2014 FSAE Lincoln

[mech5496]

With the competition approaching and not an official thread yet, why not start one? Anyone out there with any twitter lists to follow? Audio/video streaming from the event maybe? "Just" pictures? Bring 'em on!

[Goody]

"Formula SAE" is supposed to be providing a Twitter/Facebook feed of some sort. I'm not sure how updated that will be.

[acedeuce802]

Weather still looks decent, 80's-90's with a small chance of rain spread out.

[TMichaels]

I am attending as E-Scrutineer and also handling the Energy Meters.
Preparations are well underway. Yesterday it was hot, humid and very windy and it will probably stay like this for the entire competition.
I will try to tweet here and there and also provide pictures. Tweeting will depend on WiFi coverage on the event site though.

[raitinger]

Here is a low speed video of the AutoX course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plWVr-MeR40

[raitinger]

A couple more videos

AutoX course high speed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCqX84Tjxvg&feature=youtu.be

Endurance low speed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR4s01JlNmo&feature=youtu.be

Endurance high speed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FBzhRrjJ-c&feature=youtu.be

[dr. ill]

Wow,
Both autocross and endurance courses look WAY too fast! The fact that a full size car (corvette/camaro?) can make it through without any problem and be well into 2nd gear should concern the course makers and the event organizers.

There is no way a car would make it through FSG, FSA, or Michigan at that speed.

I hope someone will post their average speed after the event.

[Marshall Grice]

Wow,
Both autocross and endurance courses look WAY too fast! The fact that a full size car (corvette/camaro?) can make it through without any problem and be well into 2nd gear should concern the course makers and the event organizers.

I'm pretty sure that is a miata not a vette/camaro.

[AxelRipper]

Pretty sure thats a Lambo, dude.

Anyways, yeah that autocross course is insanely fast. I get that wings are the new thing, but aren't the courses supposed to be sub-45 mph average? I'd like to congratulate the first team to have either a post-90 mph top speed or a post-60 mph average. I see both of them happening on that course. That's a Nationals course, not an FSAE course.

Also, holy crap is that a long endurance lap. I like that track though. Reasonably technical with some big turns. We're still going to see wings filling the top 10 overall though.

[raitinger]

Wow,
Both autocross and endurance courses look WAY too fast! The fact that a full size car (corvette/camaro?) can make it through without any problem and be well into 2nd gear should concern the course makers and the event organizers.

There is no way a car would make it through FSG, FSA, or Michigan at that speed.

I hope someone will post their average speed after the event.

Dr. Ill, you are correct, this was a full size.....miata. I guess the idea that it could be mistaken as a corvette, will be taken as a compliment. This course was faster than some, but the average speeds were all sub ~38mph. I think many people are getting fooled from the "fish eye" prospective of the GoPro. I've had multiple comments from teams saying, that the course was much tighter than they anticipated.


"There is no way a car would make it through FSG, FSA, or Michigan at that speed."

You show me a tiny challenging course, and I'll stick a miata in it.

[SomeOldGuy]

Is there any way to follow the comp.

[Swiftus]

Raitinger (or any who may know) - What are the distances of the laps in the Autocross and Endurance tracks?

[raitinger]

Raitinger (or any who may know) - What are the distances of the laps in the Autocross and Endurance tracks?


Swift,

I believe the distances were ~2795' for AutoX and ~4890' for Enduro.

[Swiftus]

Thanks Raitinger,

The competition looked like a success. I know I was watching 'the twitters' all week for any #fsaelincoln tweets. :)

On to my quick maths.

Autocross

The overall distance was ~0.85km. The top adjusted time was 50.103 seconds and the maximum 145% time therefore 72.650 seconds

This makes the scope of average speeds for the qualifying field from 42.2 kph to 61.2 kph. The rules outline that the average speed in autocross should be between 40 and 48 kph. 52% of the field which completed autocross finished with an average speed above the 48kph design target in the rules. 98% of the field finished with an average speed above the 40kph design target set out by the rules.

I think this shows that the autocross course was too fast. Technically the course was pretty close to having half of the teams above the 48kph speed mark and half below, but the valid range for the average speed is supposed to be between 40 and 48kph.

Endurance

The overall distance was ~1.49km. The top adjusted time was 1203 seconds and the maximum 145% time therefore 1745 seconds.

This makes the scope of average speeds for the qualifying field from 43.05 kph to 62.44 kph. The rules outline that the average speed in endurance should be between 48 and 57 kph. About 1/3 of the field who finished managed average speeds for the whole event higher than the design target of 57 kph. Another 1/2 of the field managed average speeds for the event higher than the 48 kph design target.

This means 50% of the field which completer endurance was within the course design bounds set by the rules, 31% was faster than the course speed target window and 19% were slower than the course speed window. This just shows a slight skew right, or fast, of the field. From just overall data, the endurance course seems a pretty good fit, if edging onto the fast side.

Overall the courses looked like fun, but both are a little fast by the standards set by the rules. I won't get into any of the details of the course design because I think that was covered in another thread.

Next year slow down both of the courses and allow 600V teams to compete in electric?

[tromoly]

Thanks Raitinger,Overall the courses looked like fun, but both are a little fast by the standards set by the rules. I won't get into any of the details of the course design because I think that was covered in another thread.

If you look at rules D7.2.1 and D8.6.1 covering Autocross and Endurance respectively, both have the following note.

Note: the actual average speed for any track will depend on the prevailing conditions and the area
available to the organizers in which the track is setup, therefore the quoted speeds are intended as a
rough guide only.

Thinking strictly as an outsider, the amount of space available at Lincoln affords the opportunity to run a higher speed average safely, whereas if Michigan had the speeds as indicated I would agree that the course is too fast due to the smaller available area.

Regardless, the courses looked fun, congrats to all involved for a great event.

[acedeuce802]

As a driver for a very yaw happy non-aero car I should be arguing to slow the course down, but I didn't think the courses were fast at all. They seemed to be very well suited for these cars. Nothing like the SCCA course on Sunday!

[Swiftus]

... but I didn't think the courses were fast at all.

Adam - Do you know what your car's maximum speed was on the course?

[MCoach]

As the first driver from Kettering, the course flowed a lot better than it seemed from walking it. The only thing that seemed a problem was that between the last passing zone and the first passing zone would be the section where the cars would bunch up and get caught up in each other as it was more technical. The slow cars would get off the throttle and coast through most of it while the faster cars would bunch up behind until they made it through to the first passing zone halfway round the course again. It really killed a few lap times. Between the first and second passing zones the speed deltas were a lot closer so the cars would end up together right about as they drove into the passing zone, that part went well.

The courses didn't feel fast at all, but had to keep convincing myself that I was able to go faster through each of the sections because it was above speeds I was used to driving at. I would agree that the courses seemed very well suited for the cars.

The SCCA course was, in comparison, very wide open of course. Top of 4th gear out of the gate into the 1st slalom? Wow. I ended up pulling into 5th gear and going flat out around the last 90 degree left to finish out there too.

[acedeuce802]

Adam - Do you know what your car's maximum speed was on the course?

While I can't say for sure, I could guess around 90-95 kph. I know I never got into 4th gear, but I'm not sure how close I got to the limiter in 3rd (which would be 95 kph). When I review our endurance video, I'll take note of it. Most of the course was in 1st and 2nd gear, which the top of first is 60 kph and the top of second is 80 kph.

I did quite like the tight corner just before the finish line. That seemed to cause trouble for several teams (or at least slow them down a considerable amount), but surely wasn't an issue for our snappy car.

Mike, I would certainly agree with the area between the last and first passing zones. I think it was twice that I was stuck behind a big 4 cylinder car, just idling through the slaloms, trying not to ass-pack them.

[JayNoon]

Thank you Swiftus for running the numbers.

When I first saw the video of the track layout (I believe it's a Miata) at Lincoln I also thought it seemed very fast. The average speeds do seem high for the faster cars but not extreme for an SAE competition especially when you see the spread among the cars. I drove at MIS this year and I agree with MCoach's feeling of driving faster than in practice and having to force myself to keep that right foot planted! It can be very unnerving but also part of what makes competition so exhilarating.

In reference to top speed, we hit 118 kph at MIS. I don't think the speeds at Lincoln would have been much different.