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Hello,
My name is Maria Vassilieva. I am a junior at Worcester Polytechnic
Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. I am presently working on a
Formula Style Racecar project that is sponsored by the Society of
Automotive Engineers (SAE). We are to engineer, build and market this
racecar for a non-professional weekend autocrosser. An autocrosser,
hypothetically, will be able to purchase the racecar for under $9000.
The racer will be an open wheeled, open single seater, constructed out of
a chrome moly space frame weighing about 500 lbs. It will be powered by a
600cc-motorcycle engine with a 20mm restrictor plate on the intake,
producing just under 100hp. For those of you who are interested in seeing
last year's car please venture over to our Web site at
http://jjrencis.wpi.edu/fsae.
The purpose of this survey is to obtain information about what a
weekend autocrosser's needs are. Please take a few minutes to fill in
and/or answer the following questions. You can just forward this email
back to me (you have to include the original message, which will allow you
to type in your answers). :-)
Thank you in advance. See you on the track!
Maria Vassilieva (masha@wpi.edu)
Part 1:
Put an "x" mark next to the appropriate number according to how important
it is to you. Highest ranking 5 to the lowest ranking 1:
Interior/Safety: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Handling: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Power to weight Ratio: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Braking: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Acceleration: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Slalom Performance: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Skidpad Performance: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Assembly Quality: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Engine Access: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Wrench Clearance: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Adjustability: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Crashworthiness: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Chassis/Mechanical Design: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Innovativeness: _1 _2 _3 _4 _5
Preferred hours: _1-2 _2-5 _5-10 _does not
matter
of maintenance per each event
Part 2:
Please answer the following questions:
What characteristics do you look for in an autocross car?
(Ex: handling, easy maintenance)
What do you look for in the class for competition?
(Ex: large classes, same type of cars)
Would you be interested in racing a FSAE specified car? Why or why not?
What class do you run now? Please state 3 reasons why.
Would you rather buy parts from a local dealer of from the factory
directly?
In consideration of buying a car is it price/serviceability/availability
of parts/personalized customer care?
Thank you very much for your time :-)))
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