how much power

[Mikejkd]

Are you guys able to drive these cars like a shifter cart or is the power to weight ratio to low? What are the hp and torque #'s from the top cars?
thanks mike

[Mikejkd]

Are you guys able to drive these cars like a shifter cart or is the power to weight ratio to low? What are the hp and torque #'s from the top cars?
thanks mike

[Charlie]

I guess you are assuming that we all know how you drive a shifter kart? http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_confused.gif

The top cars are mid 70 HP to the wheels. But they likely make a lot more torque than the HP number would suggest. Perhaps even upwards of 40 ft-lbs. That combines with a weight of around 630 with driver.

-Charlie Ping
Auburn University FSAE 1999-present

[Mikejkd]

I guess I would like to know if you can slide sidways in corners. Do the cars have enough power to break the rear tires loose? I know it isn't the fastest way around but it sure is the most fun.

[awhittle]

I own an a-mod car and a f-125. They drive very similar regarding power and traction. The f-125 is far more dificult to drive fast. Bumps are a huge problem in the kart where they can be for the most part ignored in an a-mod.

Hope this helps

[Charlie]

Absolutely, our car was underpowered compared to the top 10, however there was more than enough torque out of the corners to require throttle modulation. Sliding is easy http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

-Charlie Ping
Auburn University FSAE 1999-present

[Dominic Venieri]

breaking the rear tires loose is no problem. this vid from the guys at clarkson shows that http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif http://www.clarkson.edu/~indy/video/TestDrive.avi

www.formularpi.com (http://www.formularpi.com)

[Scott Wordley]

I'd have to agree that any half decent FSAE vehicle is capable of breaking traction out of virtually any low speed corner, of which there are plenty in this competition.

Which is kind of annoying because it means that you're wasting a lot of horse power simply because you can't put the power to the ground well enough.

But there is obviously nothing that can be done about that. Oh well...

Scott

Regards,

http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae/sig.jpg
Scott Wordley & Roan Lyddy Meaney
Monash FSAE Wingmen
http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae

[Mikejkd]

ok you guys concluded what I thought and am woundering why the skinnies on the back? Is that in the rules or is that a child of budget?

[-Gabriel]

We switch to narrower rear tires than last year, and there is no buget involved in this (an exception!). I can see many reasons to this decision such as:

-(unsprung) weight
-traction is not directly proportional to tire size
-tires working temperature
-weight distribution
-etc...

And I would add that we obviously seek for as much traction as possible, but I clearly prefer to be traction (or talent http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif) limited than power limited!

Gabriel Denoury
Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal FSAE
www.fsae.polymtl.ca (http://www.fsae.polymtl.ca)

[Richard Lewis]

We made the switch to 6" from 7" because of:

Lower cost
Reduction in rotating mass/inertia
To achieve higher tire temps

We'll see if the change pays off.

-------------------------
UVIC Formula SAE Team
http://members.shaw.ca/drax77/UVICFSAEcar.jpg
http://fsae.uvic.ca

[WingLUV]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Scott & Roan:
Stuff
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Are you guys life partners or something? Why don't you just have two login names like normal people?

http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[jtracy]

The only reason FSAE cars fun narrow tires is to get the tire temps up quickly and keep them up. If you check with the teams that run the phat tires, you will find that their tires usually don't get up to temp.

[Angry Joe]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mikejkd:
Do the cars have enough power to break the rear tires loose? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Breaking the tires loose isn't too difficult... in third gear http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Lehigh Formula SAE

www.lehigh.edu/~insae/formula (http://www.lehigh.edu/~insae/formula)