Formula SAE Australasia 2009 - News, Pics, etc

[PatClarke]

Quote Pennyman "Was it dumb like templates or something more important?"

In sending a little message of discontent, the organisers of FSAE measured template compliance, but did not issue penalties.

They didn't roll a broomstick under the cars either =]

ARAK did not meet the structural requirements and had a myriad of issues that could never be fixed in time.

Instead of having them set off on a fruitless task, I suggested they withdraw the car and I teamed up the individual team members with other teams so they could learn something.

The culture is a little different in Oz.

Pat

PS, The team that won and won well, Monash, had a full Aero car, with the aero download fed directly into the uprights. They also had a spool!
That should start some head scratching!

PC

[Bretton Woods]

Just a heads up for those interested; the guys from CSU should have the video of the comp cut together by the end of January, but it may be a little longer owing to their own commitments.

[MRT_Xii]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">PS, The team that won and won well, Monash, had a full Aero car, with the aero download fed directly into the uprights. They also had a spool!
That should start some head scratching!
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Perhaps their rear roll axis is a mile below CG??? You still end up with half the downforce of the wing. Head scratch...

[dazz]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by MRT_Xii:
Perhaps their rear roll axis is a mile below CG??? You still end up with half the downforce of the wing. Head scratch... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Half of the aero downforce can't just disappear. I think it's a bit of a baited question from Pat (shock! ) - whenever you have high steering angles, car speed is low, so there will be little downforce generated from the wing. I would think you could almost ignor the wings for low speed cornering, assuming the weight swinging around above the drivers head is not significant.
At high speeds when a lot of aero downforce is generated, steering anlges will be very small and so potential understeer issues from the spool are not that bad.
Their suspension geometry is obviously designed to unweight the inside rear quite a lot, and Monash demonstrated that very clearly in the skidpad event! Perhaps more so than non-aero cars that run a spool?

[JR @ CFS]

Hi All,

Just wanted to say it was my first experience of FSAE-A, and although not quite on the same size scale as FSAE-West of FSUK, I had a fantastic time. Special note needs to be given to the ability of spectators to get so close to the action unlike the UK (for Fig of 8 and the mamouth walk required to get to the outer stands) and FSAE-West (where you need Bino's).

I worked tilt on Saturday and had a good look at quite a few of the cars. I was thoroughly impressed by UWA's suspension. Special note goes to the Military guys who I had a good chat with and the guys from Auckland, who not only had a chat with me about their engine design, they did it while standing in the queue to the design finals.

I was marshalling later in the Autocross and my car of the day was Auckland who didn't look quick until they came hammering through our section and it was bloody impressive! It was also interesting to be on "the otherside" i.e. having to call in problems I spotted while cars were driving (unfortunate that I have shit hot vision!). Controversial, but everything I called, the teams were sent off to fix.

[JRod]

Actually, our rear roll axis is probably relatively high. I can't say exactly how high, because we raised it in testing to make the car handle, and have not yet measured where it went. In as much as aero affecting wheel loading, we just add the appropriate amount of downforce to each wheel weight after we do our weight transfer calculation and design our roll stiffness distribution around that.


Since I'm posting now, I'd like to say I had a blast at comp, and it was a pleasure to meet all the teams there, in particularly, Auckland, who are always a fun lot, Cameron from Melbourne; a very switched-on guy, and The USyd team, with their magic uni-joints, The ADFA crew, the Thailand team... I could go on...

[lozo]

I am currently in the process of sorting through the pictures I have taken for the competition. However, my signature will take you to the album where I have already uploaded some select photos.

Cheerios

[Scott Wordley]

Wow, what a comp!

There are tons of people I would like to thank... in particular

Auckland - Hard luck again this year, but a great bunch of guys and a pleasure to host each year. If you can get that car reliable its going to be a weapon. Bring back the wings!

Moke TV - Brent and crew, I couldnt imagine comp without you guys. Please keep coming back and doing your very special thing, we all need to be reminded not to take ourselves too seriously some times, and you guys do a great job of that. Managed to snag a pink t-shirt too, score.

UWA - Pushed hard all weekend and did not give up an inch. Pete was very unlucky not to take us down in Autocross (hitting the last cone) and also set incredible times in the second enduro. I had our pace board out in 2nd enduro, just to make sure he could keep his fastest lap ;p hahaha Glad we caught you on a bad weekend! Thanks also for the opportunity to car swap on Monday, I think we will both take away a lot from the experience. Would be good to get as many teams as possible there next year, us Aussie teams need to stick together and learn from each other if we are going to take it to the germans.

Swinburne - A great bunch of guys and an amazing new car, it just looked right everywhere. Unlucky this year but expecting you to come back strong next year. Hope you get to keep your new advisor he seems good for the team.

ADFA - Amazingly innovative car, we have always had a thing for de dions, great to see someone do it right. Smart, generous bunch of guys too, special thanks to sergio who helped us sunday morning by drilling lockwire holes in 20 or more bolts for us so we could get out for that second enduro.

UNSW - Ross and Kegsie, you crazy men. Cant believe what you guys did to get that car here, and almost to the end of an enduro. Madness.


A big thanks to the organisers, scruitineers and marshalls, no kidding, even with small number of volunteers this was the best organised FSAE-A event ever... and not just cos we won.

Scruitineering was pretty quick and efficient and safe. While I missed chatting with Michael and Suzanne I did not miss arguing for half an hour about whether a seat belt was 1 degree outside the allowed angle or not.

For the first time ever Acceleration event was staged PROPERLY, every single time. None of this staging then rolling backwards, or the old wipe the tyres and roll it backwards tricks. Trust us we tried! Every car was in the same position, every time. Such a relief to concentrate on the car and the driving rather than trying to get an advantage in staging.

The Autocross and Endurance tracks were sensible, varied and within the specifications laid out in the rules. Driver's hands didnt fall off from an endless line of 6m slaloms, and because of that Im pretty sure much less cones were hit overall, making for better racing, better viewing and safer marshalling. Why cant it be like this every year?

So a special thanks to Marissa, Flip, Mark, Adrian, Rob, Rod, Stephan, Steve, Chris and Chris for making that all happen. If anyone has contact details for Erin Heasman I would love to thank her for the many years of putting up with my complaints! She'll never believe we won though.

And lastly, a special thank you to both Pat and Claude. While we haven't always agreed with what you guys have had to say, you have both pushed us and much of the competition to do better, think more, and work harder, which is always a good thing.

I think thats it...

Cheers,

Scott Wordley

Monash University
2000-2009
"oh... and the wings don't work."

[Moke]

You sound like you are not going to be around anymore Scott and we all know that's never going to happen. There is a spot on Team, Team Support Team for you next year so start looking for a jacket.

And it's Safety Salmon.

[Fred G]

Results are out...

http://www.saea.com.au/formula-sae-a