How many "vintage" FSAE cars exist?

[Dean E. Case]

I am involved in one of the largest vintage races in the Eastern United States, the Mitty Challenge @ Road Atlanta. During a meeting it was noted that it might be interesting to see how many FSAE cars from years-past could be gathered up, for either a static display and/or an autocross. I can obtain display space at the Mitty (April 29-May 1st) if there are enough people and cars in the Southeast who would be interested.

[Dean E. Case]

I am involved in one of the largest vintage races in the Eastern United States, the Mitty Challenge @ Road Atlanta. During a meeting it was noted that it might be interesting to see how many FSAE cars from years-past could be gathered up, for either a static display and/or an autocross. I can obtain display space at the Mitty (April 29-May 1st) if there are enough people and cars in the Southeast who would be interested.

[ibanezplayer]

What defines an FSAE car as vintage?

3 years old? 8 years old?...

[Ben K]

I'm going to go with greater than 1 year old since it can't go to an official SAE competition after that.

[RonH]

Is this the same Dean Case that used to work at Ford and was involved with the Ford Motorsport Enthusiasts?
My son's college may have a few cars from 1-12 years ago.

[AxelRipper]

Our most vintage one is our 2006 car. It sort of runs, but in no condition similar to competition ready (save for maybe a lucky a-mod run). 2007 car (Mahle engine) gets paraded around to shows, but has no computer/wiring/halfshafts.

we do have one more older hanging on a wall, i think 2003 or 4, but it has very few working parts on it. Everything prior to that was lost to history some time ago.

Would be interesting to see who has the oldest working car. I've been to some schools who seem to have dozens of cars around the campus.

[scruff.mcguff]

I have an old 2002 car with most original parts. In the middle of a complete re-build since most of the bearings in the suspension are shot and the engine needs some new wiring. It wont be up and running for the 1st of May and probobly not a body til next winter, but it should be running for the SCCA later this summer.

[Brian Barnhill]

WPI has a car from 2000 still running and makes it out to a few AutoX events and test drives from time to time, though it could use a little TLC and some tweaking to make it really competition ready.

There are also cars from 2008 and possibly one from 2004 that could be available in running condition.

[Mazur]

We still have the original first carbon monocoque car at our shop, but its no where near drivable condition.

[Sam. B.]

1989 Polytechnique de Montréal Formula SAE still running in autoslalom in Québec. Here is a thread on a french forum about the modifications they made: 1989 FSAE Poly (http://cadl.qc.ca/portail/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=2660)

Be aware there is a lot of rod-end in bending!
No fire wall and the radiator is ready leak on the driver's head.

[Mike Cook]

We have a working '87 car.

[Adambomb]

I'm pretty sure UTA's '88 car beat our '07 car at Texas Autocross last year. Although UTA's '88 car was running A-mod with no restrictor and a turbo. Funny, the engine in it was really familiar, it's the exact same one as in my '88 Ninja 600. I guess that was the hot ticket back then, read somewhere that like 2/3 of the field was running that engine. It was also the same engine we used in our first car in '94.

[RANeff]

You guys have some OLD cars! Our oldest is from '99, which was a twin 500cc honda. Its being retrofitted with an 01 R6 now however.

[Charlie]

I am in the middle of a restoration of Auburn's 2003 car. The car is in AL which is close to Road Atlanta. I'll keep the event in mind Dean, though I don't think I'll be able to make it.

[theTTshark]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mazur:
We still have the original first carbon monocoque car at our shop, but its no where near drivable condition. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What year?

[MegaDeath]

The oldest car we have is our 2010 car...Hahahaha

[mumbles]

I know Western Washington University has some old cars still. I think the 95/96 car is the only "old" one that still kinda ran when I graduated though. I know WWU's first entry (91?) which had 4 wheel steering is still around, although it doesn't run. As far as I know there is 7 or 8 cars in various states that nobody seems sure of what to do with. No time/resources to fix them but letting them go raises a lot of other problems. What do other schools do with their old cars?

[Andy K]

With the exception of a couple of schools, my guess would be that a lot of the them disappear and are never seen again. It primarily comes down to budget, re-using or selling off parts to fund the current car. We've started to keep complete running vehicles through lots of hard work on the funding/sponsorship side of things, primarily for promotional use and scaring the newbies... However, even after shop renovations resulting in double the usable space, we have had to limit our Baja and FSAE teams to only 2 old vehicles stored on the premises. Selling complete vehicles is a touchy subject as to market value, resale later AND, of course, the liability. It's a sad reality, but it some cases, it IS the smartest decision.

[Grayson]

I have been autocrossing the Purdue 97 car for years. It's in great condition. I also have a friend that autocrosses his 2000 car.

[Andrew_UTA]

http://fsae.uta.edu/images/family_08_sm.jpg

Here's UTA's line up as of 2008, so of course the 2009 and 2010 cars aren't in the photo.

[RyMan]

Is that 250 turbo still kicking from back in '01?
Does anyone else see a pattern beginning with car #01?

[Andrew_UTA]

We have a few cars that used the turbo 250s. '98 used one but isn't running currently, '99 is another but it was sold to an alumnus (still running as far as I know), and the '06 car which I believe set FTD at Texas Autocross Weekend this year. The '06 car developed some engine problems just before SCCA Nationals this year, but has since been rebuilt by alumni and should be race-ready.

[Mazur]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by theTTshark:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mazur:
We still have the original first carbon monocoque car at our shop, but its no where near drivable condition. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What year? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm pretty sure it's a 2002.

[Mazur]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by RyMan:
Is that 250 turbo still kicking from back in '01?
Does anyone else see a pattern beginning with car #01? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nope, they all look completely different.

[John_Burford]

My ears were burning so somebody must have mentioned the UTA 1998 car.

Arizona built a carbon fiber moncoque in 1992. There were some fiber glass and aluminum monocoques that preceded it. As a second year car in 1993, Arizona's car was in a MotorWeek video that showed the car from the back clearly displaying the phrase "Ours is stiffer".

[Bcohen5055]

A teammate recently found this on craigslist... It barely constitutes a full vintage car but we all got a pretty good laugh out of it.

[Mazur]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by John_Burford:
My ears were burning so somebody must have mentioned the UTA 1998 car.

Arizona built a carbon fiber moncoque in 1992. There were some fiber glass and aluminum monocoques that preceded it. As a second year car in 1993, Arizona's car was in a MotorWeek video that showed the car from the back clearly displaying the phrase "Ours is stiffer". </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

You're right. I don't know what made me think it was an '02.