First, sorry to forward responses to entire list, just I've been answering
the same questions to alot of people so since most are interested in the
same things I'll just reply to all questions to the same list.
And don't worry about being a pest. I love the questions and people having
interest in the team.
I was team captian last year and will most likely be a co-captian next
year as I will be around for another half a year. I'm just a senior not
anything special. We really don't have an advisor (most teams have a
professor who works closely with the team and many have industry
professionals from tilton, ford, etc to help them out) so the car is
entirely designed by students.
The project is entirely voluntary so the students don't even get credit
for their efforts.
I have not participated in a solar car challenge but me and a few of my
team mates did help UC Davis win the Future Truck Challenge last year
which is a Hybrid Vehicle Competition.
Ian
> I'm not going to ask what the judges thought was wrong; I'm afraid you
might
> give me an answer I wouldn't understand. I don't speak engineering. :)
But
> it's a shame there's a judging at all, seems like the most successful
> solution to the problem would be the winner, i.e., the best functioning
> machine. I guess that's a too simplistic assumption. :)
> Are you a student or the teacher in this program? Do the students stay
> through a four-year program? Or do they roll-over from one year to the
next?
> Have you ever participated in the solar-powered college car events?
> Sorry to be a pest.
> --Pat K
>
> ----------
> >From: iagreen@ucdavis.edu
> >To: ba-autox@autox.team.net
> >Subject: Re: UCD Formula SAE
> >Date: Thu, May 23, 2002, 2:34 PM
> >
>
> > Competition was in Pontiac Michigan. Its actually very complicated. We
> > might as well work on Formula 1 cars if we had the knowledge they
expect
> > in the design event.
> >
> > Building a new car is a must. There were actually several things that
the
> > judges felt we had done wrong but it was almost purely thier opinion. I
> > was already drawing the new chassis in our trip back. The suspension
> > pickups will probably be mostly unchanged but will possibly change the
> > design. New lighter uprights will be made possibly magnesium as
opposed to
> > our cast 356 T-6 aluminum ones from this year.
> >
> > Part of our success this year and our future success is due to the
local
> > SCCA and other auto-x sanctioning bodies. Even though its supposed to
be a
> > engineering event many of the points are based on driving and thats
where
> > we really shined. Next year and over summer we plan on competiting with
> > and testing the car at as many local events as possible. This and the
> > ground work our team layed this last year should place us higher next
year.
> >
> > Ian
> >
> >
> >> Where did the competition take place? I didn't realize the SAE tests
> > were so
> >> complicated. Congrats on finishing...always a plus. :) Do you envision
> >> building another car for 03, or taking pieces of this and
incorporating
> > them
> >> into the new car? Does there need to be a new car every year? I guess,
> > like
> >> the cars are class projects each year.
> >> --Pat K
> >>
> >> ----------
> >> >From: iagreen@ucdavis.edu
> >> >To: ba-autox@autox.team.net
> >> >Subject: UCD Formula SAE
> >> >Date: Thu, May 23, 2002, 12:55 PM
> >> >
> >>
> >> > Some of you have shown some interest in our team so I figured I'll
send
> >> > out the results.
> >> >
> >> > We finished 36th out of the 125 schools that showed up. Also the
> > highest
> >> > ranking california school. We know wwe would have done better but
with
> > the
> >> > circumstances the way they were that wasn't bad.
> >> > This was also our third chassis and practically nothing had been
> > carried
> >> > over from the previous cars to to very lacking design.
> >> >
> >> > When we arrived the car had still not been fully assembled and the
only
> >> > driving that had been done was by me just to make sure the brakes
> > worked.
> >> > This meant lots of work in our trailer (thanks Geoff) for the first
> > couple
> >> > days. The first events of the competition are the "static" events
> > where we
> >> > go over our design, cost analysis, and marketing presentations. We
> > didn't
> >> > do too good here since getting the car through tech was our first
> > concern
> >> > and we didn't have a chance to sit down and review our calculations
or
> >> > prepare the presentations. After that day most of us had been up for
> > three
> >> > days and the delierium of some of the team urged us to get some
sleep.
> > All
> >> > that was left was do the alignment and get through tech. The plan
was
> > get
> >> > up at 4:00 am and be in tech line at 7:00 am.
> >> >
> >> > The second day started the dynamic events we missed our alarm
> > clock/wake
> >> > up call or whatever it was we set or forgot to set. We got to the
site
> >> > about 7:30 and took the car striaght to tech with no sort of
alignment
> >> > done. After haggling and negotiating our way through the first two
> > parts
> >> > of tech we got held up at the brake test. Even though all four
wheels
> >> > would lock up (the brake test requirement) the car pulled to one
side
> > and
> >> > they wouldn't let us pass. We went back to our trailer quickly set
the
> > toe
> >> > and rebleed the brakelines and went back and passed the test fine.
> >> >
> >> > But we had to be in line for the acceleration and skidpad events by
> > 10:30
> >> > and we didn't get through tech till about noon. From there we had to
> > go to
> >> > the autocross event. Me and my co-driver (Courtney Waters, NASA/Fiat
> > club
> >> > fame) decided to take the car out on the test track (were theres
only
> >> > enough room to do donuts) since neither of us had really driven the
> > car.
> >> > Both of us put down excellent times on the autocross despite no
> > experience
> >> > in the car and no sort of setup or even good alignment on the car.
> > Luckily
> >> > Court managed to put down a 81 scratch (fastest was a 75) which got
us
> >> > 31st in the autocross and a 31st place start in the endurance event.
> >> >
> >> > The next day was the endurance event and not having any test time
> > before
> >> > the event we decided not to screw with the set up since the car was
> >> > surprisingly forgiving and handled pretty good. We ran good in the
> >> > endurance but had a few set backs/lessons for next year. The seat
pad
> >> > hadn't been made for me and Court so we were sitting on the seat
frame
> >> > which wasn't especially comfortable. I had to sit in the car ready
to
> > go
> >> > for about an hour and so I was getting sore before we even go out on
> >> > track. This resulted in me being extremely fatigued after about 8
or 9
> >> > laps of the 11 lap segment I had to drive. Spending most of last
year
> > in
> >> > front of a computer doing calculations and analysis instead of
going to
> >> > the gym didn't help that much either. When Court took over to drive
the
> >> > second half of the endurance event it started raining so his first
few
> >> > laps were wet. Then we found out that our gas tank didn't have
enough
> >> > baffling so that coming out of hard corners caused the engine to
> > sputter.
> >> > But we finished the event without any real problems.
> >> >
> >> > Well sorry for the long story. Theres more but I think thats the
> > exciting
> >> > parts. Now we get to enjoy "testing" the car and ofcourse its time
to
> >> > build the 2003 car. We'll probably be out at the next Sac event and
as
> >> > many of the SFR events as we can trailer it to.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Ian Green
> >> > Team Leader
> >> > Formula SAE
> >> > University of California, Davis
> >> > http://mae.ucdavis.edu/~fsae
> >> > CSCC,SFR STS 99
> >> > 1997 Honda Civic CX
> >> > www.geocities.com/stscxr
> >>
> >
> > Ian Green
> > Team Leader
> > Formula SAE
> > University of California, Davis
> > http://mae.ucdavis.edu/~fsae
> > CSCC,SFR STS 99
> > 1997 Honda Civic CX
> > www.geocities.com/stscxr
>
Ian Green
Team Leader
Formula SAE
University of California, Davis
http://mae.ucdavis.edu/~fsae
CSCC,SFR STS 99
1997 Honda Civic CX
www.geocities.com/stscxr
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