Solar Car

[Nick Renold]

Maybe we should have the FSAE design judges do the solar challenge judging one year...

Would this mounting pass tech inspection in FSAE before failing during brake test?
twitpic.com/a6qlk3

Or this wiring for electric FSAE cars:
pic.twitter.com/R6uvij8x

Or this roll bar mounts like this:
pic.twitter.com/wEGCKrbm

Or ten second egress, when did that become acceptable?
youtube.com/watch?v=QcW0kemp9_U

Maybe I'm just biased because this is the team from my school and the only solar car I have seen up close.

Does your school's solar team do stuff like this?

[AxelRipper]

I thought their egress was supposed to be like 20 seconds?

But I know your feeling. You should see the Formula Zero car that our school tried building a few years ago (and never finished).

[MegaDeath]

At least the girl egressing has a nice butt.

On a more serious note, I definitely feel that competitors and officials of Formula SAE hold a much higher standard of what is acceptable in terms of the craftsmanship that goes into building systems for our cars than any other collegiate design series. Our electric team has been attempting to build a car for the past two years and some of the things I see them put on their car is mind blowing that they think it is acceptable; such as 21* of slop in the steering, welding directly to the races of spherical bearings, using cotter pins to transfer torque through the steering column, the list goes on...

[TMichaels]

It is of course the Scrutineers and not the judges who should prevent cars with these solutions to be driving.

I don't know their rules, so maybe all of this is ok within their rules set. In that case their rules need to improve first IMHO.

@MegaDeath:
The rules for electric and combustion cars with respect to mechanical stuff is identical and if you take a thorough look at the electric cars at FSG for example, you will find out that they are built to the same standards as the combustion cars are.

[MegaDeath]

I should have included European electric teams along with the bulk of F-SAE teams, because you are absolutely correct that many of them also work to a very high standard.

[BrendonD]

Oh, god, that rear shock mount... oh god...

[Drew Price]

It's not just poor engineering or lack scrutineering or carelessness.. There are lots of things there that are just plain dangerous in that car, and in many of the solar cars that I've seen.

I take solace knowing that none of those people will ever hold design jobs anyway.

Out in the real world competitive companies are good at sifting through the noise and finding people who actually know what they are doing. I think it works out in the end.

The 3 solar cars that NU built while I was around, and this one are so dangerous I wouldn't go anywhere near them. Stupid that they get the department money, but life isn't fair.