FSAE Michigan 2013

[Tinomik]

Well, nothing stops you, or other teams for having a separate "noise" tune/engine map.

Also the RPM defined by piston speed means that whatever happens at speeds higher than the tested ones, is "fair game".

Well, with a turbo, you might even set your competition rev limiter lower than the noise test RPM.... But still fail noise.

And remember all the dbA, dbC noise filtering stuff. Did you have the correct setting at your db Meter?

[Bill_Murray]

Since there is this talk of acceleration staging advantage and teams not sharing information....

https://lh5.googleusercontent....taging+Advantage.jpg

Effect of staging distance on acceleration run time for constant 1 G acceleration

Pretty easy to whip up an excel sheet for yourself to play with if you are curious.

[Markus]

Originally posted by TMichaels:
I have to admit though that the FSG way of staging is not rules compliant...

Maybe the radius at skidpad was not right... Jokes aside. I only wanted to point out that the achieved times can not necessarily be directly compared due to several factors (track going downhill, staging with more distance to the starting line, track being too short) influencing them.
Which is why I am always careful with stating something about world's quickest whatever run, etc.

While the same is true for the previous record times (conditions unknown), that and the clearly higher grip of the surface are reasons why our team never bashed around about having "world record times". Even though we were aware that our times were the fastest at the time in both acceleration and skidpad (and both have later been beaten by Budapest and Monash respectively).

From marketing point of view we should have done some bashing around to get publicity... But that's another story, it's not our style and we don't want to be one of the teams making egotistical claims.

However now someone called for the fastest time ever and I felt I should share it along with a bit of history what's happened after the previous fastest time.

If Guinness wasn't there, it didn't happen ;-)

Raises and interesting dilemma:
You know that Greenteam Stuttgart is the Guinness world record holder and you've seen Delft in FSG. Which one would you think is the fastest in the world?

PS. Getting a bit off track here but does Guinness records have restrictions on the surface they're driven? Just wondering because all 0-100km/h etc WR's are highly sensitive to the environment.

[VFR750R]

I gotta say, I was not expecting that much difference in time for a few feet of staging difference, good catch.

All this talk of surfaces, it would be interesting to see what a FSAE car would do on a prepared surface like an actual drag strip. Anyone who's gone drag racing before, will attest to the surface at the starting line being very tacky; to the point of removing sandals and other loose fitting shoes.

Anyone willing to fess up to trying it?

[Canuck Racing]

Originally posted by rjwoods77:
Bracket racing for money at the local 1/8th mile drag strip would make for a fun way to raise funds and gain sponsorship through generation of local interest if it can be done safely. Jr Drag wrinkle wall tires for 10" wheels are available and you could even do bigs and skinnys for the full effect. Talk to the event promoter and get bye runs only so there isn't a safety issue running side by side with a full size vehicle.

You don't see any safety issue with running over 2.5 the maximum straight line distance FSAE cars should run? In close proximity to catch fences and guard rails?

Have at him boys.

[rjwoods77]

Removed prior post and response. Detracted from thread.

[VFR750R]

In Rob's defense, just because the strip is 1/8 mile long doesn't mean the driver needs to do full 1/8mile runs. I believe there is a timing loop at 60ft and 330ft if the team intends to do multiple runs with changes, plus using on board data acquisition.

I certainly would agree going to the drag strip would generate a lot of interest and a lot of smart (and not so smart) people that could give you opinions and ideas, as well as possible leads for sponsorship on machine work, and cheap parts. Seems like a reasonable proposition for a test/tune night at the local strip.

That said, who knows if the drag strip would let you run, I think when I took a mini-sprint to the drag strip a few times the wheelbase was questioned, but the safety equipment was decent so they let me run. And if the school is providing insurance for the team/car, you'll have to clear it, better off asking permission rather than ask forgiveness on that one.

When I took the mini-sprint, lots of people stopped by to check it out because it was 'different', and I got a lead on FJ1200 parts (that was the engine in it).

[TMichaels]

I gotta say, I was not expecting that much difference in time for a few feet of staging difference, good catch.

In reality it is even more sensitive to staging due to the fact that acceleration is, ideally, at its maximum at the beginning and not constant over the entire run.

You can gain about 0.1s in acceleration with the "correct" nose shape, if you tailor it to the lightbarrier setup. Of course only, if the staging is done rules compliant.

[Markus]

Makes it a bit difficult as trap height is not defined in the rules and might change from comp to comp.

But for FSG staging you might be able to gain that 0.1s by using an "underhanging" nose design to nicely match the low trap height and then use a suspension setup that results in enough pitch angle to get over the trap.

[TMichaels]

I guess we need to build a stand for the lightbarriers which randomly adjusts it height after each run