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  1. #11
    First, none of the FSAE cars will be good to "copy" for a variety of reasons, some already stated above. What class do you plan to race in? While FSAE cars are allowed to run in A-mod, not all of them meet A-mod specs. Grab a copy of the SCCA Solo2 rulebook and make sure whatever vehicle you're going to design/build meets those rules.

    Exactly how much funding DO you have at your disposal? You're talking $200 in chassis material which is not much. Here's a quick (and very low-balled) rundown of what it costs to put a typical FSAE car together:

    Used Engine $500
    We won't include Engine Management, assuming you run a stock bike motor.
    Fuel pump & plumbing $400
    Aluminum Radiator $300
    Chromoly Tubing & Sheet $500
    Mountain Bike Shocks $1000
    Rod Ends, Spericals, & Fasteners $1000
    Steering Rack & U-joints $300
    Brakes, Master Cylinders, Plumbing $1000
    Wheels & Tires $1200
    Differential, Axles, & Tripods/CV-joints $1500
    Electrical & Gauges $600
    Harness, Seat, Pedals, other Cockpit stuff $400
    Body, uh, nevermind...

    So, we're up to a total of $8700 so far, and that's VERY bare-bones. Double that and you might be able to put something together. Money definitely isn't the whole equation either. The number of man-hours to put one of these together is huge.

    That said, if you really want to build one of these cars, go out and buy all of Carroll Smith's "To Win" series and start reading those. If you have friends who are engineers helping you, then ask them how to build one. If they don't know how, then keep on reading and learn a whole lot more about vehicle dynamics, mechanics of materials, mechanical design, etc. These are not big go-karts, and can be a pretty wild ride with just 80bhp, nevermind the Huyabusa. There have been cars made like that (See Racecar Engineering a few months back for the article about DJ Racing's "Firehawk").

    Courtney Waters
    UCD Formula SAE

  2. #12
    Courtney would be refering to Racecar Engineering October 2002, (Volume 12 Number 10). Very good article on the DJ Firehawk Hillclimber.

  3. #13
    Hey SLP addict

    The drawings from a FSAE car aren't really gonna help you out at all. First of all if you want a 400 Hp car the engine isn't gonna fit, the Diff mounts will rip to shreads, the car will be completly unbbalanced, as well as numerous other problems! All this has t be designed from scratch...you can't take a design for a 500 lb, 70 Hp car and turn it into a 1000 lb 400 Hp car. I mean if you want to do something that difficult buy a VW bug and make it into a F1 car. And no $50000 welding equipment or snap on tols is gonna do that for you.

    Brent

    www.ucalgary.ca/fsae

  4. #14
    So, what does $50k worth of welding equipment look like? We have the flagship Lincoln TIG (square wave 355) and it isn't even worth $5k. Adding up a TIG, MIG, gas torch and plasma cutter, still leaves me a good $30k short. What more would you need/want?

    www.formularpi.com

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