2014 FSAE-Australasia

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Originally Posted by Z

...I have to give high praise to Mitchell and the whole UQ Team for the very calm way they handled all their problems. There is an apt quote about "... when all around you are losing their heads...".

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"If..."
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(Rudyard Kipling)

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Z

This could have wider implications, but one thing I wish was broadcast was the design review of the finalists/winners. If this is supposed to be an engineering competition that encourages everyone to learn, then I'd place equal importance on the review compared to the actual cars running, even if less exciting. The review always goes over the pros and cons of the information shared by those students who presented the car and where they could improve and where they excel. I know making note of attending the review at every competition I've been to has made me re-consider how much I don't know of what I don't know. Just being aware that (for example) CoP migration can be a concern instills me with a with a will to seek how out large of a concern, what factors may aggravate this concern, and if there are larger fish to fry before becoming tripped up on details of my possible CoP migration.

The posts like that from GTS I highly value. Thank you!

There are a few videos on Youtube recorded by students, and Claude at several competitions gives some of the best feedback. Bill Riley also gives some depth to help. There's a reason these are done publicly at competitions, I just think it should be a little more public if possible!

Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6-sr8D6WPU

It has been an epic week. I'm home now after sailing on the ship last night with the truck (and UTAS car hidden under camping gear).

Our team is on a high after full participation in endurance, both rounds. We came 14th overall, came 3rd in fuel efficiency (as a side effect of low power), and we won the CAMS award.

We did some late lights in the preceding weeks/days and somehow got the car together with a tiny bit of testing, however we had not yet bought new tyres. It was mostly bits of sticky tape, some aluminium sheet and a few rivets that got us through scrutineering.

Acceleration and skidpan was a very poor result because of poor tyres, but we could hardly believe we were entering dynamic events and progressing through the comp.

I suited up for autocross but our engine locked up during practice. The short story is, I thought that was the end, I got a bit emotional. But our faculty adviser helped pull some strings and with some spare parts magically appearing and the keys to the Monash workshop, myself and 6 other UTAS students did an all nighter and fixed the car. (Engine out on bench, etc.) Thanks also to the Canterbury guys using the same building that had a similar engine, and gave good advice.

So with 2 hours sleep, I suit up for endurance. And all at the same time, Wollongong give us newish tyres! (Which we had to change on the ground with tyre levers and soap). Despite having to suit up myself, I see about 5 guys from various teams trying to change our tyres without success, so I had to show them how to do it. With so much stuff going on at once driving endurance was a struggle. I probably hit too many cones for it to count. But we looked after the car and our afternoon drivers had a change to watch the videos of the course, and they got a result for us.

Maybe 1.5 or 1.7kg of fuel?

Our car has very heavy steering. Power feels good, but I havn't driven the other cars.

We missed autocross, but still a bit emotional to finish both endurance runs, despite the score or hitting cones.

Also, we came 11th in design. I was in the pits answering questions the whole time in design. I don't know what our other team members said or how it was judged.

The after party, and after after party back at the campsite... I doubt anything will be said about this on a public forum, but you can imagine if Dr Wordly did a shirt swap with Maddie Tonks it would be very tight! The dress he was wearing didn't help either.

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Originally Posted by Z

[B] ... A cordial but all too brief discussion followed where Claude, if I understood him correctly, suggested that his advice to Teams would be to steer well clear of Direct-Acting-Spring-Dampers.

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Really??

Tim

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Originally Posted by MCoach

The posts like that from GTS I highly value. Thank you!

There are a few videos on Youtube recorded by students, and Claude at several competitions gives some of the best feedback.

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Anytime. Any suggestions you (or anyone else) can put together about judges/industry might contribute in a more structured way throughout the course of the year would go a long way.

Claude is spot on with a lot, particularly on team culture.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MCoach

This could have wider implications, but one thing I wish was broadcast was the design review of the finalists/winners. If this is supposed to be an engineering competition that encourages everyone to learn, then I'd place equal importance on the review compared to the actual cars running, even if less exciting. The review always goes over the pros and cons of the information shared by those students who presented the car and where they could improve and where they excel. I know making note of attending the review at every competition I've been to has made me re-consider how much I don't know of what I don't know. Just being aware that (for example) CoP migration can be a concern instills me with a with a will to seek how out large of a concern, what factors may aggravate this concern, and if there are larger fish to fry before becoming tripped up on details of my possible CoP migration.

The posts like that from GTS I highly value. Thank you!

There are a few videos on Youtube recorded by students, and Claude at several competitions gives some of the best feedback. Bill Riley also gives some depth to help. There's a reason these are done publicly at competitions, I just think it should be a little more public if possible!

Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6-sr8D6WPU

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Could not agree more! Every year I hunt down judges for similar feedback (or anyone willing to comment) and we have a pretty good database so far concerning our car/team.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Z

A cordial but all too brief discussion followed where Claude, if I understood him correctly, suggested that his advice to Teams would be to steer well clear of Direct-Acting-Spring-Dampers.

Z

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That's funny, since he told us in Canada 2013 that he felt a team could win with DASD's (which Monash has clearly shown to be true).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MCoach

This could have wider implications, but one thing I wish was broadcast was the design review of the finalists/winners. If this is supposed to be an engineering competition that encourages everyone to learn, then I'd place equal importance on the review compared to the actual cars running, even if less exciting. The review always goes over the pros and cons of the information shared by those students who presented the car and where they could improve and where they excel. I know making note of attending the review at every competition I've been to has made me re-consider how much I don't know of what I don't know. Just being aware that (for example) CoP migration can be a concern instills me with a with a will to seek how out large of a concern, what factors may aggravate this concern, and if there are larger fish to fry before becoming tripped up on details of my possible CoP migration.

The posts like that from GTS I highly value. Thank you!

There are a few videos on Youtube recorded by students, and Claude at several competitions gives some of the best feedback. Bill Riley also gives some depth to help. There's a reason these are done publicly at competitions, I just think it should be a little more public if possible!

Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6-sr8D6WPU

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This. All of this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GTS

Anytime. Any suggestions you (or anyone else) can put together about judges/industry might contribute in a more structured way throughout the course of the year would go a long way.

Claude is spot on with a lot, particularly on team culture.

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Steve Fox has an SAE seminar in the US where he will come to a University to give a presentation to teams. SAE funds the trip, and he sat down with our team leadership for breakfast. Unfortunately, his flight arrangements didn't allow more detailed design review, but he was very frank about project goals/undertakings (maybe to the point of gruff, but I didn't think it was bad) and changed our minds about some things that we had been set on doing. We were only able to have a small amount of discussion with him at Lincoln 2013 after that talk, but that may have been our problem for not seeking him out at competitions to close the feedback loop from his visit. That would make a pretty good starting point, if Australia (and other countries) wanted to do something similar.

-Matt

I don't think the Australasia comp has a design finals part. The teams are just judged individually. I was not aware of any public address from the judges about the design of the cars. Let me know if there was, I would be interested.

So far, I only know of the design score as a single number.