Formula Sae

[TurboDoseBro]

Hey guys, anyone else joined a FSAE team somewhere? I'm part of the Victoria University one. My role is engine/drivetrain development, and there is a slaughterfest for driver later at a karting place which I will be competing in (so any tips are welcome lol). Just want to open some discussions

For those who don't know what it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_SAE

[Duncan]

what a great thing to be involved in....would love to see anything you are allowed to share about the experience

[robzilla]

There is an abundance of SAE research available on the web. From my experience, not many papers have been of much use since they are always so specific to a componant and to their particular car. I read an interesting article on ackerman steering and their derivation of steering geometry once but the good ones have been few and far between.

[JAS-25T]

There is alot of FEA done on the chassis etc.

[HEKT1K]

one of my best mates is doing it at Melbourne Uni. He wasn't really a car person, but now it's great cos i can talk to him about the project and cars etc. He's doing suspension and steering

[TurboDoseBro]

Heh, we are still in the early planning stage of it so no pics or videos as of yet

Also good to see some people or some people who know other people who are doing it lol.

Not an easy task as there are more than 100 pages dedicated to rules of entering, and strict inspections.

[UWAM]

I'm doing the drivetrain for UWA this year. Check out my DP for a pic of our car

[TurboDoseBro]

Niceee! I'm guessing you guys competed last year / this year? Our kart got stolen so we are starting from scratch

We are in a massive disadvantage with fundings, how did you guys get sponsors etc? Our budget is lying around $25k We used the CBR 250 RR engine where as other unis (eg. Monash) were using CBR 600 RR engines lol... (40hp compared to 80hp).

[femno]

Myself and one of my mates are the team leaders of Team Swinburne Electric, based in Hawthorn.

Its the first year the uni has built a proper electric race car, and proudly we are competing in the first ever electric class at the SAE comp this year.

[StealthX]

I'm involved in the FSAE car from ECU in Perth...

Have been for the last 2 years, such a good competition, loving it!

[UWAM]

So TyresBro, what engine/drivetrain you using this year? Are you going to comp at the end of the year?

[TurboDoseBro]

Well that's not for me to finalize but the previous years we have used either the Honda CBR 250 RRs or the Yamaha YZF-R6 so we may use that again. Still very early on in the design process, roles have been handed out and we just had a briefing on previous FSAEs and strategies.

We should be using a rear wheel drivetrain as per usual, but some people have brought up an AWD drivetrain similar in function to the GTRs to be more unique or experiment (doubt it will get far lol). As for transmission, there have been ideas of 2 speeds going round but i will debate on at least a 4 speed to keep the torque up

We are not competing this year but do expect the ultimate challenger in 2012

Edited September 15, 2010 by TyresBro

[TurboDoseBro]

Choosing an engine for the racer now, it's a decision between the Yamaha YZF-R6 and Honda CBR600 RR/F4i.

Check these out:

If anyone has any suggestions or further information please do share

[UWAM]

There's a lot of teams using the CBR600RR, that would be one reason to choose it, the amount of knowledge around. Not sure what the difference is in terms of performance. Remember you have to run a restricter, which completely changes any torque curves and anything else to do with performance.

[StealthX]

Well that's not for me to finalize but the previous years we have used either the Honda CBR 250 RRs or the Yamaha YZF-R6 so we may use that again. Still very early on in the design process, roles have been handed out and we just had a briefing on previous FSAEs and strategies.

We should be using a rear wheel drivetrain as per usual, but some people have brought up an AWD drivetrain similar in function to the GTRs to be more unique or experiment (doubt it will get far lol). As for transmission, there have been ideas of 2 speeds going round but i will debate on at least a 4 speed to keep the torque up

We are not competing this year but do expect the ultimate challenger in 2012

AWD's against the regulations dude, car has to be RWD, open wheeler.

Our car has the CBR600 motor in it too, mounted on a transaxle in the rear obviously, carbon fiber shell, carbon intake manifold, mountain bike shocks and hundreds of man hours of engine dyno time and suspension tuning.

[TurboDoseBro]

Heh nice, our team has decided on the CBR as well. Seems that many voted on it for its economy, performance, quantities, information, low CoG etc like you guys and the forums said.