Freshmen

[DannytheRadomski]

Hi,

I am about to join a Formula SAE team, and the current members I talked to recommended asking contributors on here about what a freshman should know.
I was wondering if it would be book and math things, practical skills, how to use computer sims, etc.

Thanks everyone,
Danny Radomski

[mech5496]

Normally we expect our freshmen to have basik knowledge and understanding of physics and math, as well as basic computer skills. Praktical skills are more than welcome, however the most important thing is commitment, thirst for knowledge and ability to meet deadlines.

[Ckirk]

Well, depending on your knowledge level right now, I may answer differently. But for starters, in general, I'd say you should know how to learn. If you know something, then don't be unwilling to speak up and share it, and if you don't know something, than make sure you make that clear.

A big issue many people sometime have (I have had issues with this in the past) is not being honest about how much they know of a subject. If you don't admit to not knowing something, then your teammates who do know more may begin talking above your knowledge level, which will just confuse you more!

Secondly, I'd say know how to Google =P. Now that sounds silly, but basically I'm saying don't just search something and instantly trust the first thing you find. THat is very very bad, and can lead to very dangerous ideas or assumptions.

Ask lots of questions, and make sure you recieve clear answers. It may annoy your senior team mates at first, but you will be more useful in the future, and then you will be the person who is asked a lot of questions.

I tell you this based on how I was when I joined (I knew there was an engine and four wheels basically =P), so I apologize if you feel I am patronizing you, but that was not my intent.

Hope you enjoy your time in FSAE/FS.

[Jay Lawrence]

I definitely echo the sentiments above regarding commitment. That's probably the biggest thing. Also, don't get stuck in the mindset that you are going to be an engineer and therefore you have to make everything as engineery as possible. The book smarts and things like that will develop over time and there's always references and other people you can use, but so long as you are keen to learn and able to follow through with whatever you commit to doing, then you'll be sweet. Finally, at the end of the day, the thing that separates you from other graduates is the ability to turn theory into practice, so get your hands dirty (literally and metaphorically).

Oh, and don't be a dick. That pretty much ruins things

[Freddie]

I like giving the unusual advice (since everybody else usually gives the sane ones), I'd recommend buying some cardboard, scissors, glue, a gluegun and some chopsticks or similar and try and build something, anything really. Figuring out how things transform from the vision in your head into an actual 3D shape is one of the best things to learn before trying to design things. Otherwise it's way too easy to design things without having the faintest idea of how they will actually be when they are on the car. And usually; doing something quick and dirty will often give you a hint of which direction to go when you are designing and the realisation that things take a lot more time than you Think ...

[JasperC]

As mentioned above, the important thing is to show that you are eager to learn. I joined the team as a freshman myself. I didn't accomplish much in my first year but it was very useful to get to know the team, the competition and some of the skills and tools you need to be a useful contributor to the next cars.

Follow the team's progress in the design phase, even if you lack the knowledge to contribute on a high level. Ask people to teach you some manufacturing techniques (milling/turning/welding/laminating/...).

A lot of extremely useful information can be found in the sticky topics on this forum. Try to find out how a typical FSAE design process works, what it is that makes the difference between a strong and a poor performance at comp. Don't expect to make a big difference in the team in your first year, but find out what you need to know to make a difference in the next.

[stever95]

The best thing you can do is be committed and open minded.

Otherwise I'd say start skimming through RCVD (race car vehicle dynamics), read and try to understand the rules, and ask a lot of questions. More than anything though, I found that having a broad knowledge of how a whole vehicle works will help you immensely. FSAE is all about how to seeing the big picture when there are 1,000,000 small ones staring back at you. You'll figure out pretty early on which parts you think are interesting.

Just don't gain all your car knowledge from magazines, mechanics, and forums. Take an "engineering" approach wherever possible - start from scratch, and you'll have a much more valuable experience overall.

Good luck, have fun!

[J-rob68]

Good evening,

Thanks for the post!

The most common feature among those members in FSAE that I have seen become "successful" is simply this.

You find something that you want to do, and you do it.

This may sound simple but it entails a lot of traits within an engineer and a team member that are vital to their success.
Firstly it means that you need to have the drive to find a project of value to the team. Once you find that item its important to make sure you dont let anything else get in the way.

Alot can be said for the wayward underclassmen who get swept up by every new idea and project the older team members may have. Stay focused and see your project through and you will learn a lot more than screwing around with the maybe's.

You dont need to "Know" anything when joining a team. And frankly even if you had all the special skills and knowledge in the world you only have time to work on 1 or 2 projects for the team at a time so most of that knowledge is useless for most of the allotted time anyway. You need to be useful in the area that your studying, what that entails is the ability to RESEARCH! find good information and be skeptical. Develop your own ideas while learning and make sure your trying to relate them to scoring points for the team and understanding your system more. If you do that you will learn and develop the skills needed for whatever your tackling.

Far too often do I see people wasting time trying to decide what they think they want to be a part of. Pick something and run with it. And dont settle for good enough. Many people design subsystems without understanding the whole picture.

For example your designing the brakes for the car. You do your research and find that X material has good thermal expansion characteristics is relatively strong for its density and has good machining characteristics with a decent price tag. Good job. You proceed to design a rotor that packages well and can withstand the force needed to lock the wheels via the rules. Great! how many points in design will you score with that package? My guess is not much. Try and be curious and delve deep into the subject.

Good further topics on that system would include, what temperature are my rotors operating at during all of my corners? is this within optimal range for my pads? what is the difference in temp for front to rear rotors and is that changing your brake bias as they heat up and cool down? how do these performances and biases affect vehicle handling? can you write a code to simply balance these? Can I make a test rig on a lathe to measure and validate my thermal model of the rotors and try to select my pad material more intelligently? How can you convey this data to the judges?

Now your talking! From the basics, to in depth analysis, to big picture forsight. And look! you didnt know anything going into the process but from surefire research, some big picture thought and seeing the project through you have provided a very valuable system to the team, learned about sensors, wiring, coding, machining, etc... and scored some sweet sweet points!

Hope this helps. As a reference we provide our members with a good series/ break in period of literature and relevant information but it becomes clear who is sticking around once they actually have to start reading and researching in those references right off the bat.