Upcoming OptimumG Claude Rouelle Seminars

[mtg]

As many of you know, Claude Rouelle gives one his 3-Day racecar engineering and data acquisition seminars for FSAE students each year- usually directly after each competition.


The schedule for the upcoming FSAE seminars is:

Australia FSAE at MoTeC office on May 8-10
US East FSAE near the Ford proving ground on May 22-24, directly after competition
US West FSAE near the California Speedway on June 18-20, directly after competition


Content for the FSAE seminars for this year has been updated with more information (in part from the 12 day workshop) related to the vehicle dynamics, race car engineering design, simulation and testing as well as new ways to analyze the car and the driver with data acquisition. And, I'm sure Claude will also be happy to answer any questions about the recent discussion about slip angles and lateral accelerometers.

Online FSAE Seminar Info (http://optimumg.com/seminar_fsae.htm)
Online FSAE Seminar Registration (http://store.prostores.com/servlet/optimumeducation/Categories?category=FSAE+Seminar)

Pricing: The seminar is free, but the jokes cost $295/person, or $265/person for a group of 3 or more.

[mtg]

As many of you know, Claude Rouelle gives one his 3-Day racecar engineering and data acquisition seminars for FSAE students each year- usually directly after each competition.


The schedule for the upcoming FSAE seminars is:

Australia FSAE at MoTeC office on May 8-10
US East FSAE near the Ford proving ground on May 22-24, directly after competition
US West FSAE near the California Speedway on June 18-20, directly after competition


Content for the FSAE seminars for this year has been updated with more information (in part from the 12 day workshop) related to the vehicle dynamics, race car engineering design, simulation and testing as well as new ways to analyze the car and the driver with data acquisition. And, I'm sure Claude will also be happy to answer any questions about the recent discussion about slip angles and lateral accelerometers.

Online FSAE Seminar Info (http://optimumg.com/seminar_fsae.htm)
Online FSAE Seminar Registration (http://store.prostores.com/servlet/optimumeducation/Categories?category=FSAE+Seminar)

Pricing: The seminar is free, but the jokes cost $295/person, or $265/person for a group of 3 or more.

[absolutepressure]

All of these seminars are always so fucking expensive. I'd really like to go to them, but even the "great deal on student pricing" that you get with some still put it over $500, and that's not including the plane ticket. I feel that I could learn a lot by going to this one, but it's just too expensive.

[RiNaZ]

it's gone up more this year i guess. When i went for the seminar in 04, it was $195.

Any new things added to the FSAE seminar?

[Kevin Hayward]

I know there was a lot of new material added to the seminars in the last 6 months. Not all of it has been added to the FSAE seminar, but there is a lot of new and revised stuff.

There are quite a few of us ex-FSAE guys at OptimumG and we care a lot about the competition. We also keep active (when we can) in these forums. If you have suggestions of what you would like to learn, or what you feel you are missing from books, we can pass the suggestion on to Claude.

If it is not currently covered in the FSAE seminar there is a strong chance the material has been covered in some of the seminars aimed at more professional clients. If it is not then it may be specifically created for the FSAE seminar. Feedback always helps. You can use these forums for suggestions and be assured they will at least be seen and considered.

I always hate coming across as the company man, but I really believe that the Claude seminars are the best one shot injection of mtorsport knowledge you are likely to get.

Cheers,

Kev

ex UWA Motorsport

[JerryLH3]

Last year there was a seminar in October, at the OptimumG offices. Will that happen again this year?

[js10coastr]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by RiNaZ:
it's gone up more this year i guess. When i went for the seminar in 04, it was $195.

Any new things added to the FSAE seminar? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

more jokes, more videos... hence the price jump.

[Garlic]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by absolutepressure:
All of these seminars are always so fucking expensive. I'd really like to go to them, but even the "great deal on student pricing" that you get with some still put it over $500, and that's not including the plane ticket. I feel that I could learn a lot by going to this one, but it's just too expensive. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's not THAT expensive. Any student, I don't care how poor you are, can scrape together $300 with 3-4 months notice. If you are already at FSAE, no plane ticket required. And hell, you are in Wisconsin. Many are much further.

It's all in priorities. If you want it bad enough you'll do it. If you don't, you'll make excuses.

[PatClarke]

Hi All,
When we spoke with Claude about doing his first FSAE Seminar (in Australia several years ago) there were objections that the course was too expensive. I took it on myself to drive the sales program to get a minimum number of participants, and in fact we were really over subscribed.
The sales line I used was 'Even if you have to live on baked beans for a month, scrape the money together and be there"!
There was not a single attendee who didnt feel he had gotten more than his moneys worth. And nobody complained about the high methane levels in the lecture room =].
Seriously, as Garlic said, scrape the money together and BE THERE! Otherwise you are just not being serious about this.
Regards to all
Pat Clarke

[Fil]

Gday guys,

the current dates posted for the australian seminar are a problem for us, as alot of the people who are keen to go cant spare the 3 days in that period. We are getting to the end of semester and they just cant afford the time.

Is there any possibility of moving the date to what it was last year?

cheers,
Fil Juric
Monash FSAE

[PatClarke]

Another shove from Pat D'Rat =]
I was talking with Claude today and he tells me there are significant incusions and changes to the FSAE seminar.
No doubt, a lot of this is due to him having some significant ex FSAE guys working for him (Hi Justin, Hi Kev, Hi Naughty..and congrats mate...its not naughty any more =] and Hi Patrick)having input to what is required in a dedicated FSAE seminar.
Like most things in motorsport, the target is mobile. The Aussies keep raising that bar! So to keep abreast you need to study! That includes me, so I'll attend the next seminar I can get to!
Like I said, if you don't do this you will always be behind those who do! Develop a taste for baked beans if necessary =]
All the usual disclaimers, I have nothing to do with OptimumG or Claude apart from respect and friendship.
Regards to all
Pat Clarke

[Marc Jaxa-Rozen]

Just to make sure as we're currently settling travel arrangements for FSAE West- as far as I know and as mentioned in the first post, the seminar is three days, but the OptimumG website says "You will learn in 2 days (2 very intensive days! From 8:00 AM to probably late at night) more than you can get in any racing books".

So is the entire seminar three days, with the third day being focused on data acquisition with Motec personnel, as I believe it was in the past? Or is there no Motec presentation this year?

Marc Jaxa-Rozen
École Polytechnique de Montréal

[kwancho]

Bump. I've got the exact same question.

[RiNaZ]

What they do is that the first 2 days are on DAQ and the last day is where the MOTEC engineer comes in and talks about ECM and all other features on MOTEC.

So basically, claude will talk for the first 2 days. And believe me, when it says intensive ... they really mean it. If you cant do 7am to 9.30pm ... with an hour lunch break ... dont even think of attending.

You have to really have interest in it to go to the seminar. And have lots of question, becoz if you dont, he's gonna go into jokes and funny clips. It's a lot of fun, even for ADD guy like me, i was able to concentrate really well, which really surprises me (never knew i can concentrate more than 10 mins) http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif .

Also, claude is more general on his DAQ seminar and cover a lot of things in 2 days. So if you still feel like you want to know more about DAQ in details, i recommend going to:

http://www.auto-ware.com/webinar_home.html

[RiNaZ]

hey marc,
sorry i didnt read your question carefully. I think it's still 3 days with the motec personel coming in on the last days.

It makes sense since OptimumG would advertise for those days that they're actually going to be doing the seminar. Im pretty sure if motec had advertised their seminar, it'd be 3 days, instead of saying it one day, which is the last day.

i dont know ... im just guessing http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif .

[Kevin Hayward]

Just an update on some of the questions.

The Australian Seminar date cannot be changed at this stage. However we would like to know what the scheduling problem is to avoid it next year. Is it exams?

Secondly there will be an OptimumG seminar in Colorado this year. The date is not the same as last year. I will track down the date for you, or you can send an email into admin@optimumg.com to find out when it will be.

Finally Claude and OptimumG have spent a lot of time recently on the Data Acquisition content of the seminars. A lot of which has been based on what the company uses when working with race teams. It is a major part of the longer 12 day seminar, however the information exists.

As RiNaZ has mentioned ask questions. Lots of them. Claude will have the material with him. If you do manage to ask a question that he can't answer, or at least point you in the right direction for an answer, he takes it as a personal challenge. It is a big reason why the content of the seminars continually improves.

Cheers,

Kev

(ex UWA, current OptimumG)

[Cory M]

How does the FSAE seminar differ from the normal 3 day seminar?

[RiNaZ]

Cory, just telling you what i know ... the 3 day seminar at the main HQ has more topics to be covered than the one available for the 3 days FSAE seminar.

I dont know every one of them, but some of the topics not covered in the FSAE is aerodynamics and hysteresis. You can check optimumg website for the differences.

OptimumG also have a 12 day seminar which is a step up from the 3 day seminar. So basically, it's:

1. FSAE 3 day seminar = beginner
2. OptimumG 3 day seminar = intermediate
3. OptimumG 12 day seminar = expert (more hands-on)

the seminar changed from year to year. So like claude said, he'll bet that by the time you finish the seminar, you'll learn at least 10 new things. He also gives a lot of comments on what he sees in the current FSAE competitors, you'll learn a lot.

Having said that, going to the seminar wont make you todt, bryne, gascoyne or newey, but you'd definitely be a more inform engineer by the time you finish it. If you never had vehicle dynamics or basic auto. eng. slang, i suggest you start reading. This will save you a lot of time wondering the terms that he'd be using. It took me half the day to finally figure out that he was saying "transient" and not "tranjent or tangent".

Im not a spokeperson for optimumg, but i figured i'd tell you what i know. I think 70% of the ppl who work in optimumg are on this board. Im sure they can answer all your questions if they only have the time for it. I heard claude really work them http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif.

p/s: if you're spending $295 for the seminar, make sure you dont fall asleep. You will, IMHO, but make it a point not to fall asleep, coz you'll be missing a lot of things, not to mention that you paid a whole lot of money for it.

[mtg]

Its not so much that the FSAE is a beginner seminar and the regular 3 day is an intermediate. They just have different audiences, and are tailored to fit those audiences.

In FSAE, you are designing the car from scratch and you have a different perspective than somebody who buys a car that's the same as everybody else's car and they're trying to tweak what the rules allow.

[Jersey Tom]

I'm bummed I couldnt make the trip to Denver for the last FSAE seminar at OptimumG. I'll definately be at the next one.

[racer girl]

Some of you may be wondering about the content of the 2006 seminar and how it differs from last year's event, so I wanted to give you some details.

There are many differences in the content of the new FSAE specific seminar, including the addition of a significant aerodynamics section.

The seminar will also highlight the new i2 software from MoTeC. Whether you use MoTeC data acquisition or not, i2 allows us to better understand measure and improve the car and the driver and Claude will share these new data analysis techniques with you.

For many FSAE teams the weakest link is the driver. i2 allows us to significantly improve the way we measure, compare and coach drivers.

Here are a few of the new seminar topics:

- Using channel reports and the run charts method to look at the performance of your car and your driver from a global perspective over an entire race weekend.

- Calculating the roll moment distribution between the front and rear track and looking at what part of this is coming from the dampers, from the ARB, from the geometry, and from the springs.

- Using frequency analysis to make a shock adjustment.

- Measuring and displaying the coast factor.

- Using the new 2D and 3D calculation tables. Damper curves, aero maps and more can be easily incorporated into your math channels.

- Calculating the dynamic positions of your roll centers around the track.

- Quantifying the bumpiness of one circuit and comparing it to another circuit.

- Making better use of the shock speed histogram method thanks to a new, specific system to quantify how often and by how much the rear roll occurs after the front roll.

- Using your engine dyno data and you throttle trace to quantify how well you use the engine on the race track.

The seminar will also include many new vehicle dynamics explanations, particularly the concept of the transient magic number and also a huge amount of information on Aerodynamics.

Claude will introduce all of them in the FSAE seminar in a binder with more than 400 pages! If you are interested and want to register or get more information please visit www.optimumg.com (http://www.optimumg.com). For questions please email me at engineering@optimumg.com

[Marc Jaxa-Rozen]

For all Quebec teams, we will be hosting one of Claude's seminars (en français) from November 17th-19th at École Polytechnique if there is enough interest (30 people), so let us know here or at fsae@polymtl.ca if you're interested in registering.

Regards-

Marc Jaxa-Rozen
École Polytechnique de Montréal
http://www.fsae.polymtl.ca

[Jonathan R.]

This is great! For sure I'm there. We are 6 people from Université Laval willing to go, and probably more people will add-up.

[Marc Jaxa-Rozen]

Here's the full registration info:
http://www.etudiants.polymtl.ca/fsae/Seminaire_Claude_Rouelle.pdf

Marc Jaxa-Rozen
École Polytechnique de Montréal
http://www.fsae.polymtl.ca