Formula SAE Virginia 2009 Competition: Pictures, stories & more.

[Drew Price]

Formula SAE West 2008 Competition, April 22-25 2009. Year two for FSAE at Virginia Internation Raceway, let the games begin!



Drew

[D Collins Jr]

Drew...may want to check your dates...or maybe I'm just reading it wrong.

Made it thru tech today. Should be a good competition, even if it is a little light on car count. Early bits of interest:
The primary problems with the template rules are from careless wire and cable placement, not improper chassis design.
Rules are tighter for photographers this year. This is a good thing for the event, but it could mean that there will be fewer pictures of this event (and probably others).
BALACLAVAS ARE REQUIRED THIS YEAR!!!! BRING THEM TO COMPETITION!!!

That's all for now. Have to get back to static event prep...

[J. Vinella]

And your socks are to be made of nomex, cotton or wool.

Little known fact, but Washington has been racing in nylon pantyhose these 20 years.

Quote of the week:

Race Engineer "How is the track?"
Vettle "It's wet"

[Nihal]

How have the photo reqs changed? I am planning to come up there on Saturday and take photos.
Thanks

[Matt_Newcombe]

C'mon someone post some pics! The suspense is killing me (even though it's a small field).

[Pierce Umberger]

Yeah, let's get some updates! I'm heading down tomorrow, but I'm anxious to hear how today went.

Side note: Can I just buy a 1-day ticket at the gate tomorrow morning?

Cheers,
-Pierce

[D Collins Jr]

No official scores released yet. But, all the static events are done. 15 teams officially dropped. Funding is apparently getting cut back for everyone. Updates and pictures should start coming in tomorrow when scores go up and driving starts.

[Kevin Dunn]

Yeah, unfortunately I decided to drop the day of us packing up to leave. Had some last minute issues with a lot of the areas of the car and decided not to risk damaging something to get it down there.

Fortunately, we found other issues wrong with the car that weren't found at first glance. So that makes me feel a little better about deciding not to attend...

I'm with everyone else though...PICS PLEASE!

[RiNaZ]

So what is the actual school/car count at VIR?

[Mike Macie]

Put my google skills to work and found a couple pics in this thread

http://forums.corral.net/forum...thread.php?p=8757152 (http://forums.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?p=8757152)

[FStotal.com]

Found some competition updates at WMU website (http://www.wmuformularacing.blogspot.com/).

Come on guys looking for some news from Virginia.

[Pennyman]

http://home.freeuk.com/jrknight/smileys/postpics.gif

[Conor]

PHOTOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I bugged the crapped out of my alma mater and got them to update their blog with photos. Follow the link in my singature and go to the photos page.

[joeshmo]

After today MUST Racing (the old rolla) is in 1st followed by OU tied for 2nd... Thats all i know

[Matt_Newcombe]

Getting pretty ancy not knowing what's going on with the car - really wish someone from UOIT Motorsports would post something... anything!

[Kevin Thomassen]

For pictures, visit Formula SAE-VIR (http://thomassenkevin.blogspot.com/)
Later more...

There are only 21 teams available.

[Pierce Umberger]

I just got back late last night. I didn't really make a point of taking pictures, just going to post a few that I happened to snap.

Link (http://gallery.pierceumberger.com/index.php?album=Formula+SAE%2F2009%2FVIR)

Quick overview:
1) I believe that NC State lost a wheel during skidpad. I heard this second hand and their trailer was all packed up when I went to look and nobody was around, so I'm not sure.
2) The judges only took 2 schools to design finals, Missouri S&T and Wisconsin. I was a bit surprised at this, but I suppose it's the same percentage as usually goes to finals in Michigan.
3) Just from watching times on the readout yesterday, I believe that MD came in first in accel, with Virginia Tech 2nd. There wasn't a readout for skidpad, so I'm not sure of those results. Autocross times were widely varied, and no way of knowing who took out cones, so I'm not sure there either.

Cheers,
-Pierce

[Superfast Matt McCoy]

I've been told:

Missouri S&T 1st overall
Oklahoma 2nd overall

[exFSAE]

From what I've heard, new Goodyear slicks have quite a bit of grip...

Will be interesting to compare OU and MST raw times in Auto-X and Enduro. Both good teams with quick drivers and some amount of aero. Might be a decent comparison point.

[Kyle Walther]

Good Job OU and UMR!

MidWest Domination strikes again. go pirates!

[David-E]

Here's a slightly biased assortment of pictures from the first two days of VIR (I had to get back to take the FE).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/r...57617323027610/show/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdsphoto/sets/72157617323027610/show/)

[Drew Price]

Wow, there's a lot of really attractive cars in there.

Looks like a lot of legacy parts, and a lot of new bits on all the cars.

The Maryland car is growing on me the most, and the OU car is super nice looking this year, really nice color too.

I'm looking forward to more photos and details about how everything went down, if there was any issues during dynamics, or tech.

I am surprised none of the gallery's up yet have photos of the templating process yet, can anyone comment on how that went?

Did anyone not pass them?

Best,
Drew

[Mike Cook]

Congratulations to UMR, you got the win and you really deserved it. I knew you guys were the favored team going in ever since I watched those videos of you driving in February. I guess I will have to wait til west for a rematch. ; )

[Charlie]

Thanks everyone for the great photos. Is there a final standings?

[Yellow Ranger]

Hey everyone!

We just got back from the competition and finally have internet.

Here's what I remember happening over the last couple of days...

Only about 21 teams showed up, tech was a breeze- VIR is so much more relaxed than MIS or Cali (even though Cali is pretty good), it was pretty easy getting the templates to fit for us, I'm not sure about other teams though- I think VT had some issues and Kansas State used their 08 car but did well overall (top 10 I think).

On Thursday they only took 2 teams to design finals (as was already stated - Rolla (they'll always be rolla to us http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif ) and Wisconsin). Vanderbuilt won presentation and Michigan - Dearborn won Cost (someone correct me if wrong...)

Friday was fun with dynamics time as Maryland showed everyone that wings won't keep you from winning accel and OU won skidpad! For autocross, the track was AMAZING! I love 100 second courses and Rolla absolutely dominated out there. Hands down the fastest car on the track. Illinois proved to be a very fast car with second and Maryland took 3rd. Wisconsin was running a KTM 525 tubro and had engine issues then threw a chain...

Yesterday, the Enduro was awesome- even faster than the autocross, we started 4th right in front of Wisconsin. The course was soo long each driver only did 6 laps! We tried to just take it easy and clean and finish (an off course we definitely end your day out there) and hope the new fuel weighting would play into our favor. Maryland had issues and didn't finish and Illinois was very quick. We were able to finish and so did Wisconsin. Rolla's car was absolutely phenomenal out there. Their faster times were nearly 8 seconds faster than the next car. I can tell you that aero made all the difference at that track. They won the endurance event with Illinois coming second and OU third.

The Fuel Economy definitely mixed things up a bit as Kansas state won that and we took second (I'm not sure who took third). The design review was an interesting one... but Wisconsin came out with the win.

Overall: Illinois took 3rd, OU took 2nd, and Missouri University of Science and Technology took 1st. This was an awesome competition. We didn't grab a copy of the non-official results, but I'm sure someone will post it shortly.

[Yellow Ranger]

More pics!!! (Slightly biased)

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn210/alle2911/IMG_0967.jpg

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn210/alle2911/IMG_0960.jpg

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn210/alle2911/IMG_0861.jpg

[Bobby Doyle]

Go Team U-Haul!

[Wesley]

Competition was a blast! S&T did amazing, Wisconsin came with a fantastically designed and built car, and Illinois was kicking ass. I wish Maryland had finished Endurance, as they were doing well also.

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v3353/181/98/9619773/n9619773_39661557_5428599.jpg Long Neck drivers!

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v3353/181/98/9619773/n9619773_39661580_5251044.jpg
Illinois going fast!

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v3353/181/98/9619773/n9619773_39661586_6594250.jpg
Rolla blowing everyone away.

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v3353/181/98/9619773/n9619773_39661536_8262746.jpg
and OU and our high-class trailer!

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v3353/181/98/9619773/n9619773_39661556_7795404.jpg
Wisconsin on the Accel.

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v3353/181/98/9619773/n9619773_39661550_3449744.jpg
Maryland.

[MilanT]

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/9938/batmano9virl.jpg

another shot of the UMD car.

[MilanT]

Sorry to the original owner of that pic I posted. One of our guys stole it, photoshopped it, then threw our logo on.

[GSXR05K]

Did anyone find out more info on the REAL WORLD SCENARIO part of the Cost Event?

Thanks, Aaron

[MrSwa]

We got back last night and unpacked the trailer. This was our first time at VIR and I loved it. Absolutely awesome. Everything was so relaxed, and the course was amazing.

To try and answer some questions, the templates are being checked with anodized aluminum pieces. The new cost section checked at the event is fairly easy, just do your homework ahead of time and figure out how to use the tables to your advantage.

While in line for skidpad, Cedarville blew up their intake (backfire into rapid prototype). We where directly behind them. They get that cleaned up, and NC goes out and has a wheel work loose, then break the spindle off. Needless to say we were a little bit nervous when it was finally our turn to run.

Overall a really fun event and look forward to attending in the future. Good luck to those who are going to MIS in a couple weeks.

[Kevin Thomassen]

http://thomassenkevin.blogspot.com/]Formula (Kevin Thomassen zegt: http://thomassenkevin.blogspot.com/ [url="http://thomassenkevin.blogspot.com/%5DFormula") Student Virginia[/URL]

Scroll down for more pictures from Formula SAE-VIR

[SQ]

Congratulations to UMR (Oops.. I mean MST!) I went to Rolla my first year, back when I wasn't ready for school. Great school, great programs, the town is a little, eh..

Anyway.. Now I'm out here at U of Idaho and we're going nuts with the cost report. How did everyone do on the cost event? Are there any of you out there that would be willing to send out an copy of the electronic cost report you sent out? It's a lot to ask, I know. And I'd appreciate any help you guys could offer up about it.

Sean Q
University of Idaho FSAE
Electrical "Guy" - Village Idiot

[AJoshi]

Originally posted by Kevin Thomassen:
http://thomassenkevin.blogspot.com/]Formula (Kevin Thomassen zegt: http://thomassenkevin.blogspot.com/ [url="http://thomassenkevin.blogspot.com/%5DFormula") Student Virginia[/URL]

Scroll down for more pictures from Formula SAE-VIR

Kevin, it was good talking with you back at the Terps Racing tent on Friday. You had some really good pictures, and I was wondering if you would be able to link me to some full-size shots of the Maryland car?

-AJ

[Drew Price]

Originally posted by MrSwa:

To try and answer some questions, the templates are being checked with anodized aluminum pieces.



When you get a chance, can someone shed light on the procedures used for applying the templates? How much vertical leeway on the internal cross section, and is Royce just pushing them through with his mighty reach like in Oz?

Or did the judges at each station do them? Any non-mentioned-in-the-rules things get removed?


Best,
Drew

[Isn't it Obvious?!]

Thanks for all the congratulations! The whole event was just awesome, from the constant music of proper race cars running in the background, to the great weather! For those of you who we celebrated with us on Saturday night (you know who you are!), that was one great night! Beware of VT's beer pongs players, they're ringers http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

I really hope that this event will grow in the future. The entire experience is what makes it one of, if not the best North American event. The track is spectacular, the paddock area is open at all hours, and the majority of teams are staying right there on the grounds camping. This was our first year camping, and I think everyone on our team would agree that it really added to the whole experience. I hope its early date doesn’t continue to detract from its actual attendees. In addition to being a great time, it offers your team a great dry run prior to the big one in Detroit.

Thanks again for all the kind words, and we can't wait to see all you guys at MIS!

[Ben Jamin']

http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=4992613d2f&view=att&th=120e7ae93bdcd895&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=0.1&zw

[Pat Smith]

Great job everyone that made it out to VIR. It was my first year going (and Illinois' second) and it was a hell of a lot more fun than MIS. Illinois is missing MIS this year due to bad timing during graduation weekend and we will be at West in June instead.

I can say the tech judges were very lenient with many things including templates. If tech goes the same at MIS, the templates will not be dropped straight in, some leeway was given. But then again MIS is a whole other can of worms...

Although I'm graduating I'm going to do whatever possible to make it out to VIR again next year as a spectator or volunteer. One of the best experiences of my college career.

If your team is considering going next year, do it. The early date is worth the extra effort and the relaxed atmosphere is just so much better than the formalities of MIS.

[rollcentre]

As stated by our drivetrain engineer above.. we all loved VIR this year and were all exited with our great finish. Thanks to everyone for all the congrats; it was overwhelming. We'd like to pass on our congratulations to everyone who showed up as just being there means you accomplished a lot to make it, we all know funding for everyone is tough right now.

We loved the party saturday night, that was some craziness. I heard so many great stories and quotes. It's really scary how similar everyone's teams are and how all of our inside jokes are the same. Waking up friday night at 2AM to some of Wisconsin's members singing "I'm on a Boat" is pretty classic.


We will see a lot of you again in a short time at MIS!

-Mike
Missouri S&T

[Hector]

Originally posted by Pat Smith: Illinois is missing MIS this year due to bad timing during graduation weekend and we will be at West in June instead.

Sorry to hear that you won't be going. I read the tech paper you guys put out on traction vectoring and found it all pretty interesting, I was hoping to track down the authors at competition and ask some questions. Ah, maybe next year..

[Daleezer]

VIR was a blast and we'll be back. Location sucked since the nearest grocery was 30 mins, but other than that there was nothing to complain about.

I want to especially thank Rutgers for giving us a huge hand in getting our frame to pass tech, couldn't have competed without you guys.

Saturday night was one of the best times I've had. There was lots of harmless shit talk during beer pong, lots of laughs and definitely some great quotes. Next year we'll be camping.

[mtg]

Oh yeah! Congrats S&T bringing home the trophy! Go get 'em in Michigan!

[Isn't it Obvious?!]

Thanks Matt!

Here are some videos OU has posted from VIR, I couldn't find any others.........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jsj2AhAfrc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...syYI&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alvgb2UsyYI&feature=related)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...n2co&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy6RcZZn2co&feature=related)

[FStotal.com]

some more videos from VIR: Youtube playlist 2009 competition Virginia (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=AE1E2E852AD6EF2B)


Looking for results and awards!

[D Collins Jr]

Event Winners (Unofficial results)

Design - Wisconsin Madison
Cost- Michigan-Dearborn
Presentation - Vanderbilt
Acceleration - Maryland- College Park
Skidpad - Oklahoma
Autocross - Missouri ST
Endurance - Missouri ST
Fuel Economy - Kansas State University

If I remember correctly, the only other award (outside of event recognitions) was the Honda Dynamic Award, which was:
1. Missouri ST
2. Oklahoma
3. Illinois - Urbana Champaign

8 teams finished the endurance, to the best of my knowledge, 17 teams started (~47% finish rate). Those were S&T, Oklahoma, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas State, Louisville, Clemson, and Michigan-Dearborn

Overall: 1. Missouri ST
2. Oklahoma
3. Illinois
4. Wisconsin
5. Kansas State
6. Louisville
7. Clemson
8. Maryland
9. Virginia Tech
10. Michigan-Dearborn

[cjanota]

Hector, I was one of the authors on that paper. I would be happy to chat via email if you like. Send me a PM.

[FStotal.com]

Thanks David,

here is a statement (http://www.sae.org/servlets/pressRoom?OBJECT_TYPE=PressReleases&PAGE=showCDSNews&EVENT=FORMULA&RELEASE_ID=1008) from the officials:

[GTmule]

Originally posted by Daleezer:
VIR was a blast and we'll be back. Location sucked since the nearest grocery was 30 mins, but other than that there was nothing to complain about.

I want to especially thank Rutgers for giving us a huge hand in getting our frame to pass tech, couldn't have competed without you guys.

Saturday night was one of the best times I've had. There was lots of harmless shit talk during beer pong, lots of laughs and definitely some great quotes. Next year we'll be camping.

Freakin excellent work, Cardnials!!!!

I heard that I might recognize certain parts of this years car http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

-Chuck

[Speedz]

What where the winning times for the individual events?

[MrSwa]

Official Results

http://www.sae.org/images/cds/...E_VA_2009_result.pdf (http://www.sae.org/images/cds/selfservice/241037364_FSAE_VA_2009_result.pdf)

[Daleezer]

Originally posted by GTmule:
Freakin excellent work, Cardnials!!!!

I heard that I might recognize certain parts of this years car http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

-Chuck
Yeah there's a few parts that might look familiar. We really wanted to put the Spax up against the Konis before competition to make a good decision, but we ran out of time. We were all ecstatic about our finish and hopefully we'll keep it up for next year.

[FF Scott]

Originally posted by MrSwa:
Official Results

http://www.sae.org/images/cds/...E_VA_2009_result.pdf (http://www.sae.org/images/cds/selfservice/241037364_FSAE_VA_2009_result.pdf)

There is something to be said about Maryland wamping accel! It was 75m this year, with a slight uphill grade.

I guess if you have "the weight of God" pushing down on your rear wheels and weight distribution of 40:60 (from a unknown source) you really can beat your closest competitor by 2 tenths of a second. Good stuff, I love it when a team total back doors a rule, thats ingenuity!

[Mac B]

Not as exciting as the other photos, but here's a view from Patriot course turn 10 before the endurance event started.
http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu270/colfaxmac/DSCN0503.jpg

[TamRod]

Hi all! I just wanted to post some pictures that we took at VIR. There are quite a few of other teams so check them out!

See you in Michigan!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/niumotorsports/

[Pat Smith]

Just a note for any teams that did not yet notice: Endurance and Fuel Economy are now ONE event. There seems to be no separation.

[Michael Royce]

Pat,
The only things that have changed for 2009 is that Fuel Economy is now worth up to 100 points and Endurance is "only" 300 maximum, and the draconian 4 minute penalty for using a sip too much fuel has been mitigated.

Look at D.8.2, page 83 of the 2009 Rules. "Endurance and Fuel Economy are separate events even though they are run simultaneously. Therefore anyone driving in a heat of Endurance and Fuel Economy uses two (2) driving eligibilities."

[Steve Fox]

Here is a brief summary of events (with observations) at FSAE-VIR ‘09. This is a PARTIAL (edited) copy of a summary which was distributed to all the VIR Design Judges and the Senior Design Judges from other FSAE/FSG competitions.

40 registered teams for FSAE-VIR ‘09.
Down to 30 teams by the time I got on the airplane Wednesday morning.
When the Senior Design Judges left VIR for dinner Wednesday night at 7:30, we still only had 16 teams on site.
Thursday morning: 21 teams officially here at VIR.

Here are some of the topics we discussed at the Thursday morning Design Judge meeting:

-Introduce new Design judging concepts

-1 hour long, first round Design Judging sessions

-Specialized roving judges for evaluating Carbon structures, Aero, Electronics Integration, & Design Report Review (DRR)

-Electronics Integration judge added this year: Dr. Dave Redszus of Precision AutoResearch.

-Design Report Review (DRR). Bill Mitchell did written reviews of all Design Reports. This was done in an attempt to point out to the students some of the obvious content problems we see every year. An example of really good three view drawings and an example of really bad three view drawings acompanied the DRRs. DRRs DID NOT factor into the Design score. They were used as a teaching tool only, this year... Did each of you receive your written Design Report Review? Did you read it?

-The responsibility the Design Judges have to spot unsafe items on cars Tech might have possibly missed.

-Fair and equal judging between judges, queues, and also other FSAE events.


First round Design judging went very well. With only 21 teams, and hour long Design Judging sessions, the students (& judges) were not under a lot of pressure. It became apparent early on that the quality of the cars seen was below what we had last year at VIR. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

The Design Judges met at VIPER immediately following first round judging to discuss which teams were going to Design Finals. VIPER has an eight post shaker rig, and a six degree of motion driving simulator. (Did any of you students manage to get over to VIPER and tour their outstanding facility? If not, you missed a great opportunity!)

The net result of first round Design judging at the end of Thursday, was that only one queue out of five pushed two cars forward for Design Finals. Wisconsin, Madison & Missouri S&T. Our original plan was to take at least one car from each Design queue (5+ cars) to Design Finals. Did I mentioin that we were a bit disappointed in the quality of the cars this year...

Steve Sayovitz (Official FSAE Score Keeper) & I collaborated on how the Design scores were to be published. I wanted to ensure that the teams understood that if their Design score was low, that the reason was possibly for template penalties received from Tech. Steve simply put a 'P' or a 'T' next to the Design scores of the teams who had template penalties. P=Percy. T=cockpit templates.

BTW next year you will not have to worry about template penalties being tacked onto your Design score. You simply will not be allowed to compete until you pass the templates.

The Design scores were low this year due to what we Design Judges felt was a poor showing of good, quality Design. We further made the decision to only award 130 points to the Design winner. A clear message to the competitors that we expected to see better engineering than what was presented to us. (This may seem like a harsh comment to post, but honestly, if I was in your position as a student, I would not want some Design Judge sugar coating it for me. Just tell me like it is.)

All the Design Judges were told that I required a minimum of two days on site. (Thursday, first round judging, & either Friday or Saturday (or both)) This policy worked out to perfection. I believe most students got more than their share of 'drinking from the fire hose' as far as informal Judge's design reviews went on Friday & Saturday!

Out of 30 first round judges, 21 were available for Finals judging Friday night. Yes, 21 judges, and 2 finalist cars. Hmmm... It worked out well though.

A few of us Design Judges took left-over pizza out to the students who were working on their cars late Friday night. Were you one of them?

Wisconsin broke the mold this year, and came with a single cylinder, tube frame car. 377 lbs. They elected to turbocharge it, but skipped the intercooler. The engine never ran right all weekend.

Missouri S&T showed up with a car very similar to last year's. Tube frame, front & rear wings & undertray. 600cc, 4 cyl. Weight: 420/430ish The judges commented that it was not as well constructed as MS&T cars of years past.

U. of Illinois had a tube frame, fabric bodied, 600cc, 4 cyl. car. It ran pretty strong in the dynamic events. I pointed out to them that fabric covered wings have not been in vogue on aircraft for over 50 years, and that a reality check might reveal that it might be something that would keep a weekend auto-crosser from 'buying' their car. After a few seconds of thought, they understod the gravity of my comment.

U. of Maryland showed up with a HUGE (five element) rear wing. They claimed XXX (Deleted) pounds downforce @ 60 mph. The front wing was nowhere big enough to give the car correct front/rear aero balance. As a result they came in after driving, complaining the car pushed at high speed. Reading the tires after autocross showed the rears working much harder than the fronts. Hmmmm...

Vanderbilt caught on fire. Sitting at the start line waiting for their second Autocross run, there was an engine compartment fire. The flag man/starter signaled the driver to kill the car and egress. A mad scramble was made for the fire extinguisher. It took the fireman little time to figure out how to pull the pin. Once his aim was perfected, the fire was then quickly extinguished.

All in all, a very small fire. My investigation revealed the heat shield for the header, and some header wrap is what caught fire. Probably oil soaked??? (I don’t know how it could burn otherwise.) In talking to the driver afterwards, it was discovered that in the ‘heat’ of the moment http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif the driver exited WITHOUT removing the steering wheel. Amazing what a little shot of adrenalin will do for you... It is probably a good thing he did not have Italian Driver sized cajones... http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_eek.gif Fortunately no one was injured. Everyone involved in professional motorsports understands the life and death importance of a well trained fire response.

Cedarville blew up a rapid prototype intake manifold, due to a backfire. I did not see this happen, but was told that the small explosion startled quite a few people in the immediate vicinity of the skid pad, where it happened. I don’t know what material they selected, but I observed (based on an examination of the shrapnel) it was fairly brittle. They claimed to have backfired it once on their dyno with no damage. That first backfire maybe started a few stress fractures... You make your own judgement...

Northern Illinois U. was plagued with reliability problems all weekend. When is this team going to emerge and show FSAE what they are REALLY capable of?

Virginia Tech did not turn out a car that was up to their usual high quality standards. When questioned about this, they admitted to having project management problems, and ran out of time, and yes, as a result the car was not as good as they would have liked it to be. (But they were there, competing, which in my book counts for a lot!)

I did see that Virginia Tech was forced to use duct tape to hold up the outside edges of their side pods. This action was enforced after someone at Skid pad determined that the side pods hung down too much (after being checked with the minimum ground check (MGC) tool). They were not allowed to run Skid pad until the tape was in place.

The Design judge to student ratio was pretty high again this year at VIR. All Design Judges went out and did informal reviews. One of the students, in his enthusiasm of the moment coined a new term at VIR this year. As he was getting his third or fourth informal design judge review of the weekend, he exclaimed: “design reviews are like drinking from a fire hose…” I could not have put it any better! NOTE: I have since learned that Tony Lyscio (Design Event Captain @ MIS) has been using this metaphor for some time now. How appropriate!

Design Finals went quickly. We looked at the cars for a little over an hour. We then convened in the Patriot building for discussion. After talking it through for another hour and a half over some pizza, we were all in agreement. Wisconsin was the overall Design winner. Well built, well executed car (BUT not quite as well executed as past year's WI cars). Low weight (377lbs) and we were most impressed that they had a whole new engine package, which was pretty revolutionary for Wisconsin (a dyed in the wool 4 cylinder, high horsepower team). Are you other teams out there taking notes??? http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

As mentioned earlier in this post, due to what we saw as a low turn-out of really good quality engineerring & Design we elected to make the top Design score 130 instead of the full 150 points. Would the additional 20 points have changed the overall results? You do the math... Two years ago, Wisconsin's 1st place in Design is what gave them the points needed for the overall win.

Endurance was fairly uneventful on Saturday. With only 21 cars it ran pretty quickly. Only eight cars (out of 21) finished endurance. Pretty standard FSAE Endurance results.

With Endurance ending early the decision was made to push up the schedule. The Design Review was done from 1:30 to 2:30. Perfect timing as there was no racecar noise from the big track. The Awards presentation followed immediately afterwards.

Summary: A fantastic event for the students (and Design Judges). Remarkably trouble free. Great weather. Just a great weekend to be at VIR for Grand Am, er I mean FSAE! I strongly believe that VIR is the 'best kept secret' of the three US FSAE events! What do you all think???

A note to all the student competitors who will come along and read this post: I have mentioned to a lot of you that there are a certain number of us Design Judges who read along regularly what you are writing about on FSAE.com. I have posted this summary in an effort to clearly convey to all of you that we are listening to your feedback, and conciously making an effort to improve the FSAE competitions that you work so hard at. I have written this post simply to demonstrate to all of you how open and transparent the Design Event really is, and maybe take some of the 'mystery' out of it for you. We Design Judges put our driving suits on just like you do... one leg at a time. We are all honored to be working for such a talented group of student engineers, know as Formula SAE competitors! http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_cool.gif

[RiNaZ]

Speaking of design review, any team out there willing to share their feedback from the judges? Im sure all of us can learn a whole lot from it.

[cjanota]

Michael Royce:

The results that we had seen at the event only had the combined score of fuel economy and endurance. Looking at the results posted online, I can see that the breakdown is given. I don't think it would have made a difference, but I would like to know if the winner of the endurance prize was determined by just the adjusted time for endurance or the combined endurance/fuel economy score.

[Mike Cook]

Tell us what you really think Steve... http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

This event was really the best in terms of getting judges feedback. We probably spent well over 4 hours with various judges. Having the paddock open all night was nice as well.

Obviously, it is tough for the teams to get to the competition this early in the year, congrats to all the teams that even made it to the competition.

This definitely is my favorite SAE event. Thank you for having it, and I hope the low turn out doesn't discourage you too much from having it in the future.

Mike

[FF Scott]

Okay so I want to give my 2 cents on VIR, finally!

First off, the whole SAE crew/staff/volunteers deserves a HUGE thank you and a job well done!!!
VIR was absolutely amazing and I will never forget it! I to talked with Steve Daum for quite some time about the venue and FSAE in general in what they are facing in putting these events on. So for ALL of you who take the time out of your day to organize and run these events for us; there are to many to list, we are all very grateful for what you do.
I think 2009 has become probably the most dynamic year that I can recall for FSAE, with the rule changes, the cost report, and the sponsorship woes. But still, you all were able to put on one hell of a show at VIR, I hope the rest are just as good! And a BIG push for VIR 2010!!!

I do speak from some experience; this was the end to my 6th season, 5th car, and 3rd venue (all in the states). I have been apart of a program that has gone from the slums to a top ten at VIR. I have good and bad memories of competitions and cars, but hands down I don’t think Caly or MIS comes closes to the fun I had at VIR. Obviously having a car/team that does well all week helps! But the whole week was amazing!

Running on the road course was incredible, even thou I got smoked by one of the Sooner drivers during Endurance. Lol. Steve Fox basically named everything in a nutshell. But there was so much more… Yeah the ~1hr long design presentations did catch us off guard, but it was a good experience. And for the record, there was no way you were wearing size 10 racing shoes Mr. Fox! My size 12 shoes fits in the car better then your shoes did. J

Cost Event: All I have to say is WOW, they really do look at everything in those reports. We thought we did a really good job putting it together and getting our numbers correct. But they totally found our oversight of not costing out coolant. Water is not free… Live and learn!

Real world cost: Study the three areas named and see where you can cut cost from what you built. We had a new guy pick up this task and he did well! It was very similar to what they had done in the past, it just allowed for a little more homework this time.

The paddocks were manageable, the walk to brake/noise/skid pad/practice was a little long, the tech floor was a little unlevel so ride heights at tech were amusing, the outdoor presentations were interesting with the big dogs racing out on track, and Michael asked me to do some welding on our frame. But that’s nothing compared to the fun we had doing the Formula thing, and then heading over to the big car pits. I got to see a whole world of racing I had not been aware of. Talked with some of the pros (very cool), watched guys rebuild their trashed Grand Am cars, etc.
Just a good time, and its making me think of coming back for a 7th season and a 6th car…

Also, thanks to all the teams who were there! Definitely the friendliest competition I have been to. What is going to be the camp ground/field/bar of choice for MIS’s party night?


http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk9/UofLFSAE/Shop%20Pics/VIR%202009/IMGP0860.jpg
or
http://i276.photobucket.com/al...%202009/IMGP0860.jpg (http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk9/UofLFSAE/Shop%20Pics/VIR%202009/IMGP0860.jpg)

[Kirk Feldkamp]

Originally posted by Steve Fox:
We Design Judges put our driving suits on just like you do... one leg at a time...

...except, once my driving suit is on, I win gold trophies!

[PatClarke]

...except, once my driving suit is on, I win gold trophies!

And the judges haven't? Exactly how many championships have you won?

Don't dis the judges!

Pat

[VFR750R]

I took Kirk's comment to be a joke based off of the classic 'Blue Oyster Cult' skit from SNL like 8 or 9 years ago.

[Yellow Ranger]

guess what, I gotta fever... and the only prescription is more cowbell!

[MalcolmG]

For the benefit of those who haven't seen it:
http://www.funnyhub.com/videos...nl-more-cowbell.html (http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages/snl-more-cowbell.html)
http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[Nice Vans]

"Fellas, by the time we're done here.... You'll All be wearing gold plated diapers!"

[Kirk Feldkamp]

Originally posted by VFR750R:
I took Kirk's comment to be a joke based off of the classic 'Blue Oyster Cult' skit from SNL like 8 or 9 years ago.

Thank you, VFR. Maybe they don't get SNL over in Australia?

-Kirk