Alcohol Sponsors?

[boxsterb1]

Our sponsorship campaign is in full swing here at Miami and we have some pretty good contacts within some brewing companies. The question has arose as to whether it is allowed within the rules for them to sponsor us. Any help would be great.

[boxsterb1]

Our sponsorship campaign is in full swing here at Miami and we have some pretty good contacts within some brewing companies. The question has arose as to whether it is allowed within the rules for them to sponsor us. Any help would be great.

[Customline]

We had a local brewery sponsor us for 2005, we didn't have anyone say anything about it. Although I have never looked at the rules to see if it is illegal or not.

[Afazz]

At FSAE 2004 there was a team running Heineken keg-cans as oil and water catch cans. They removed them for the dynamic events, i'm not sure if they just didn't pass tech or if it was an infringement of the rules. Does anyone remember the team?

[VFR750R]

Arn't the minimum catch can size a quart? That could be why Heiniken Keg cans don't qualify.

I think someone should get Jack Daniels. If you do, i'll garuntee a picture of your car next to the 07 cup car.

[rjwoods77]

I always wanted to be sponsored by a strip club or sex toy manufacturer.

[Chris Davin]

When I read the title, I thought you were talking about an E85 sponsorship! There are no rules in the rule book that prohibit any particular type of sponsor. I'd be more concerned about how the university feels about having a brewer as a sponsor. Cornell (the university) controls the FSAE team's budget and I'm sure they have the power to put the nix on any sponsorship deal they don't like. My advice would be to consult with your faculty advisor.

[Chris Davin]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by VFR750R:
I think someone should get Jack Daniels. If you do, i'll garuntee a picture of your car next to the 07 cup car. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'd say go for a liquor with a higher alcohol content, something strong enough to run the dyno on. It would kill two birds with one stone. The ultimate picture would be of the engine team running the dyno in the middle of the night, on liquor, at full power, headers slightly glowing, with each team member pounding from a bottle. It would be like that old PCBExpress picture, but ten times better.

[Wizard]

I wanted to get Olde English as a sponsor when we got the number 40.

[J. Schmidt]

We've been sponsored by a distilling company and a couple bars downtown with no issues. Without having any good competition stories for the guys at least I can exlain how we pulled off those sponsors.

[Dick Golembiewski]

MSOE had Miller Brewing as its major sponsor in 1985 and 1986 with no trouble.

[Captain Redbeard]

We almost had a brewing company sponsor a few years back, they backed out as soon as they found out we had people under 21 on the team. Oh well.

[nathan s]

I don't believe there is anything in the FSAE rules about it, but there is probably something in the school rules. I know we aren't allowed to have alcohol or anything that might look negative on the school, which sucks cuz that throws out Jack Daniels and Hooters (Jack Daniels is like 45 min from Huntsville).

[Jeff The Pyro]

i bet you could run a fsae car on bacardi 151...

E-75.5

[Urvina]

you could always play it safe and get O'Doules
a less filling brew AND non-alcoholic

[CMURacing - Prometheus]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jeff The Pyro:
i bet you could run a fsae car on bacardi 151...

E-75.5 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

the only problem with this is that E85 is 15% GASOLINE, not 15% water...one of my colleagues this summer planned to build a still, then use the (corn) alcohol both as fuel for his partying and his motorcycle...i pointed out that he was going to need water and gasoline, respectively, to mix them with, as the pure variants behave a little differently...

[AmandaG]

Definately not in the fsae rules however our university wont let us be sponsored by alcohol or cigarette companies, or anything else that looks bad for them http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

[jonno]

I chased this up with the powers that be (cos one of our guys worked at the UK budweiser factory) and the response from formula student management was that it was fine, so long as we didn't bring any bud on site. (un)fortunately the only way they could sponsor us was by providing free beer if we threw a fundraising party.

[Frank]

asked FSAE_ australasia about this in 2001

alcohol OK
cigs NOT OK

uni policy = alcohol OK

money from alcohol sponsors = nil

http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

"never burn your bridges, unless they're made from magnesium"

[EliseS2]

I am pretty sure a certian university from New Foundland was sponsored by a beer company and bar. The beer company gave them all the beer they needed. So the bar allowed them to rent out the bar, so the team rented hot tubs and some dancers. The team then charged cover and sold the beer in order to fund the team. And I seem to rememeber stories of them crossing the US-Canadian with massive amounts of alchohol with underage drivers, but I could be wrong.

[Jeff The Pyro]

hah... now that i think about it... i think someone chased down a beer sponsorship for our team a couple years ago. it was bud or coors or something and they graciously gave us 1 case of beer, and it was sent to someone on the team. and that was the last anyone heard of it.

[FSAEracer03]

For those in states who can buy it, you could try running on 190 Everclear. THat's only 5% water, and that could be used for cooling anyways, haha.

Though I'm not sure you all would want to try having a team picture chugging 190... been there, done that, don't remember much.

[drivetrainUW-Platt]

we're college kids.....

beer happens

http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[RBbugBITme]

Any change to this since 2005? Anyone have an alcohol sponsor currently?

[JD232]

Our Major... and I am talking real money... is a brewrie... and we are supposed to have a bottle of vodka on the car...

[RBbugBITme]

What school are you from? I actually am searching out who has had or currently has alcohol sponsorships in the hope that our school will give it the OK.

[PSUAlum06]

A guy I work with was on the Colorado FSAE team a few years ago and apparently they had a Coors sponsorship. I don't know if beer was provided, but they let them use their parking lot as a test track. One of his stories is the time they were testing and were assaulted by empty beer cans.

[JD232]

I am from India,
we basically work independent from our university, they dont give us any aid in anything, except some sympathetic professors who guide and provide proxy attendance when we travel on project duty...

anyway... uni is Laxmi Devi Institute of Engg. and Tech.

http://www.torque-india.com

[Brett Neale]

Adelaide Uni were sponsored by Coopers in 2005 (a South Australian brewery). I believe all they got was free beer for events and whatnot, I'm not sure if there was any cash involved. That was back when we ran wings, the Coopers logo was plastered all the way across the rear wing's main element...

[Jersey Tom]

We were indeed sponsored by Coors during the 2006 season. Got to use their corporate lot in Golden, CO.. which reeked of brewery, was windy as hell, and covered by a surprising amount of sand and gravel. The surface was the most cracked, abrasive asphalt I've seen. Made the Silverdome looked flat.

Unfortunately there was no product sponorship.. though we certainly gave them a ridiculous amount of business.

And yes, a highlight was a tarp flying off a supply truck on a particularly windy day and literally a wave of thousands of empty beer cans waiting to be filled, flying through the air and attacking us. Our course and "pit area" turned into a storm of flying cans, cones, rocks and sand. We were / are also sponsored by Chipotle who gave us free burritos, which was excellent.

With regard to having big alcohol sponsors on the car and having that tied to the University's name.. like many teams I'm sure, we like to cruise under the radar of the university lawyers, and so long as we don't cause too much trouble the ME Dept doesn't can us. In any event, if they're a sponsor, GET THEM ON BOARD and put a big ol sticker on your car. If someone wants to cause a fuss, cross that bridge when you come to it. Easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.

[BeaverGuy]

Probably the best bet for getting an OK for alcohol sponsors is to look at who your athletic deparments has corporate marketing and sponsorship deals with. While the athletic deparmtents are generally independent entities they still carry the school name. You may still have issues at the department level though.

With a quick look at the Drexel site, it appears that a local bar, World Cafe Live, sponsors the athletic department.

[RBbugBITme]

You are a freaking genius! Even better, they're sponsored by Mad Mex and Cavanaugh's which are big drinking spots around here.

[PSUAlum06]

I haven't been to the Mad Mex in Philly, but the one in State College is/was awesome. If it wasn't for the food specials I would have starved my junior year.

[The AFX Master]

Not about Alcohol, but a John Player Special formula SAE would be neat..

BTW we dropped a huge Red Bull sponsorship due to university donation regarded policy.. so, alcohol is so faaar away for us.

[Anvit Garg]

omg this is an AWESOME idea.

Since our engineering department refuses to support our car, what better way to get back at them than to have something like "CONDOM DEPOT" right next to our school name!

(They have condom depot sponsors on the UFC, its hilarious.)

[RBbugBITme]

For future dreamers... Drexel won't be searching out alcohol sponsors. We're only allowed to be sponsored by a business that makes 50.1% of its revenue from something other than alcohol, hence the local bars/restaurants on Drexel's website.

[D Collins Jr]

So, this gets away from alcohol a little bit, but I'm curious if anyone out there is sponsored by a casino?

[Kemper]

Can you claim that "as beer is less than 10% alcohol, a brewery technically makes more than 90% of its revenue out of 'barley juice' and water" and hook up a sponsor?

damn, I think I got too much into this find-breech-in-rules thing after started FSAE... lol

[The AFX Master]

We need a Spencer Yunick to learn how to bend the rules like a main hoop in order to get such a sponsor lol!