Actually Ian and I have been talking on and off for
the last year or so. I was a FSAE team captain at
Michigan State when I was in graduate school. I also
volunteered to work at the event for a couple of
years before moving here.
The scoring of the event is heavily weighted toward
the actual driving events so cars have to work well to
be in the running for any awards.
The presentation events are there to force students to
at least try to understand what they are doing. The
fact the Ian and company got questions suitable for a
Jean Todd interview is actually a compliment. The
judges must of seen good design work and heard real
intelligence in their presentations and answers. I
know for a fact that won' spend more than 5 minutes if
they think the car is junk or the team is clueless.
The silly thing is I studied Human Resource
Management. The 28th place finish my team got wasn't
because there was a technical genius in charge. (I
only take credit for good recruiting and fund
raising.)
I learned so much working on that project. I wish I
could do another one. It was the most fun I ever had
with my clothes on.
Are there any other FSAE alumni on ba-autox?
Alan
--- iagreen@ucdavis.edu wrote:
> 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
>
=== message truncated ===
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