What's everybody's progress for Detroit 2003?

[David Money]

Just curious as to where everybody is at in their design and construction for their Detroit 2003 car? When do you realistically expect to have a running car? Just curious.

FYI
University of Texas at San Antonio Alum.
Design not completed for suspension or frame.
Somewhat realistically expecting to have running car middle of April.

PS: My congrats goes out to Wollongong for spanking everybody.

[David Money]

Just curious as to where everybody is at in their design and construction for their Detroit 2003 car? When do you realistically expect to have a running car? Just curious.

FYI
University of Texas at San Antonio Alum.
Design not completed for suspension or frame.
Somewhat realistically expecting to have running car middle of April.

PS: My congrats goes out to Wollongong for spanking everybody.

[David Money]

I am not helping the team in case it was implied anywhere, just watching it all unfold....

[Denny Trimble]

University of Washington's status:

Final design signoff today, frame major structure and about 10% of the components are built. Plan to have vehicle fully assembled in Feb. so we can get some good wet weather testing done /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

University of Washington Formula SAE ('98, '99, '03)

[Charlie]

Auburn University-

Design 90% complete, Frame 80% complete.

Torsion testing complete, using Auburn's patented method. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

http://www.auburn.edu/~pingiii/2002FSAE/torsion.jpg

-Charlie Ping
Auburn University FSAE 1999-present

[Richard Lewis]

University of Victoria

- Frame 99% built.
- Lots of stuff just getting started will be done before xmas. (suspension, uprights)
- Design is 95% done.

Rolling chassis expected by xmas. Driveable car by late January. Fully finished car by late february.

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

[Michael Jones]

Looking all in order for Feb. 1, our traditional deadline for first iteration completion. Frame monkeys hard at work as I write this. Running low on monkey chow.

[Michael Jones]

...a really hardcore weekend later, and we got a boatload of stuff done...Cornell's 2003 model hit the ground and ran tonight. Design highlights:

* 3 ft. wheelbase
* three-wheeled
* adjustable traction control on wheels
* lowest CG ever
* molded plastic frame
* not only runs in rain, it's amphibious
* .09hp Yuki V-10 engine
* lots of racing stickers
* guaranteed to win the cost event
* 0-60 in 2.9s. 60 inches, that is.
* might pass tech if we bribe the judges

http://www.yafle.com/images/yuki1.jpg
http://www.yafle.com/images/yuki2.jpg
http://www.yafle.com/images/yuki3.jpg

Amphibious testing tomorrow, pictures to follow.

[Richard Lewis]

You guys going for the safety award this year? Side impact protection looks pretty stout. /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

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

[David Lemire]

McGill University...

design done at 80% and noting started for the building and construction

if we can finally find sponsors for aluminum, we will start machining. We plan to finish the whole thing at begining of april, that would be a record... usually we finish the car only 3 to 4 days before detroit...

And even without any test we still always finish top 20... we would like to have enough resources to finish earlier and then test...

Good luck everybody in you project...

David Lemire
Team Leader
McGill Racing Team

[Ben Beacock]

University of Guelph

The frame (tubular space frame)is 95% designed and construction started yesterday.
The engine (2002 GSXR600) is running on an engine stand. We will be hooking it up to a tractor dyno soon.
The suspension (Fox Vanilla RC) are in, and the design is 50% complete
The drivetrain is still purely in design phase.

Ben Beacock
Chassis Design and Technical Coordinator
Gryphon Racing - University of Guelph

[HB]

Unversity of Akron

[HB]

You know they always say that testing is what wins the competition and I think Cornell so far has it in the bag.

For our car,
-The frame is done except for final welding
-The suspension design is 80% done and machining is 20% done
-The exhaust design is finalized and tested on the dyno
-The uprights are being machined and all the control arems are done
-The drivetrain design is 80% done and have started construction on the major peices

we are looking to be driving about mid-March

Good luck to all

[Dominic Venieri]

RPI

Chassis 80% completed
Suspension design 80% completed construction begun
Drivetrain design completed, beginning construction
Engine development 75% completed

Expect finished chassis and suspension mid january, rolling mid february, running mid march, driving april 1, sorted may 1

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

[terc04]

University of Missouri - Columbia

Chassis - Spaceframe finished, needs few tabs and panels

Suspension - Finished, detail work on uprights

Engine - intake and exhaust finished, testing soon to follow

Driveline - a bit of machine time still

As we stand now I hope to have a fully operational car by mid Feb.

[ANDONI]

News from Venezuela

Car 80% designed.
Where planing on starting with our frame 2 weeks ago. The company sponsoring the tubes got a bit delayed, and now we are stuck in a 12 day in a role strike. Our presidents is full of S___T, it is pretty dangerous to hit the streets, so we are stuck at home. NO CAR SO FAR. With some luck, we will be able to start building this month. If not, january and february will be VERY hard. We wanted a rolling car on march 1st. Still haven´t lost our hope for that.

To bad our government sucks so much.
To check our condition, www.vcrisis.com (http://www.vcrisis.com)

Andoni Mazeika
2002-2003 Team Leader
Equipo F-SAE USB
Universidad Simon Bolivar
VENEZULA

[Michael Jones]

A real shame what's happening in Venezuela now...hard to engage in more frivolous activities such as building racecars when your society is teetering on the edge of chaos. Best of luck, stay safe and hopefully the situation will be resolved peacefully and rapidly...

[Michael Jones]

Well, it floats. Front/rear weight distribution is about 20/80 with driver, causing some balance and rollover problems if you don't sit in it right. Some racing stickers are water-soluble. And a more powerful engine would help. Back to the drawing board, I guess.

http://www.yafle.com/images/yuki4.jpg
http://www.yafle.com/images/yuki5.jpg
http://www.yafle.com/images/yuki6.jpg
http://www.yafle.com/images/yuki7.jpg
http://www.yafle.com/images/yuki8.jpg
http://www.yafle.com/images/yuki9.jpg
http://www.yafle.com/images/yuki10.jpg

[Charlie]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Back to the drawing board, I guess.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't know, there is MUCH to be said about a refined design, stick with it. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

-Charlie Ping
Auburn University FSAE 1999-present

[Travis R]

I think we're doing pretty well... our car isn't going to be amphibious or anything... but I'm pretty sure the pictures of the Cornell car are pretty incriminating. It doesn't matter how weak your engine is.. it still has to breathe through a restrictor! /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif
Our frame is about 95% done. Suspension is pretty much finalized, it's just a matter of getting the material onto the CNC. We have our engine. We got our new shocks, and put them on last years car and started playing with shock tuning. Wheels and tires are in, as well as a bunch of misc stuff, and more showing up all the time. We hope to get a lot done over Christmas and have a rolling car soon after the new year.... Maybe running by Valentine's.
Good luck

Travis Rouse - Test Pilot - The University of Texas (Austin)
http://www.ls1power.net/RX7/autox4_slide.jpg

[Marc Jaxa-Rozen]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>if we can finally find sponsors for aluminum<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Check your private messages please...

[vinHonda]

I'm impressed by all the progress!

Toronto is behind as usual, but we have a new race shop!

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)

[Dominic Venieri]

Let's bring this topic back. How's everyone's progress going?

We've taken advantage of the break and gotten our chassis nearly finished. Design is about 98% finished overall. As long as we can keep up good effort from everyone, and get some more people showing up to the shop on a regular basis, we'll be in good shape to make out mid-march early april running deadline.

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

[vinHonda]

Mike from Cornell and I met yesterday and had a nice long discussion on all things FSAE. Toronto has a rolling car (pics to go on our website soon) I can tell you that Cornell has the next 2 weeks to really push. And their running car deadline is Feb 1. Our running car deadline is Feb 14. I am pretty sure that we'll both meet our deadlines.

..... on an intersting note: Ken H. is back in the UTA seat..... both Mike and I are a little concerned about that!!! With Kenny back, UTA will indeed dominate this years FSAE.

What does everyone else think?

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)

[Dominic Venieri]

From the pictures, it looks like your new shop up there in Toronto is pretty nice. What kind of square footage and equipment do you have there?

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

[vinHonda]

I would agree. It is pretty nice. I took a lot of work dealing contractors, building managers, plumbers, painters, electricians, phone people, furniture people etc. to get it up and running.

We're appox 1800 sq ft. and don't have much. We have grinders, a table mounted drill press, a welder and fumehood. Your typical chopsaws, toolboxes and workbenchs litter the room. The Team Lounge/Business Area houses computers, 2 phone lines, kitchenette, couches etc.

Apparently Cornells space is only slightly larger then ours. Although, they have to share it with other teams. UTA's Race Shop is one to drool over!...and that other school that has the F1 car!!!

Mike and I would officially like to push for that FSAE day. I would suggest just before the competition and I would gladly answer any questions in terms of organization for it!

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)

[Dominic Venieri]

I would appreciate the help. Could you contact me at venied@rpi.edu or IM dvtrek to talk about it some more?

We've got about 2200 sq ft. plus loft space, with a manual vertical mill and engine lathe, 2 bandsaws, 2 drill presses, 2 bench grinders, benchtop sander, chop saw, Lincoln Square Wave TIG 355, sheet metal notcher, a couple vaccuum pumps, a large chest freezer for pre pregs, several welding tables and workbenches, and the usual assortment of hand tools to support all that. Off to one end is a dyno jet chassis dyno and cad workstation. We're trying to find room for a soon to arrive engine dyno. Our shop is located off campus, in a dirty building prone to floods that we share with the maintenance department. We've also got an office in our engineering center, where we do all our paper work and design work, and we also have a superflow 110 flow bench.

On campus they have several brand new Haas CNC mills and lathes, and a waterjet cutter. We don't get much access to the CNC's, but we do get to use the waterjet a good amount.

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

[Richard Lewis]

I believe Colorado State was the school with the F1 (a 1996 Benetton IIRC) car in it.

I think we're closing in on almost 500sqft of space. :P A question for vin, did you manage to get the work done by contractors as part of a sponsorship, or was it something you (or your school) paid for? If sponsorship I'd be interested in hearing how you approached them.

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

[Michael Jones]

I'd say we'd be around 2500 sq. ft. all told, depends on where you draw the imaginary line in our shared rooms. We push that line around sometimes as a result. One drawback is that it's spread around some; 4-5 separate rooms in two buildings.

As for renovations, we're not legally allowed to do even minor repairs on the facilities - that's the university's gig. Usually they're good on general maintenance, but larger efforts would require more work and planning - I believe our filter table for sanding took a couple of years to get in.

[JasonK]

Back to life...

California State University, Sacramento

Frame finished design, 90% complete with some basic tabs and panels to be finished

Drivetrain finished design, 90% complete fabrication

Engine still on the dyno, but about 70% complete. Some mechanical setbacks that are being worked out now.

Body work 40% complete...lol

Suspension 75% complete design, 25% complete fabrication.

Our goal of having a rolling chassis by Feb 1st is looking slim, but the engine should be close and the full drive train should be done.

Jason Koehler
President/Engine Leader CSUS

[Nam Tran]

Chassis is about 75% completed. The structure is there, but we still need to weld on some brackets and mount the engine.

Suspension is 75% complete on the design phase, less than 25% on the construction.

Our drivetrain is 75% designed, with just a little more machining to do.

The engine runs perfectly in stock form.
Intake/Exhaust are lagging.
Wiring is done.

Still need to purchase: Tires, rims, brake lines, safety harness, shocks/springs, cables, rod ends, and more tires.

Money seems to always pose the biggest challenge.

Nam Tran, Team Leader
University of California Irvine

[Michael Jones]

Cornell is proud to announce the arrival of a brand new baby racecar. She was brought into this world at approximately 6:40am January 31, 2003 (a day premature) and proceeded to demonstrate her lineage by doing pretty wicked donuts on an ice-covered lot. She weighed in at a svelte 456 lbs wet and naked. Mothers and fathers are doing fine...exhausted but looking forward to enjoying some sleep, fine cigars, and copious quantities of alcohol.

http://www.yafle.com/arg03.html for newborn photo.

---
Cornell Racing
http://fsae.mae.cornell.edu

[Michael Jones]

The 2003 Cornell car does donuts on sheer ice in 10F weather in the middle of the night. Sketchy fun at its best.

http://www.accel.cornell.edu/~derek/jan31-short2.avi

---
Cornell Racing
http://fsae.mae.cornell.edu

[Wizard]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Michael Jones:
Cornell is proud to announce the arrival of a brand new baby racecar. She was brought into this world at approximately 6:40am January 31, 2003 (a day premature) and proceeded to demonstrate her lineage by doing pretty wicked donuts on an ice-covered lot. She weighed in at a svelte 456 lbs wet and naked.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Its a shame you don't have any cloths to put on her. Too bad last years body work wouldn't fit..........

or would it????????? http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[Michael Jones]

Alas, no, she's a bit smaller than last year and there's a few new things that conflict with the old body work.

It would be so much easier if we did indeed build the same car every year. People expect as much, anyway. Unfortunately, our engineers insist on being innovative, despite my many recommendations that they be lazy and derivative. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_razz.gif

---
Cornell Racing
http://fsae.mae.cornell.edu

[Brent Howard]

I still can't believe that you are already done.....man, I wish we were as fast.

Brent

www.ucalgary.ca/fsae (http://www.ucalgary.ca/fsae)

[Michael Jones]

...nice to have the time to fix what needs fixing. I'd say the car would run auto-x OK now, but it definitely wouldn't survive a hard endurance run. Three-plus months of refinement really helps, even if the first month can be problematic weather-wise. Rain tires are a welcome addition in this climate...snow tires and chains might be even better. :-)

---
Cornell Racing
http://fsae.mae.cornell.edu

[B.K.]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Wizard:
Its a shame you don't have any cloths to put on her. Too bad last years body work wouldn't fit.......... or would it????????? http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I doubt last year's body fits, Wiz, but I bet last year's trophy will suit this year's Cornell team just fine. Or the trophy from the year before.

Ben Kolp
Cornell Racing 1998 - 2001

[Ben Beacock]

We're pressing hard to have something we can roll by the Toronto Autoshow next week.

Frame - 85%
Suspension - 60% (A-arms and mounts done)
Steering - 50% (rack machined and almost mounted)
Hubs - 80% (fronts done, rears need assembling)

Everything else is pretty much waiting until we figure out the drivetrain (Transverse vs Longitudinal).

Ben Beacock
Chassis Design and Technical Coordinator
Gryphon Racing - University of Guelph

[terc04]

The University of Missouri - Columbia 2003 car is finished. We ran it for the first time today. All that is left to do is polish up cost and presentation. Might add some decals for the sponsors.

Tim

[Sam Zimmerman]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by terc04:
The University of Missouri - Columbia 2003 car is finished. We ran it for the first time today. All that is left to do is polish up cost and presentation. Might add some decals for the sponsors.

Tim<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

When can we expect the video?

[terc04]

I'll forward your comment on to our webmaster.