are posted on the autocross website http://autocross.com/texasregion/.

This was a weekend filled with socializing, exchanging of ideas, and true FSAE competing. I think everyone had a great time, we did.

-Dr. Bob Woods, faculty advisor UTA
Woods@mae.uta.edu
http://fsae.uta.edu