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View Full Version : Why does Cornell use a Penske truck?



Daves
08-01-2005, 09:17 PM
Does Cornell own or rent the truck?
Is it safer than a ball-hitch trailer?
Why Penske?

I've found Penske to be expensive for personal use.

Daves
08-01-2005, 09:17 PM
Does Cornell own or rent the truck?
Is it safer than a ball-hitch trailer?
Why Penske?

I've found Penske to be expensive for personal use.

Daves
08-01-2005, 09:40 PM
I just searched the forum and obtained some of the answers:

...yes, we wish for things. In no particular order...7) Pimpy race trailer - We're jealous of a few people. We've got a sketchy trailer and rent a Penske truck. (http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/125607348/m/5356071491/r/8546082202#8546082202)

We get a 25' Penske rental truck that's big enough for a mobile lab space but not really much else - all work on the car is done outside. Whiteboards for organization aren't necessary since the walls of the truck work great on that front. (http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/125607348/m/90410283311/r/68810104311#68810104311)

Are trucks safer than ball-hitch trailers, though? Don't many people with trailers use fifth wheels instead of ball hitches for safety?

Michael Jones
08-01-2005, 10:11 PM
Enclosed ball-hitch trailers of sufficient size are outside of our budget, simple as that.

And the local Penske dealer gives us a good deal on a 20-25ft. truck for a week (about $500, including mileage and all...)

They're good people, so we've had no reason of yet to seriously consider a change for competition travel. And the space in one of those trucks is more that sufficient (we ended up getting a 20ft. truck this year, and it was still OK...)

We could seriously use a new trailer for taking the car out though. The one we've been using is kind of embarassing and generally not used for anything other than very local transport for good reason.

Between it being a relatively low priority and us having only enough money to do what we do, well, it'll be a while until we get one.

As I've noted elsewhere a few times, while we're not insanely hard up, rumours of $250k budgets are way the hell out. Think 1/6 of that on average. More than about half I'd guess, but also not enough to take care of trailer/huge mobile lab space requirements ourselves (which we'd have to do, since the school's pretty skinflint when it comes to supporting us outside of space at least...)

Derek Carboni
08-01-2005, 10:25 PM
Haha, good question.

I never questioned it...maybe because Ithaca is really small and there's no Uhaul. We've had penske trucks forever, they work, so why change? I don't know how much it costs us, maybe we get a university discount. I'm not the one to ask. We've never gotten around to putting a trailer in the budget so we never bought one.

Cornell Racing
2003-2004

Michael Jones
08-01-2005, 10:27 PM
Ah, Carboni's short and to the point as always. That's why he's an engineer and I just play one on TV.

NoH
08-03-2005, 04:02 PM
Just a note on this.

Ithaca isn't that small, there's U-Haul, Penske, and Budget (used to be Ryder). And they're in multiple locations.

It's all about the greenbacks.

Daves
08-03-2005, 08:10 PM
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Ithaca isn't that small, there's U-Haul, Penske, and Budget (used to be Ryder). And their in multiple locations. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It appears that he's right. (http://www.google.com/local?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=u-haul&near=Ithaca,+NY&sa=X&oi=localr)

Typically U-Haul has a loading ramp instead of a lift gate. Does Penske have a lift gate, and does Cornell use it when [un]loading their car? If so, does the whole car fit on the lift gate?

adrial
08-03-2005, 09:12 PM
I think I've got it....those penske trucks are yellow arent they? Hmmm yellow sure is a fast color...and their racecar is red...also a fast color...could it be...the deadly fast red and yellow color combination makes for a rocket of a racecar???

Thats gotta be it...I just figured out cornell's success...HAH!!!

CMURacing - Prometheus
08-04-2005, 04:10 PM
we all know that yellow paint adds 15 mph to your top speed. red paint just adds 15 hp. its a tradeoff you have to make.

Chris Davin
08-05-2005, 11:54 AM
We prefer to spend our money on things that make our car go faster.

Timmay!
08-30-2005, 05:43 AM
Must be nice to have a budget of ~40k then...

we deal with 4k a year... http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

Dan G
08-30-2005, 07:57 AM
If you're bummed about a puny budget, go out and get some more sponsors! Its not like the "rich" teams just woke up one day and had all this money. They had to work at securing sponsors and support the same as every other team.

Chris Davin
08-31-2005, 01:08 PM
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dan G:
If you're bummed about a puny budget, go out and get some more sponsors! Its not like the "rich" teams just woke up one day and had all this money. They had to work at securing sponsors and support the same as every other team. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Amen. Cornell generally does not get any money from the university - our entire budget (cash, parts, and services) comes from sponsorships that were earned and maintained by students. We have found it helpful to have a "business team" that helps with sponsorship-type things but I always dealt with my own sponsors directly. We have done pretty well, but I know there are plenty of teams out there with a lot more total sponsorship value than we had. I know some teams have gone on sponsorship road trips, pitching to potential new sponsors or maintaining relationships with existing ones.

Sponsorship should be part of the challenge of FSAE - some day, many of you will be dealing with suppliers, or maybe high-dollar sponsors if you end up working in motorsports.

Charlie
08-31-2005, 05:55 PM
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Timmay!:
Must be nice to have a budget of ~40k then...

we deal with 4k a year... http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bohoo, my first year in Auburn we had less than 2k cash to deal with (finished 34th). In 2003 we increased our budget by over 4k with new sponsors that our teamers dug up themselves.

You are responsible for building your program; if not just for you then for the future FSAEers there. Making excuses is the first step to accepting failure...

IttyBitty
09-01-2005, 03:37 PM
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">And the local Penske dealer gives us a good deal on a 20-25ft. truck for a week (about $500, including mileage and all...)

They're good people, so we've had no reason of yet to seriously consider a change for competition travel. And the space in one of those trucks is more that sufficient (we ended up getting a 20ft. truck this year, and it was still OK...)
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

We used Penske for the Michigan trip as well and I completely agree...
but what I do have to say is...damn you got a way better deal than we did...

-Nika

J. Schmidt
09-27-2005, 11:42 AM
If you have a cheep and effective way to transport the car, use it. Here in Platteville our executive board has been saying that we need to buy our own trailer. What we've done in the past is rent ASCE's trailer for $0.05 a mile, that's only $50 to rent a 28' enclosed trailer round trip to Detroit. Not to shabby if you ask me.

I've always told our guys that if they need money for some parts, go out and find a sponsor or have a brat sale to make some money. Getting "free money" from the university is good, but not as good as knowing that your time and effort as awarded the team with a full contingency sponsorship. F&a man, it's the greatest feeling you can get with your clothes on. You business people know what I'm talking about.

Mustang Mac
09-28-2005, 08:23 AM
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Amen. Cornell generally does not get any money from the university - our entire budget (cash, parts, and services) comes from sponsorships that were earned and maintained by students. We have found it helpful to have a "business team" that helps with sponsorship-type things but I always dealt with my own sponsors directly. We have done pretty well, but I know there are plenty of teams out there with a lot more total sponsorship value than we had. I know some teams have gone on sponsorship road trips, pitching to potential new sponsors or maintaining relationships with existing ones.

Sponsorship should be part of the challenge of FSAE - some day, many of you will be dealing with suppliers, or maybe high-dollar sponsors if you end up working in motorsports. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree. It is just a part of the whole formula experience. We procure and maintain our own sponsorship with little to know help for the University. And some of there actions which they see as help is just a hinderence to us anyway. If you have a small budget, get out there and make contacts, business relationships and get more dollars. I have been involved with FSAE for 4 years now and our budget grows every year through the hard work of FSAE Team Members.

Mike Cook
09-28-2005, 09:47 AM
Timmay, take a look at these pictures, particularly #1. You don't need a lot of money to compete. Good luck.

http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8356059423/m/58810639721

drivetrainUW-Platt
09-29-2005, 07:22 AM
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mike Cook:
Timmay, take a look at these pictures, particularly #1. You don't need a lot of money to compete. Good luck.

http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8356059423/m/58810639721 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thats a pretty low volume intake plenum you guys are running.....

Jersey Tom
10-02-2005, 12:39 PM
Oh man. I drove with our team captain in our Penske last year, the 3000 miles.

70mph engine gov, sucked. Then our fuel gauge...when it got under about 3/8 of a tank it would immediately drop to zero for about a half hour before crawling back up to where it should have been. THAT was a surprise when we first saw it. Truckin along... then "HOLY #$@*T WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR GAS"

Then the cigarette lighter was totally busted so we couldn't run a charger for our tunes.

Then we pull into a gas station in Illinois, and the thing would NOT shift out of park.

It was getting ridiculous.

Bentley58
10-10-2005, 03:50 PM
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mike Cook:
Timmay, take a look at these pictures, particularly #1. You don't need a lot of money to compete. Good luck.

http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8356059423/m/58810639721 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

How much do you guys get those dampers for?

Sean Bentley

Mike Cook
10-11-2005, 05:53 AM
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bentley58:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mike Cook:
Timmay, take a look at these pictures, particularly #1. You don't need a lot of money to compete. Good luck.

http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8356059423/m/58810639721 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

How much do you guys get those dampers for?

Sean Bentley </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Zing!