FSAE Michigan 2013

[tromoly]

Originally posted by theTTshark:
The problem was that only design finalists were allowed to run then. The rest of us top Auto-X finishers then had significantly different conditions compared to the design finals teams. In 2011 we had won auto-x, the design finalists got to run in the sun, and by the time they got to us ~5pm, it had decreased temp by at least 10F, got cloudly, and started to mist/sprinkle, then they started putting teams who had barely passed tech out there with us. Needless to say, we weren't too pleased. The weather was one thing, but running with teams 20-35 seconds slower than us was ridiculous to say the least. Now at least all the top auto-x finishers get the chance to have the same conditions as one another.

That would explain this video well then.
http://youtu.be/bYhJd8x0BIc

[Steve Fox]

Congratulations to all teams at FSAE-MI. I was unable to attend Wednesday & Thursday due to a day job commitment, but was able to be on-site all day Friday & Saturday. Tony & Bill had the Design Event well under control. Dr. Dave Redszus (Design Event Captain for Lincoln this year) also assisted. My informal survey of teams on Friday & Saturday showed that practically all teams received Design debriefings from at least one (and frequently several) Design Judges.

I don’t know how you all feel about it, but the ‘Call for a Design Judge Review’ program seems to be working well. Chris Patton (ex-GFR) was the designated phone guy this year. He did an excellent job.

Congratulations to the winners of the Best Three View Drawing Award. The quality of three view drawings in the DRs was up quite a bit (again) this year. This award is working out far better than even I could have imagined when we rolled it out a few years ago.

Now for a few comments and a few questions…

Congratulations to U. of Akron, Zips Racing. Did anyone else notice that they reinvented themselves this year? Mono-cylinder engine, 10” tires, wings. Wow! THAT is a lot to bite off in one year, and a third place overall to show for it!

Congratulations to Cornell as well. Absolutely AWESOME Accel run. Perhaps the fastest run in FSAE history? (Anyone know, for sure?) For those of you who did not see it, you missed something special! Cornell has always had a strong engine program, but this year they tried something different in their chassis set-up. I know a few of you asked about and discussed it with Cornell. The rest of you… well, ask Cornell!

I review the results carefully, and do several ‘what if’ analyses. That usually leads to several questions about what happened to teams I did not actually see during dynamics.

Virginia Tech, would you care to tell us what happened to Accell & Skid Pad?

GFR, (Dr. Paasch) thanks, as always for the clear, in-depth explanation of your team’s efforts, both the highlights as well as the warts… I, for one, enjoy reading the candid, honest reports on your team’s efforts. Good luck at Baja this week.

Maryland, Missouri S&T, Michigan-Ann Arbor, Wisconsin & Penn State (31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th & 35th place). WOW! Top teams relegated to 30th plus positions due to Endurance DNFs. What happened?

RIT, I personally witnessed your heroic struggle to remove, disassemble, rebuild, and re-install your starter in the staging area of Endurance. You kept swingin until there was no swing left in ya!

Air Force Academy was on their way to a strong finish, until the tip of their attenuator fell off, ending their Endurance run prematurely. Seems I can recall that happening to a top team in Germany a few years ago…

I am not trying to single any team’s failures out for ridicule. I always find it interesting to hear ‘the rest of the story’… As I have always said, my interest in this competition stems from the diversity of all the cars. At competition, there are so many other little micro-stories to be told as well.

There is always something to be learned at Formula SAE! Again, Congratulations to all teams who competed this year!

[vtec_24]

Steve,

I believe the record for fastest accel is Michigan-Ann Arbor with a 3.766 in 2010 (Cornell's run this year was a 3.830) so not quite, but close!

[bob.paasch]

Originally posted by vtec_24:
Steve,

I believe the record for fastest accel is Michigan-Ann Arbor with a 3.766 in 2010 (Cornell's run this year was a 3.830) so not quite, but close!

Do we get to include e-cars? Delft's 3.454 run (with 4wd burnout) last year at FSE was absolutely astonishing.

[Steve Fox]

Yes, nice try Bob, BUT... E-cars (especially with AWD) are e-cars. But, you are right, Delft's run was awesome as well. I was talking about IC cars only. So, Michigan Ann-Arbor @ 3.766 is the all-time best? (IC)

[Markus]

I guess they were talking about FSAE Michigan.

The best combustion time I know of is Budapest at FS Hungary 2012 with 3.653, before that it was Helsinki with a 3.678 at FS Hungary 2011.

[VFR750R]

Looks like Hungary has some good pavement, not that I would be biased or anything

[Dr Tron]

soooo... I had a design judge come up and review our teams score with us and explain why we got an 81, I saw it written in blue pen and then in the official results I see we have a 60. Is there some kind of scaling thing? am I missing something because all scores seems to be nice round even numbers???

someone help me or let me know who I can contact pease

[Edward M. Kasprzak]

Yes, you're missing something. The first thing the design judge should have explained was that the score on that sheet and your official score *will* be different. Think of the score on the sheet as being for our (design judges) internal use. At Michigan our goal is to place each team into an appropriate bin, corresponding to 100+ points (design finalist), 100 pts, 80 pts, 60 pts and 40 pts (this applies to most of the field). We're confident we can score you into the correct bin, but we know there is no way we can tell you that you're 2 points better than team X and 1 point behind team Y. We just can't operate at that resolution. Thus, the official score reflects the bin or group you are placed in. The score on the sheet helps the DJs and the lead DJs determine the correct bin.

I hope that explains it.

[Dr Tron]

That helps alot however if the score on the sheet was to place us in a "bin" and we got an 81, wouldn't the appropriate bin be the 80 bin.