2010 Status?

[coastertrav]

Just wondering how some of the other teams are doing this year.

Our team is still fairly new, and is starting to build momentum with the school. We are finally a team that can at least pretend that we know what we are doing and have quite a few more senior members. Money is EXTREMELY tight this year due to entrance fees for both formula and baja going up, our CNC dying on us at the end of the summer (it decided to get intimate with a nearby tarp mid program), and budget cuts school wide.

We are 95% finished with the design this year, and hopefully will be getting our tube in next week before Wednesday so we can get started on the chassis fabrication. I signed us up for an autocross nearby that takes place early March to give my guys a hard deadline besides Michigan, so hopefully we will be running on all fours by the end of February and we can actually get some good testing in this year.

So how are you guys doing?

[coastertrav]

Just wondering how some of the other teams are doing this year.

Our team is still fairly new, and is starting to build momentum with the school. We are finally a team that can at least pretend that we know what we are doing and have quite a few more senior members. Money is EXTREMELY tight this year due to entrance fees for both formula and baja going up, our CNC dying on us at the end of the summer (it decided to get intimate with a nearby tarp mid program), and budget cuts school wide.

We are 95% finished with the design this year, and hopefully will be getting our tube in next week before Wednesday so we can get started on the chassis fabrication. I signed us up for an autocross nearby that takes place early March to give my guys a hard deadline besides Michigan, so hopefully we will be running on all fours by the end of February and we can actually get some good testing in this year.

So how are you guys doing?

[Mikey Antonakakis]

We were planning on being 95% designed by this time, but alas, people slack. I am starting to feel the pressure though, and our team is bigger and stronger than ever (not just from recruiting, but from focusing on keeping people around after their first visit to the shop). We've had a team dinner, will be having another one very soon, we have lists of work to be done in the shop and we make sure returning members make an effort to get the new people involved in said work. We definitely have the potential for a very successful year (at least in context of our past performance), and I'm very excited. Now if only we could get building...

[coastertrav]

Wow, the team dinner thing is a good idea.

I've been trying to get the new guys (and some of the older guys that are hesitant to jump in still) to get involved. We've done maintenance on the '09 car, and now I have them working on a rear swaybar so we can try it out with some testing.

It is hard to work on design stuff when there are a bunch of new guys around. One one side, I want them to see that side of the project, but on the other side, I can't ever get anything done while trying to explain to a freshman why I just did what I did. The best middle ground is to have another experienced member sit nearby and field questions the new guys have while a few of us work on getting the design done.

Unfortunately, most new members find this extremely boring and just want to drive the damn car or watch it run up and down the road.

Oh well, the '10 car should be interesting as it is completely different than last years car.

[Pennyman]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Money is EXTREMELY tight this year </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Quoted for truth.

About time this thread was started

We are trying not to make huge changes in design at this point, mostly just improve on last years design, and learn more about what we're designing (from data wack on our old car, to interchangeable parts for testing).

That being said we are trying to do the most with VERY little money, we are trying to scrape together funds for registration next week. We also still owe people for last years car, but that's not really a priority at this point.

[James-H]

We've got a completed chassis and suspension model here at manchester and are sending off the laser cutting order for the chassis by the end of the week. Not got alot of other stuff designed but our deadline is FSUK in July, so we got a bit more time than you guys!

More interesting conversation though-how do other teams out there integrate new members? Being project leader this year means it's my responsibility to keep people involved. Last year we had team leaders for each part of the car with a team of newbies to look after and involve. Didn't work too well as the team leaders were concentrating more on getting their bit designed and complete. In previous years (and how I joined the team) new people just turned up and sat about in the shop until they had gained enough knowledge to do something or were just in the right place at the right time to be given something to do.

So how does everyone else get new people involved or is keeping people intrested a common problem?

(Kinda hi-jacked the thread a bit, but I wanted to ask!)

[woodsy96]

We have had this problem for the last few years, along with a large proportion of people we took on being crap.

This year we gave "potentials" a trial period, in which they had 4 weeks to design and build a quick jack, an arb adjustment mechanism, a clutch lever, or a trickle charger (for electrons). After we took people (basically everyone who actually finished something) they got split up into the subgroups that already existed: Powertrain, Electrons, Suspension and Chassis. These subgroups already had a couple of older team members in each, and everyone got given a task straight away.

We also did a couple of team bonding nights (drinking games at a team flat ) to try and help people feel like they were part of the team. I remember when I first joined the team it felt like all the old guys knew everything and they all got on like a house on fire, and that if I didn't get something right they would all laugh at me behind my back and abuse me for breaking drillbits/jigsaw blades/whatever. Now that I am one of the older guys I know that they all just pretend to know stuff and just act all confident and they still laugh behind my back and abuse me for breaking stuff .

[poe21]

As team leader this year I have taken the responsibility to keep new kids interested and learning. The first thing I did was took them to one of the old cars. It seems like everybody who comes out wants to work in powertrain until they realize what it really is, so I told them we needed to rebuild an old motor, and asked them to pull one of the old ones out (from the 2006 car). Then I went and did some work I needed done on the other side of the shop, while they pulled the motor. I think that it gave them a sense of accomplishment, and they had a lot of questions to ask afterwards. Old car maintenance is great for new-comers. We're also trying to get them to make some fake parts on the mill and lathe, just so they can get some fabrication experience for when we start building in a week or two. Once again, I think that if they feel that they are accomplishing things, then they will stick around.

[poe21]

To the OP, sorry it seems like everybody got off topic. We are finishing up major design components. Chassis and suspension are really close to done, minus arb's, and are supposed to come to a hault tomorrow in order for us to stay on schedule. As soon as that is finished, we will take a couple of days to get all the chassis designs ready to go to the cnc notcher and bender, and begin fabricating suspension parts in house. Right now we gotta keep raising money though!

[Corey H]

In the past we have always been plagued with not finishing in time. We also have a dwindling member base. Our design was finished over the summer and our frame is nearly finished built. A-arms are almost completed as well. We are really shooting to have the car done by Christmas, which would be a major accomplishment and something our team has never done before. To teach the new members about what we did and why, one of our senior members is holding a class on top of regular meetings to teach new members about why we did what we did. Also, working on old cars is a great way to get them interested. Pictures available at our website:

http://arizonafsae.com/Univers...lery/Pages/2010.html