I figured I should share the club that has taken up most of my time and has used most of my photography since the last posts, and that is Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers). What is Formula SAE? It's a collegiate design challenge where teams build an open-wheel racecar to a certain formula (SAE's formula), tailored to a specific buyer (group, individual, etc). Points are awarded for design (literally anything and everything on the car) and price, as well as performance on dynamic events (acceleration, skidpad, autocross, and endurance). I was fortunate enough to be able to attend competition this year in Lincoln, Nebraska, to see the team and car shine.
Although ASU has had an FSAE team since the 90s, it has come and gone over the years. The team as it is now is part of a rebirth of the Formula team starting in 2014, since now we are working to grow the team as well as ensure we document all of our progress for future years of the team after we graduate.
It has been a long road developing this car. I joined the team in Fall of 2016 as part of the aerodynamics sub-team to design our first aero kit. So, in my reflection of the design process, it will mostly be on the aerodynamics of the car since I was not involved in the other sub-teams. Since I was new, I worked modelling parts in Solidworks and also helped extract data from CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) analysis of the wings we created. It was slow-going because of the amount of time it took for a simulation to run, if it even ran at all.
Eventually though, we had to freeze our designs since we only had six months left before competition in June. We had a front and a rear wing, but now came the fun part of trying to manufacture them. While the 1992 ASU FSAE car had a carbon fiber monocoque, none of that composites knowledge was left to be found. So, we started from scratch, learning about the different types of carbon fiber used on these cars and the different layup techniques used to create airfoil elements and endplates. We also had to design wing mounts, which was another struggle in finding a mount design that was structurally sound given that we opted for a top-mounted wing. After quite a few fabrication changes and a lot of long nights, we had our wings done. Although we hastily assembled it for our unveil event, it was quickly taken apart afterwords to be put together better.
After some final suspension and chassis issues were resolved, we finally had a running car. The Bondurant Racing School, founded by retired racer Bob Bondurant, is generous enough to let us use their autocross track for testing, which is the first place we headed. There were quite a few things we got to learn about the car here. Namely, the front wing was scraping on the ground, necessitating its removal for testing, which upset some of the car's dynamics with all that front downforce removed. But, we learned a lot about our fuel consumption and engine, as well as let the drivers get some seat time.
Further testing occurred at the Phoenix Kart Racing Association, who also generously let us use their facilities to test the car. After this, Goodspeed Performance graciously let us use their dyno to tune our engine, a Honda CRB600 motor. In one afternoon, we went from producing 40 whp and 20-ish lb-ft of torque to 79.6 whp and 40 ln-ft of torque, as well as get an engine map created.
Time flew by, and soon we found ourselves making last-minute preparations for competition, such as noting every single fastener size used on the car to ensure we had all the tools we needed and placing sponsor stickers on the car (for that added whp). We all had to say that objectively, we had a good looking car on our hands. Now though we had to make sure it could perform.
After an eventful 2 day bus-ride to Lincoln, we made it the evening before competition. We couldn't relax though, as some last-minute work that could only be accomplished there had to be performed.
With the car loaded up, the next morning we headed to competition bright and early in order to get past driver technical inspection, where all of our driver gear and tires were to be inspected. The order you get inspected here determines your order to get the car inspected, so it was crucial we got an early spot. However, we ended up getting a large number, meaning that all we could really do that day was wait and hope we could go pass tech, since you can't run any of the dynamic tech events (driver egress, tilt, and braking), nor the practice track, without first passing tech. Unfortunately, despite only being a few cars away and being promised we would be inspected, we were turned away. Furthermore, the number order system was not going to be in place the next day, meaning it was going to become a free-for-all. So, we made sure all of our ducks were in a row before leaving that night so we could come early again the next morning. We had to as well, since the design and sales presentation was the next day.
The second day was an absolute roller coaster of emotion. We got into tech in the morning thanks to some of our team members going in especially early to get a good spot in line, and after tech we had some major work to be done. Meanwhile, team leads were preparing for the design presentation, which is worth a large amount of points. Our Bible was the design report we put together, where we detailed aspects of the design. For looks, we all donned our snazzy looking SAE ASU polos.
After some hard work, we got all the necessary changes done, and we passed tech. This was a first for us since in 2016 we could not pass tech until Day 3, which meant we could not participate in all events. So, we had a huge lead over last year.
Non-team leads were allowed to watch the design report, and some of the questions posed by the judges were brutal. Nevertheless, we got through it, and we even had one of the judges mention that he remembered us from last year and loved seeing the progress we made. After this was the sales presentation, which went over our costs and how to improve them. We thought we were out of the woods and could go for tech again, but then we were hit with an audit due to our car's total cost. We had that scheduled ASAP so we could get through the other tech inspections, and we passed it with no penalties.
Because of the time this took, we were extremely rushed because you can't participate in any of the dynamic events without passing all of the tech inspection items, and it was already close to the closing time of all the events. But, the stars lined up for us. We got in line for driver egress and had no problems with that. We rushed over to tilt and again, passed with flying colors. And, with a stroke of luck, a team ahead of us let us take their place for the brakes test, which ended up being the last slot for testing that evening. Despite only having three attempts to pass the brakes test (lock up all four wheels under heavy braking), we were given a final, fourth attempt, which is the attempt it took to pass.
We were done with all tech items. We were cleared to run in the dynamic events on the third day. The relief that washed over us was immense, knowing that as of now, we were on even ground with every other team since we all would have the chance to run first thing in the morning. Plus, SAE organized a giant panoramic photo of every car and team in attendance. Despite how happy, proud, and tired we were, we knew competition was just getting started. Dynamic events were tomorrow, and this is where we'll see how the car will hold up.
The forecast called for rain on Day 3 of comp, and the skies showed it. Because of this, and also because we had the time, we wanted to run the acceleration and skidpad tests first thing in the morning. This way, if it began pouring later, or if we wanted time to improve the car, or God forbid something on the car broke, we would both have a time down for points and have the rest of the morning to do whatever we needed.
The acceleration test is a straightforward, floor it until you reach a certain distance test, with the best time out of a maximum of two attempts with two runs each being recorded. The skidpad test is a little more complex. A tight, figure-eight loop made of cones is set up. The driver accelerates and then circles around one loop twice, with the first lap around being a lap to get acquainted with the loop, and the second loop counting for time. Then the driver repeats this but with the second loop in the figure-eight. The combined times of the loops are then used for scoring,
Our first acceleration test run could've gone better. We knew we had the power and grip, but our launch was killing us. Nevertheless we got our two runs in and then moved onto the skidpad, where again we scored a decent time. However, we were running into a battery issue so the car couldn't start due to a lack of charge. We also learned that the announcers would mistaken us for Texas A&M because they also have a maroon car, leading to the idea that we should put "Not Texas" on our car next year.
The clouds had began to open up and let a drizzle come down. Meanwhile, literally all of our shades were broken by the strong winds. We hastily took off the front wing to cram the car back in the trailer to see what was wrong, and it was traced to be a short. It was good that we ran first thing in the morning because despite the speedy repair, we were almost at the end of the dynamic event sessions. We rushed over to the track and managed to get another acceleration run in, where we improved our time greatly, but we were still suffering badly on launch. But, with the events closed, that was all we could do. We headed back to the puts for a family lunch of tacos to take a much needed break.
The rain had stopped and the sun came back out, perfect for running some practice sessions on the test track to dial in the car before the autocross event. We could have really used this extra track time to set the car up, because after a little more engine tuning and practice launching, we no longer had the problems that plagued us when starting in the acceleration event. The car was also starting to come to its own as well, with seemingly all major issues, other than the starter on the engine, being resolved.
Autocross is also straightforward: run an autocross track as fast as you can, again with two attempts with to tries per attempt. Similar to Formula One, in order to count as "finishing" the event, your time must be within a certain percentage of the top time. I forgot the exact amount, but I think it's within 110%-115% of the top time. On our first attempt, we were concerned about our time we set, but on the second attempt, while it wasn't any record shattering time, we still set a very respectable, and more importantly, safe, lap time. In addition, we got the gem of an announcement stating we were the "University of Arizona State University", which lead to ideas of putting that on the car next year as well.
With the autocross event over, we got to ensuring the car was still fine, because the next day was the endurance event.
While all of the dynamic events are important to run in for points, the endurance event is the grand finale. It's worth a massive amount of points, so if you have to choose a dynamic event to run in, it's going to be this one. The endurance event is set up on a mile-long course, with cars needing to complete 14 laps. There is a driver change halfway through as well, meaning the car needs to be able to start up again. Both average lap time and fuel consumption are used as metrics for determining the score for endurance.
This is where we would get to know how well SDM17 could really perform. After getting fuel, it was an anxious wait to watch SDM17 run around the track. Until finally, we saw her pull up to the start, and saw the green flag wave.
It was quite a sight to see SDM17 roar around the track. Again, we objectively thought we had a good looking car, which was something other teams have told us. In the hands of our drivers, we knew we had a good shot at placing well. But, a number of things could go wrong. A tire could go flat, which happened to Cal Poly. The car may not restart after being stopped, as what happened to New Mexico, although this happened after a catastrophic failure to Mizzou's car, where a hole was punched in their engine block, spewing oil all over the hot rear of the car, creating a massive fireball (I literally put my camera down when it happened, so I didn't get any shots of it). After a lengthy 20 minute red flag that involved cleaning the track, and anxiety over the car restarting for a 2nd time due to our starter issues, we restarted and kept going.
Until, finally....
We did it. We finished the endurance event. This is no small feat. Only half of the cars (literally half, 50%) of the cars that entered endurance finished the event, and this was one of the highest completion ratios of competition over the years. To be one of the ones that finished was a massive achievement for us, a team that barely had a car last year.
So of course, we had to take after-comp photos and celebrate a little. This meant taking the car out to the empty part of the airpark and taking some beauty shots of SDM17. In the end, we placed 40th out 80 cars. While we think we could have placed better because the 20 minute red flag period was factored into our average endurance time, plus some disagreement over some proceedings while there (we were told we ran out of order on restart but we were told to do so because New Mexico wouldn't start up), this is still a massive improvement over last year, where we placed 60th out of 80 cars with literally one-third less points than this year.
I am so glad I joined FSAE. It's a great group of people, I get to apply my engineering skills, and I get to learn so much about cars and aerodynamics that I could never learn in a traditional classroom setting. While there may be a lot of frustration, fatigue, blood, sweat, and tears building the car, the pride and sense of accomplishment you feel in the end is worth it. You can go up to the car, point at a part, and say "I helped make that, and that piece helped a racecar go around a racetrack that many couldn't complete." Plus, it's such a great networking opportunity as well. Automotive companies like Honda, Ford, GM, and Tesla (plus Space X) were recruiting, and other automotive industry related companies like Hoosier were there as well.
So, having learned a lot about what to do next year through feedback from the judges and talking with other teams, here's to looking forward to the 2018 competition with SDM18.
