Some of you may have already heard rumors of this, but I think it is appropriate that the whole FSAE community hear the news. There are two announcements that I feel I need to make.
Firstly, after 9 years as the Chairman of the FSAE Rules Committee, SAE has decided that I should step aside. For a number of reasons, I felt it was better to resign from the committee as a whole rather than hang around and muddy the waters for the new chairman. I have tendered my resignation and it has been accepted.
Secondly, Suzanne and I have been involved in Formula SAE and Formula Student for 23 years, ever since the event first came north to Lawrence Tech in 1986. During that time we have officiated at over 50 FSAE and FS events. Our belief is that Formula is to be viewed as an educational competition, and our philosophy as Technical Inspectors is, and always has been that:
1. Safety is the number 1 priority. For the long-term good of the programme as well as the immediate good of all involved, it must not be compromised.
2. ALL rules must be applied to ALL teams fairly and equitably.
3. Within numbers 1 and 2 above, the Technical Inspectors will work with the teams to get their cars through Tech Inspection so that they can compete on the track.
However, it appears that a small number of people have been unhappy with some of the decisions we have made and believe that we have not followed our own credo, (particularly number 2). These individuals feel that we have penalized them unjustly, and they have complained to the SAE staff to such a degree that our professional integrity is now being questioned. We stand by our past decisions based on the application of points #1 and #2. However, we have decided that we will not participate in any North American Formula SAE events for the foreseeable future. We did not make this decision lightly but cannot continue in the current environment.
We are still convinced that Formula SAE/Formula Student is the premier engineering student competition in the world. We have seen it grow from 25 or so teams to over 400 in 40 plus countries on 5 continents. Please continue to support it. For those of you who have graduated, please go back and volunteer at the event closest to you. FSAE alumni make excellent officials, usually!
Over the years, we have enjoyed meeting so many of you, we wish you all well in your future endeavours, and we hope that we will meet again sometime and somewhere.
Michael Royce