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steve
01-04-2003, 08:23 AM
I'm sure that everyone on here has some ideas of what they would do if they had more resouces, principaly money and people to do the work. So what ideas have you dreamt of doing on your teams car before you had to take a reality check?

Bavarian Motorsport
01-04-2003, 03:02 PM
It would really be only money and what you could buy with it. HIgh end engine dyno, full sized wind tunnel, all the highest grade and top materials (meaning endless supplies), all tools, specialty tool, etc. And a nice big warehouse to house everything http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

I think we all teams had resources like these competitions would be even mroe interesting. However just like in the real world some teams are not as fortunate as others in the motorsports industry and teams have to do with what they have. If you look at Speed challenge series, team budgets range from $250K to over a million.

Eddie Martin
01-04-2003, 07:53 PM
If your talking about systems on the car, I'd like a car with a fully moveable aero package, turbo charged engine (or at least one with a power curve that went to 70kW at 2000rpm and stayed there till 10000rpm) and all this should weigh 170kg (375lbs). http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
I honestly believe that in a couple of years a team will come up with something similar to this. Maybe 55kW and 185kg(410lbs).

For resources a test track that we could use 24 hours a day and was at our workshop and a CNC mill and lathe that we could get access to would be good.

All that stuff is nice to dream about but what i would like over anything else is people. Intelligent and resourceful people that push that extra bit to get things done. For Formula SAE I'd like 15 to 20 people that are 100% committed to FSAE.

People and the time they put in is what win's FSAE and all forms of motor sport, I think. Look at Ferrari their resources aren't that much better than say McLaren or Williams, but Ferrari have great drivers, engineers, mechanics and management and they all work as a team.

That's my two cents OZ (which is about 0.8 cents US)

Regards
Eddie Martin
UOW Racing
www.uow.edu.au/eng/racing (http://www.uow.edu.au/eng/racing)

David Money
01-04-2003, 09:05 PM
OK here's my turn. Having been working on a semi-pro race team for a while, I would have to say at our local FSAE team we'd want a good shop with 2 Bridgeport Mills with DRO, 1 lathe, a full chassis Dynojet dyno, 4 networked UG workstations with an HP plotter, conference room, good welder, and 1 high end water cooled metal tubing cutter. All of that would have been nice while I was there. Beyond that, it sure would have been nice to have the 53' Champion race trailer that I've been working out of lately to work out of at the competition last year. Amazing how a pro trailer is set up to handle everything. Having a 53' x 25' heated, enclosed tent along with your own power generation, water supply, sleeping quarters, kitchenette, and bathroom facilities sure does make the cold wet parking lot that the Silverdome is every year look much more inviting if not at a minimum bearable. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif If only I had access to it a year ago....if only...

Marc Jaxa-Rozen
01-04-2003, 09:47 PM
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Intelligent and resourceful people that push that extra bit to get things done. For Formula SAE I'd like 15 to 20 people that are 100% committed to FSAE. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yep, definitely more manpower in our case as well, whether through more members or course credit...(or 40-hour days)

Fergus Wilson
01-07-2003, 04:03 AM
At the risk of not getting any work done, i wouldn't mind having a fully equipped apartment at the workshop, featuring pizza ovens and coffee bar.

Seriously, i'd settle for cupholders and an am/fm radio, or a cd player if the budget allows. If someone wanted to sponsor us for satellite navigation, that'd be cool too! http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Fergus Wilson
Project Manager
UOW Racing 2003

fw01@uow.edu.au
www.uow.edu.au/eng/racing/ (http://www.uow.edu.au/eng/racing/)

If you've achieved all your goals, you're not ambitious enough!

jack
01-13-2003, 06:32 PM
i think it woulld be so awsome if we had a huge budget. cost report aside, a killer, winning car would be full on carbon monocoque, a la F1. hell yeah. hate to brag...but our shop has several CNC mills and a CNC laith.

Michael Jones
01-13-2003, 07:57 PM
...yes, we wish for things. In no particular order...

1) Our own fabrication facility - we share use of the school's machine shop with other projects groups (e.g., HEV, Robocup, etc.) and machining classes. Right now, we're lining up at 7:30am to ensure access to mills, otherwise we're SOL.
2) More and consistent use of space - We share facilities with HEV in particular - our electronics folk have moved from place to place more times than I can count, and our team office may be displaced next year with the construction of a new building.
3) Parking lots - Ithaca is a tiny town with no industrial base, and therefore has virtually nothing in the way of parking lots to practice. We've been lucky at getting a smalll nicely paved lot (approx. 25s course with one shift point if you're creative with overlapping intersections) weekends and late weekdays, but we may lose that due to construction of a new residence facility.
4) Reliable Funding - We're not awash in it, despite popular assumptions to the contrary. We have an decent budget but it's never guaranteed - one of our major sponsors drops off and we're in trouble. Leads to panic points and some purely bottom line decisions every year.
5) Weather - weird request, yes, but when we finish the car in February, we'd like to drive it. Inevitably we can't. Not only is Ithaca on the cold side but the area has as many rain days as the Pacific Northwest.
6) Resources for R&D - Innovation takes both, and many good ideas have to be put on multi-year development plans for lack of either.
7) Pimpy race trailer - We're jealous of a few people. We've got a sketchy trailer and rent a Penske truck.

Bam Bam
01-14-2003, 09:17 AM
With real money I'd get a custom made race engine/gearbox specifically designed for restricted performance add to this continously variable intake and exhausts and controllable variable valve timing.

With enough manpower and hard work all of these would be do-able for pretty low amounts of cash but at this point I'd be impressed if someone gave me an intake that didn't collapse on itself.


Maybe once I got this thing fast enough then I'd think about wings and a wind tunnel. Until then wings are simply a fancy lookin ballast weight as far as I can tell.

Bob Wright
01-14-2003, 09:44 PM
with lots of time and money i would have cro-mo and carbon fibre everything, bigger, better wings and an engine that doesnt f%$k up. That aside all I want is some sort of fancy low speed traction device;- but where am i going to find that?

Bob Wright
Monash University
Australia

Scott Wordley
01-14-2003, 10:21 PM
Many people have said quality people are your best asset and I totally agree. Considering this is all fantasy anyway... I'd start by building a time machine and travelling to the past to poach the best engineers, drivers and leaders in all of history.

I reckon Chapman for suspension, Costin and Duckworth on engine, Issigonis for driveline and packaging, Gordon Murray for innovation, Smokey Unic to find loopholes in the rules and Henry Ford and Tyler Durden to oversee the manufacture.

For drivers I'd put Aussie topdoorslammer Victor Bray in the acceleration (after we trimmed him down by 80kg), Stirling Moss and Don Bradman(teach him to drive first) for Skidpan, Schuey and Fangio for Autocross and Jim Clarke and Nuvolari for the enduro.

Sponsorship manager would go to Richard Branston, its hard to look past Bill Crystal to MC the design event and Troy McClure would be gold for the presentation. Costing duties would be shared by Nick Leason and Christopher Skase both masters of bending the books.

Pulling together a team of this calibre wold be tough, and although I considered Oprah Winfrey, Mark Taylor and Moses, I think I'd have to go with Napoleon even if it meant designing some extra adjustment into the pedal box.

Who would you pick?

Regards,

Scott "Maverick" Wordley &
Roan "Goose" Lyddy-Meaney
MOnash FSAE Wingmen

Alfonso Ochoa
01-14-2003, 10:36 PM
Hi, I'm from Universidad Simon Bolivar in Venezuela.
In case anybody hasn't heard about the Venezuelan situation on this moments, I'll give you a brief explanation.
Since December the 2nd (2002) Venezuela is in a National civil strike, it means that no major company (Petroleum and Oil companies, food companies, tube companies, material companies, etc etc etc) is working since then. And no only major companies, any little shop, or restaurant or mall which decides to support the strike is closed since that date, we have had no classes since then. This Strike is organized by the Venezuelan Workers Chamber (CTV), the Venezuelan Federation of Commerce and Production Chambers and asociation (FEDECAMARAS) and The Democratic Coordinator and it's main and only objective is to find president Chavez's resign to his awful, fascist and "dictatory" government.
Since December the 5th the strike turned to National Active Civil Strike, it means that the population goes to marchs walking or on bikes, supporting the strike.
So, as you can imagine, the team has been unable to work since the strike began. Besides, we of course want that fu%#$%&$ Chavez to quit and we have been marching in support of the strike. It's really hard to concern about building a car when you feel your country and its people need you to support and be part of these events defending the Democratic system.
And of course, all the big companies are closed so we have a lot of design stuffs ready but we can't get into their construction because of the strike, we do not have the materials, for example: chassis. Last week, we decided to work in what we can like designing or building any part for the car with the materials we already had in the lab.

So...getting into the theme of the resources (and I'm sorry about the "brief" explanation)you can understand we are not very concern about them. Our first and main concern right now is to make the tirant Chavez to quit, that would be our wish list as Michael said:
1)Chavez to quit.
Then, when we have a country living in a real democracy, we would worry about having all the resources we can, so we can finish our car (that will be very good) and see you all guys in Pontiac.
Thanks for your time, and expecting all the best for my country and for F-SAE USB, Venezuela, good bye, Alfonso Ochoa.

Nigel Lavers
01-15-2003, 09:42 AM
Listening to Alfonso really makes me realize that I DON'T really wish for anything more than what we have.

Sure a new chassis dyno would be great, and perhaps an ample supply of free aluminum billet. But realistically, having FSAE at all at our university is a privilege and I'm happy for everything that we have.

Sure it sounds dorky, but whatever, it's the truth! http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

Nigel Lavers

Brent Howard
01-15-2003, 07:06 PM
Good Luck with getting you car done and I really hope that you are able to make it to FSAE. If you do, come find the U of C tent and well all go out for a few cervezas.

Brent

www.ucalgary.ca/fsae (http://www.ucalgary.ca/fsae)

Scott Wordley
01-16-2003, 12:23 AM
Its interesting hearing your point of view on the situation over there. At the risk of poluting this forum with political discussion(too late) I had a few questions which you might be able to answer....

Wasn't Chavez elected democratically in the first place? Not once but 3 times?

What exactly has he done for you to call him a dictator?

If I'm not mistaken it was the Opposition (who you seem to suppot) who led a military coup in April, and this after Chavez had survived three elections and two referendums on the matter.

I don't even want to get started on the hand Washington has played in supporting the whole strike thing, I think they can smell the option of private investment in the lucrative state owned oil company.

From my understanding (and even what you say) the strike is coming from the top, ie the business owners and managers or in other words the rich people. This seems unusual to me. Further more I've heard reports of the workers actually breaking into closed factories and places of business TO RESUME WORK because they don't believe in the strike but weren't given a choice in the matter.

I apologise if I've got it all wrong (please correct me) but it sounds like a very small rich minority are attempting to shut the country down just because they can no longer afford to fly to Paris(or Pontiac?) for the weekend under Chavez's government. Which sounds pretty far from democratic in my opinion.

So before we hear any more bleeding heart stories and before anyone else offers their apologies and support, why don't you explain how you and your team can build a $US15,000 FSAE car and compete in Pontiac this year when around 80% of your population is living in poverty?

And to then complain about the situation your in.... it just blows me away.

I know we've all got it lucky compared to you but you've also got it lucky compared to the people living in the barrios. I don't mean to discourage in your quest to build a FSAE car but just have a think about that.

If anyone wants to know a bit more I'd suggest you read this story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41444-2003Jan11.html

Apologies for killing the mood but something had to be said.

Regards,

http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae/forum2.jpg
Scott Wordley & Roan Lyddy Meaney
Monash FSAE Wingmen
http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae

Fergus Wilson
01-16-2003, 04:42 AM
Does anyone ever stop and think for a minute about how big the universe is? Do you ever think about how small everyone is, and how many people there are, running around the world doing their own thing? Once you realise that each person is insignificant in the context of the universe, do you ever stop and question any of your actions? Why we spend so much on an education? Why we're determined to earn more than it would cost to survive? Why we don't give more to those in need? What the point to FSAE is: 2000+ people involved each year, out of a world population of well over 6 BILLION.

I do stop and think about the people who are disadvantaged in this country (closer to 10% than 80), and what the money that UOW Racing has spent over the last 2 years could have done for them. But, at the end of the day, we agreed to take on this project, for whatever reasons. We choose to put in 40, 60, 80, or even 100 hour weeks on this project. And when most teams are desperate for cash, we don't question the morals of our sponsors. We take what we can get.

Despite the fact that we are small, insignificant beings, we take our lives as they come to us, and make the most of the opportunities presented. Everyone taking part of this project should be thankful for it, but we'll always want more. Really monash wingmen, if your sponsor offered you an extra $5000, would you donate it to charity? I sure as hell wouldn't!!!

An upside of spending so long on this project is that I don't have much time to watch TV... which means i miss out on those world vision ads that make me feel guilty....

Fergus Wilson
Project Manager
UOW Racing 2003

fw01@uow.edu.au
www.uow.edu.au/eng/racing/ (http://www.uow.edu.au/eng/racing/)

ben
01-16-2003, 05:07 AM
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Scott & Roan:
Its interesting hearing your point of view on the situation over there. At the risk of poluting this forum with political discussion(too late) I had a few questions which you might be able to answer....

Wasn't Chavez elected democratically in the first place? Not once but 3 times?

What exactly has he done for you to call him a dictator?

If I'm not mistaken it was the Opposition (who you seem to suppot) who led a military coup in April, and this after Chavez had survived three elections and two referendums on the matter.

I don't even want to get started on the hand Washington has played in supporting the whole strike thing, I think they can smell the option of private investment in the lucrative state owned oil company.

From my understanding (and even what you say) the strike is coming from the top, ie the business owners and managers or in other words the rich people. This seems unusual to me. Further more I've heard reports of the workers actually breaking into closed factories and places of business TO RESUME WORK because they don't believe in the strike but weren't given a choice in the matter.

I apologise if I've got it all wrong (please correct me) but it sounds like a very small rich minority are attempting to shut the country down just because they can no longer afford to fly to Paris(or Pontiac?) for the weekend under Chavez's government. Which sounds pretty far from democratic in my opinion.

So before we hear any more bleeding heart stories and before anyone else offers their apologies and support, why don't you explain how you and your team can build a $US15,000 FSAE car and compete in Pontiac this year when around 80% of your population is living in poverty?

And to then complain about the situation your in.... it just blows me away.

I know we've all got it lucky compared to you but you've also got it lucky compared to the people living in the barrios. I don't mean to discourage in your quest to build a FSAE car but just have a think about that.

If anyone wants to know a bit more I'd suggest you read this story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41444-2003Jan11.html

Apologies for killing the mood but something had to be said.

Regards,

http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae/forum2.jpg
Scott Wordley & Roan Lyddy Meaney
Monash FSAE Wingmen
http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well said. America has never liked left wing south american governments. I think Brazil should be on the lookout as well.

As for relevance, the current economic downturn due to the war against whoever Bush hates today is almost certainly the reason we are struggling for cash to get to the Silverdome. The amount of people who are now saying parts rather than cash if anything means we'll have a car, but the US is looking unlikely.

Ben
UBRacing

Brent Howard
01-16-2003, 10:42 AM
In reply to the Washington Post Article Discussion:

From what I have taken from speaking with members of the Venezuela team and from the news the situation in Venezuela is economic mostly. The reason is that they have a multitude of resources yet are still in poverty, hmmmmmmmm might have something to do with the govenmental policies of chavez? Honestly, if I live in Alberta Canada and we have alot of oil as well. If Alberta was still very poor because our provincial govenment had poor economic policies and planned to not change for the next 6 years (i think) I would be a little bit pissed off too. And the arguement that being elected doesn't make chavez a dictator is completly wrong. Look back at the history of the elections......was there any reasonable competition? And to further that point, Hitler was elected, try to prove that he wasn't a dictator. reading one or two articles from the American media does not make you an expert....I'm more inclined to agree with the people who actually live in Venezuela and have to deal with the system that you think is fine. Also, very few major political changes are initiated by the poor, as they do not have the means to enact change. Look at the American Revolution, George Washington wasn't a poor little farm boy before he became General!

Brent

www.ucalgary.ca/fsae (http://www.ucalgary.ca/fsae)

ben
01-16-2003, 11:43 AM
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I'm more inclined to agree with the people who actually live in Venezuela and have to deal with the system that you think is fine. Also, very few major political changes are initiated by the poor, as they do not have the means to enact change. Look at the American Revolution, George Washington wasn't a poor little farm boy before he became General!

Brent

http://www.ucalgary.ca/fsae<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I doubt you are hearing a balanced view from Venezuela, in amongst dealing with poverty getting an internet connection and engaging in political discussion is fairly low on the priority list I suspect.

I know state owned industry is an alien concept to many but it hardly justifies the interventionist c*** Chavez has had to deal with from his own and the US's military.

Ben

Michael Jones
01-16-2003, 12:53 PM
...when engineers get political.

While I would agree that there are multiple sides to this and all stories, perhaps this isn't the best forum to engage in such issues?

Whatever one's thoughts on the current crisis in Venezuela, I'm sympathetic that this must be screwing over the USB team, whatever their allegiance in the conflict.

---
Cornell Racing
http://fsae.mae.cornell.edu

Brent Howard
01-16-2003, 01:55 PM
Ben.......I doubt that the US and British Media provides a very balanced view as well. Look at their track record covering both past and current issues. And I don't think you will agree, but I would take the word of educated students over what someone living in the slums has to say as the students are much more aware of current political events. Also, Think about why the US governemt would support a governemt under chavez? Are they getting anything from it? Secure oil reserves in a time when the threat of a major conflict in the middle east is brewing. The US government rarely acts without something being beneficial to themselves.


Brent

www.ucalgary.ca/fsae (http://www.ucalgary.ca/fsae)

[This message was edited by Brent Howard on January 16, 2003 at 05:05 PM.]

ben
01-16-2003, 04:12 PM
Agreed - Our media is just as bad. I only read independantly owned newspapers and avoid the TV news. Awareness of your own nation's propaganda is vital with a war looming.

Having worked for a UK military contractor, I am under no illusions believe me.

Ben

Scott Wordley
01-16-2003, 08:05 PM
Hope I didn't stir up too much of a hornet's nest, I promise I'll stick to money and religion in future.

Ummm... Fergus, you've confused me dude. I don't really understand what it is you're trying to say, specially that bit about morals, sponsors, donations to charity and world vision ads... but I do like the sentiment... I think.

Brent...

Your exactly right. Reading a few articles does not make me an expert which is why I was asking for a more detailed perspective from Alfonso (and people like yourself), rather than more of the simplistic "Chavez is a f*&^ing dictator" rhetoric.

You have confused some of my points though. I argued that Chavez being elected three times was in fact democratic. I then asked what Chavez had done for Alfonso to call him a dictator. You've interpreted this as:

"the arguement that being elected doesn't make chavez a dictator is completly wrong."

And then held up Hitler as an example of this. Sure, Hitler was a dictator but it wasn't because he was democratically elected, it was because he slaughtered 6 million Jews and made war on the world. Once again I ask, what has Chavez done?

You also stated:

"very few major political changes are initiated by the poor, as they do not have the means to enact change"

You're exactly right, the poor don't have the money, the land, the technology, the education or the guns. At best all they have is a vote.

Another comment you made:

"And I don't think you will agree, but I would take the word of educated students over what someone living in the slums has to say as the students are much more aware of current political events"

Your right: I don't agree with you at all. It would be nice to hear both sides but I don't think that's going to happen.

Ben....

I like your comment:

"I doubt you (Brent) are hearing a balanced view from Venezuela, in amongst dealing with poverty getting an internet connection and engaging in political discussion is fairly low on the priority list I suspect."

That's exactly what I was thinking but I thought I'd wait to hear Alfonso's story, and so give him the benefit of the doubt.

That's all I have to say, sorry for the political side trip, I just wanted a better understanding of what was happening. No hard feelings all round and best of luck to the USB team,

Scott

Regards,

http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae/forum2.jpg
Scott Wordley & Roan Lyddy Meaney
Monash FSAE Wingmen
http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae

Alfonso Ochoa
01-16-2003, 10:43 PM
Hi everyone.
First of all I would like to give a really big thanks to all of you for all your concern about Venezuelan situation, it's really motivating to see all your thoughts about it and how well informed you are taking into account that you can not be aware of every detail since you are not here.
Second, I would like to apologize about introducing the political topic into the forum. At the homepage (fsae.com) there's a section for "OFF TOPIC" discussions, I'll put this post there to continue the discussion in that section.
Another thing, Scott & Roan, you are not killing the mood you are just giving your point of view of a political situation and lets remember these stuffs are just too subjective and we have to respect all point of views. Nowadays, I am so clear that to hear and to be heard is the main key point in Democracy
With my next words I'm not trying to convince anybody that I have the truth or the reason, I just want to give you guys an explanation from the inside of the events.
I read the article Scott & Roan recommend us and believe me guys, I was just so pissed off. And then I could understand why you (Scott & Roan) have that thoughts or questions.
I'll begin by saying that I think all the exterior policy (international) of the opposition has been managed terribly bad. The whole relations with the foreign reporters has been erroneous from the beginning and that have helped the strike hasn't had the international support it deserves. Right now I remember a CNN reporter (Whitheker) reporting lies in this TV channel, and believe me, we see one thing here and he reports another alive on CNN, so it makes me feel a little disappointed about the well managing of the information, and I realized how damage you can create when you change the events just to satisfied a side of the problem. I recommend you to visit this website: www.vcrisis.com (http://www.vcrisis.com) .
It is true that Chávez was elected, and yes, three times. But, why wouldn't he be elected a forth time? On November, we recollected the necessary firms to convoke a referendum to go elections on February 2nd, all this based on the constitution, and when the Elections National Committee (CNE) approved that there were all the requirements done, Chavez decided that won't be any Referendum giving some excuses like one of the votes in the CNE was not valid and disrespecting the decisions of it and our democratic right to call for a referendum as is well said in the constitution.
Is Chavez a dictator? He is not a declared dictator, that's clear. But as well said Brent, the fact that he has been elected three times doesn't mean he's not, and what better example than Hitler. Now, he doesn't have to declare himself as a dictator to act like he was, Chavez don't respect the institutions of the country. By November the Metropolitan Police was taken its autonomy off and taken by the military forces. He didn't respect the decision of the CNE about the referendum. He has used so many times the National Guard to dissolve manifestations and marches of the opposition when it is clear mentioned in the constitution that a pacific civil protest can't be dissolve by this institution. And I haven't mentioned the hate transmitted in his political message. Any time Chavez talk in TV his transmitting a message of hate, repression and division between the Venezuelan people of different classes. He's always talking, as the reporter talked in the cited article, of the low class and poor people and in the other hand the rich, wealthy oligarchy of the higher classes. And in my point of view that's been the worst damage Chavez has done to the Venezuelan society, the big hurt of dividing us as Venezuelans and turning us against each other. You can destroy the economy of the country, you can have wrong political decisions or strategies, but you can't lie and manipulate a population injecting them with hate and envy about his neighbors and Venezuelan partners just to get your selfish ambitious done. And I can go on mentioning more and more reasons why Chavez can be considered a dictator as I said, and we can consider it is not a crazy idea knowing that his big friend and assessor is the communist Cuban Fidel Castro, but let me make this a little bit shorter.
Is the strike coming from the top of the society classes, the riches as Mark Weisbrot says? This is not true at all. I said very clearly every little shop or restaurant or commerce local that supported the strike is added to it, that means they are not working. By the first week of the strike, it was considered 80% successful and Chavez and his Ministers or the Vice-President Rangel appeared on TV saying there was no strike, that it was like 15 % successful. Of course this has turned down because a lot of little shops or locals have opened half time so they won't fall into bankruptcy. Another thing, in the website I recommended some words before you can see some pictures of marches of the opposition, watch them, and if you think all those persons are riches you should come to Venezuela.
How can we build a F-SAE car when 80 % of the Venezuelan population is in poverty? The Universidad Simon Bolivar is a public school and right now as many other institutions in the country it's going through a really hard economic and institutional situation. We in the F-SAE USB Team don't receive any economic help form the University funds. All our budget is covered by private companies that decide to support the team for its academic or publicity importance, and many of them are transnational companies like Schlumberger, Citgo, Bosch, etc. And you have to think this is part of education and you can't simply quit to it because of the hard political and economical situation your country is passing by.
Well, thank you again for all your thoughts, hope I answer and clarify some points, and you can expect some other posts form other guys of the team supporting my ideas.
You can email me directly for any other question or discussion if you want. I'll be glad to shared my ideas with any of you.
You can also read this article:

http://www2.theclarionnews.com/Opinions/9322.shtml


Alfonso Ochoa Vega
cabezota311@hotmail.com

ANDONI
01-16-2003, 10:44 PM
Hi guys.....

I wrote a bit about this subject during the topic: What's everybody's progress for Detroit 2003??? But reading the past replies about Venezuela, made me think that I just should say some things about it. I MUST agree with Michael from Cornell about not using this as a political forum, but people have to know the truth. Maybe you will think my truth is not THE TRUTH. Maybe you are right and I am wrong. Maybe it is just a coincidence that Alfonso, David and me think the same way. You might think that we are just 3 guys of the minority of rich people that support the strike.

I ´ll try to make it short.

You are right about Chavez being elected democratically. But so was Hitler. What kind of elections?? He won the elections, because 65% of the people capable of voting decided not to vote. Not to vote, as a symbol of disagreement with the candidates. Ok, you are right if you think that is our fault, for not having good candidates up there. Shit happens I guess. He won, by saying that in 2-3 years the poor would become less poor, no kids would be on the street, and a bunch of other lies he just used to win. Why lies??, because 4 years later, poverty has grown. There are more people living on the streets then ever. One US dollar was equivalent to around 700 Bs (our currency) in 1998 when he took the presidency; nowadays around 1700 Bs = 1 US dollar. Deduct the inflation. Criminality has grown like e^x. Not only this. In these few years he has changed the Constitution, extended the President's term to six years (with the possibility of re-election) and established a transitory regime under which all the Supreme Court Justices, the Attorney General and the national electoral authorities, were elected by his people. He has majority at the congress and he substituted the existing judges of the court system with more of his people.

He attacks the media, and everybody else who disagrees with his government. Isn't this one of the beauties of democracy??? He arms the government supporters, and tells them to hit the streets to scare the people. To defend HIS BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION. Besides all of this, he, who claims to be a poor man from the flatlands, buys a plane for HIS use costing more than 60 Millions dollars; has been more than 6 months out of Venezuela during his 4 years, while his people, the ones that voted for him, starve. How can you explain, his best friend is Fidel Castro, his other friends are Saddam Hussein, the Chacal, among others. The people he has in his government, not only have criminal records, but belong to international communist groups and distribute illegal weapons??

At the bottom you will see 2 photos of the huge marches that have been made pacifically to show the unhappiness of the population

Well..... It is sad that the news you get, is not the ones we live. But we know that it is happening; and as a Venezuelan, I think I have to try to tell the truth, or my truth.

I would recommend you to view the following pages. I know you are busy working on the car, but PLEASE take your time to see these:


http://www.mipagina.cantv.net/jeaharatz
http://www.mipagina.cantv.net/jeaharatz
http://www.vcrisis.com

(read the facts at vcrisis.com)

Hope your cars are all going well..... and hope to see you all in pontiac, and discuss this, if necessary after the competition....



http://www.friztin.net/vcrisis/imgs/p13.jpg
http://www.friztin.net/vcrisis/imgs/p11.jpg

Andoni Mazeika
www.formulasaeusb.com (http://www.formulasaeusb.com)

Scott Wordley
01-16-2003, 11:25 PM
Now thats exactly what I wanted to hear.

Thanks for all the information and pics, I really appreciate the time and effort you guys took to respond so thoroughly to my questions. As you can tell we get a lot of mixed reports and sometimes we do get things completely wrong, in which case I apologise. Better to ask and be wrong than to live in ignorance. Same goes for Formula SAE.

Keep fighting for what you believe in and lets hope it all comes good soon.

Regards,

http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae/sig.jpg
Scott Wordley & Roan Lyddy Meaney
Monash FSAE Wingmen
http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~fsae

Brent Howard
01-17-2003, 01:34 AM
Who in god's name thought engineers followed political events so closely? I'm quite impressed with the references and opinions expressed in the last 10 or so posts. Great job, keep your heads out of the dynamics texts and in the real world.

Brent

www.ucalgary.ca/fsae (http://www.ucalgary.ca/fsae)