Malaysian Team in Need of Help ...

[Abdul Razak]

hi guys,
we're a new team from Malaysia trying to compete in the 2005 Formula Australasia. Shipping our car to Australia isnt cheap so we were given 2 year to prove that our car is competitive so that the local shipping company would sponsor us.

The first year, we have to prove that we can build FSAE car. The second year, we have to build a new car which is better than the first.

And since our resources are very limited here, i was hoping if any team out there that would sell any blueprints of their old cars so we can work on those and learn from it.

Being the third world country, it's hard for us to get books (milliken and Caroll Smith). Even if we could get our hands on those books, it will cost us a fortune especially if it's imported books. We rather work on existing design rather than work from scratch without proper resources.

So if any team out there that would sell or share their blueprints with us, we would greatly appreciate it. Please remember that 1 USD is equal to RM 3.50, so please be generous when you put a price to your blueprint.

Please help ... thank you ...

p/s: Im hoping that SAE would consider having Formula SAE in Malaysia in our beautiful Sepang F1 circuit.

[Abdul Razak]

hi guys,
we're a new team from Malaysia trying to compete in the 2005 Formula Australasia. Shipping our car to Australia isnt cheap so we were given 2 year to prove that our car is competitive so that the local shipping company would sponsor us.

The first year, we have to prove that we can build FSAE car. The second year, we have to build a new car which is better than the first.

And since our resources are very limited here, i was hoping if any team out there that would sell any blueprints of their old cars so we can work on those and learn from it.

Being the third world country, it's hard for us to get books (milliken and Caroll Smith). Even if we could get our hands on those books, it will cost us a fortune especially if it's imported books. We rather work on existing design rather than work from scratch without proper resources.

So if any team out there that would sell or share their blueprints with us, we would greatly appreciate it. Please remember that 1 USD is equal to RM 3.50, so please be generous when you put a price to your blueprint.

Please help ... thank you ...

p/s: Im hoping that SAE would consider having Formula SAE in Malaysia in our beautiful Sepang F1 circuit.

[Argus Tuft]

Abdul, please check your private messages.
Argus

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy !

[Brent Howard]

Hey

I' don't think i can help all that mcuh, but lok me up on MSN and I'll help you all I can.

Brent

howard_brent@hotmail.com

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

[Sleeque]

Hey Abdul, you have it all ass backwards!
The idea of Formula is to DESIGN a car, not to build up anyone else's design. You have not done a good job in briefing your sponsors either. The winners are those who get a car of their own design and build to the competition. You don't have to win to be a winner.
I think you guys really don't understand what it is all about. Go back and read the rules and the idea behind the competition. Then get to and design and build your own car.
Your excuse that you can't afford to buy the necessary books is bunkum. Go to the library and borrow them. If they don't have them, then get them in. There is heaps of stuff on the internet if you look. Have you visited the Australian site and read some of the stuff there? Have you found the UMR SAE paper on the design of their suspension? Have you read Carroll Smith's papers on the US SAE site? Have you downloaded the tech stuff from our Formula Student site? Have you visited the home page of every FSAE and FS team you can find?
If the answer to any question is 'No' then don't abuse the good nature of teams on here trying to get a free ride.
Last year at our event there was a team from Slovenia with no money and a great car. In the Aussie event, a first year team came second and then finished second in Design in the US. None of them asked for someone else to design their car.
So, remember, this is an educational competition, not an exercise in copying. Think about it.

Slan Leat
Sleeque

[Dominic Venieri]

You only mention about a shipping sponsor. Malaysia has a lot of emerging high-tech companies if I'm not mistaken, and an F1 circuit. If you try and get some other sponsors, maybe they'll help you pay for the books you need.

Part of the whole Formula SAE experience is finding sponsorship and selling the merits of the competition to them. Our team has over 40 sponsors, that range from large cash donations to donated services or parts to discounts on parts.

I agree with Slan about finding books and using the internet for research. You can access the SAE journals online. If your university library doesn't have the books you need, are they unwilling to get them for you? Have you asked?

I think a better question to ask is not, "can you sell me a set of blueprints", but rather, "can anyone donate us some books, or copies of journals or theses or papers you've written, so we can do some research and learn."

As I explained to one of our sponsors once, we aren't a racecar team. We're going to an engineering competition, where the project happens to be a racecar.

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

[Brent Howard]

I agree that this team should be looking at what other teams do in order to come with anything compareable to a competitive car, but yes, asking for blueprints is not the way at all. Ask questions, and you will get answers, but don't ask for complete designs.

Brent

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

[Abdul Razak]

Thank you all for your reply.And thank you sleeque for all the advice on how to go about in getting the car done.

I apologize for trying to get a "free ride". Im not very aware of the whole concept of Formula SAE. We just started the team about 2 weeks ago and i admit that my team needs a lot of learning to do.

I havent gone to all the FSAE and FS sites as the internet connection is very slow and if one of them has a Flash or big memory website, then we might as well forget about it. But i will definitely have a look at those journals Sleeque mentions, although im sure it's not for free.

I know it may sound stupid not being able to afford the books. But this is reality. A 70 dollar book may sound affordable, but to us, it's as much as a month of salary (a typical McD's job). Though i know this is not an excuse.

And the mentality of malaysian companies here are not like the one abroad. If you think the companies there are worse ... imagine ours are like.

But i appreciate every reply. But before that, does anybody know if a 2 year program is enough time for a new team? Thank you all ...

Terima Kasih ... as we malaysians would put it ... (it means Thank you).

[David Martins]

hi just wanna tell that is really great for us to have in formula sae people from all around the world from malasya to venezuela...welcome

Men i think you have a big oportunity of getting started in the world of formula sae if you really wanna do it...you can´t give excuses of that your country is not the best place to take on wheels a project of this kind of nature and that you can´t get the books of carrol smith because these can cost 70 dollars. this excuses are just little obstacles that you will find when you begin to build your car, believeme in venezuela thinks are really screwed up and in despite of that we are building our car. The point is you have to move in several ways to get your project moving, you will have to expend money and a lot of time in books, materials,desing, construction, among others..you will have to sacrifice things in your car, because the rest of the teams probably will help you in a nice way but they can´t build your car...

I think that your filosofy of using older planes of chasis and others isn´t the best because YOU HAVE TO DESING YOUR OWN CAR, it is ok to see a thousands of pictures of another universities cars because they are going to put you on the way of a good desing, we did it in that way man, but this doesn´t mean to make a exact copy of another car... my suggestion for you is to make your own desing departing from the pictures of other universities, do your own analisys, your own calculations, your own ideas and you will get a car.

[MercerFSAE C. Burch]

Perhaps this essay by a past team captain will help you out.

http://www.me.mtu.edu/~sae/FSAE/FSAE_manual.html

Good luck
-Chris

[This message was edited by MercerFSAE C. Burch on January 25, 2003 at 11:35 PM.]

[Michael Jones]

...even if you got full CAD drawings of everything, it wouldn't necessarily help you. Say you had free materials and tools (doubtful, which begs the question how you'll build a car if you don't have $70 for books?) and I sent the full specs for the Cornell car (which I won't, even if such an animal existed - pieces do, others don't) and you machined it perfectly (which I doubt we'd do ourselves properly...) what then?

At best, you'd have a good car, but enter the design competition, and it will be clear very quickly that you don't understand why you have a good car in front of you. But if you didn't follow instructions - or, more likely, if the instructions are wrong - it won't work and you won't know why. And if you want to improve on the design, you won't know how.

Agreed with all above comments - it's better to learn from scratch and really figure out what's going on yourself. Books, etc. help that out, but there are also other sources. And people are willing to help out on specific design questions, so ask around. And see if you can get to any of the competitions - Australasia probably being the most convenient - and check things out. It takes more time, effort, and money (although you can do lots on the cheap), but it's really the only way to truly get it.

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

[Argus Tuft]

Abdul, I am still waiting to hear from you.
Please email me at
argustuft@revhead.com
This is important.
Regards
AT

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy !

[looony]

Hello!

I would like to extend a warm hello to my neighbour! It was a pleasant surprise to see that Malaysia is going to make an entry into FSAE soon, and given the vast resources in Malaysia, from Sepang to Proton, Perdona to Petronas, we believe you will do ASEAN proud. Afterall, you would be ASEAN's best hope! Wishing you and your team well, and the road to FSAE in South East Asia is not going to be easy, nobody has heard of it here, but you WILL make it, and you will make it well.

Across the causeway, we have managed to make a very primitive FSAE car and are still trying very hard to get the sponsorship to get to Detroit this year. The car has just been tested, and we still have much work to do. If we can do anything to help, please contact me at eng90487@nus.edu.sg . We can lend you the books, and a good long talk over 'kopi' on anyday is great. The group of car buffs often go up to your great Sepang for track days, as well as across the causeway to Pasir Gudang for fun.

Wishing you well, our team will have been history by then, but we will be behind you! Regards.

Peter Ho
NUS FSAE 2003
http://serve.me.nus.edu.sg/fsae

[Nazim]

hey peter, nice to know there's a team from southeast of asia. My name is nazim from malaysia, but im doing my studies in daytona beach, FL, USA.

Actually, abdul razak got interested in FSAE after reading my article about my trip to detroit 02 last summer. Last time i heard from him, he's having second thoughts whether they could actually pull it off considering the resources and lack of motivation.

Im still trying on motivating him and his team in working on FSAE. It's frustrating to see all these talents go to waste. I personally believe that the students in malaysia are just as good as the ones here in the States, probably better.

My school would probably be Detroit this year. We could probably meet up then. I was just wondering, wouldnt it be a lot cheaper for you guys to go for Formula Australasia instead of FSAE in Detroit?

Im going home this summer and i was hoping i could drop by your workshop sometime in late summer (around july or august). Maybe you guys could arrange a road tour around Malaysian campuses in promoting FSAE?

I actually proposed to have another competition there in Malaysia (F1 Sepang) to the SAE officials, but currently it's not feasible since i need many 'professional' volunteers. And it actually take USD 500,000 for a new competition to be held.

Anyways, good luck to your team, and hopefully we'll meet up there in Detroit this year!



<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by looony:
Hello!

I would like to extend a warm hello to my neighbour! It was a pleasant surprise to see that Malaysia is going to make an entry into FSAE soon, and given the vast resources in Malaysia, from Sepang to Proton, Perdona to Petronas, we believe you will do ASEAN proud. Afterall, you would be ASEAN's best hope! Wishing you and your team well, and the road to FSAE in South East Asia is not going to be easy, nobody has heard of it here, but you WILL make it, and you will make it well.

Across the causeway, we have managed to make a very primitive FSAE car and are still trying very hard to get the sponsorship to get to Detroit this year. The car has just been tested, and we still have much work to do. If we can do anything to help, please contact me at eng90487@nus.edu.sg . We can lend you the books, and a good long talk over 'kopi' on anyday is great. The group of car buffs often go up to your great Sepang for track days, as well as across the causeway to Pasir Gudang for fun.

Wishing you well, our team will have been history by then, but we will be behind you! Regards.

Peter Ho
NUS FSAE 2003
http://serve.me.nus.edu.sg/fsae<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

jangan bosakan kengkawan ...

[D Mack - CMT]

As a founding member of our formula sae-a team, I can tell you that lack of faith and comitment is the single greatest obsticle you will have to overcome. Way before you buy any books or anything else.
We started our team at the end of last year, just at the end of semester. Without a handfull (3) of extremely loyal and dedicated students to push the work allong it wont happen. If you dont have students that back it, why should the university or industry for that matter back you.

Anyway thats my advice for you, get yourself a core group of students first.
If you wanna chat more dont hesitate to contact me.

D. M.
Curtin Motorsport