Wet Weather Tyres for Formula SAE !

[vinHonda]

McGill,

Yes, indeed, the University donates approx $10,000 of the $35,000 budget. This is purely liquid cash. The project is deemed to be worth approximately $55K..... which is.... i dunno in USD.

I hope you guys will have a car ready for next year's University of Toronto Formula SAE SHOOTOUT!; we have sponsorship for it, and it looks like it will be held at Mosport!!! more details to come!

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca

[Richard Lewis]

Well UVic was promised $5000 from the engineering department in January of last year, and we haven't actually recieved it yet. However, we did spend it anyway, so now we have a debt that they are supposed to pay. I guess it all works out in the end.

FYI, our total budget was about $22,000 canadian last year. ($14,000US) but being our first year a good chunk of that money went to initial start up costs. (tools, tables, computer, etc.)

-------------------------
UVIC Formula SAE Team

http://fsae.uvic.ca

[Sam Zimmerman]

The rules committee posted the new rules governing wet weather in November and promised clarification within a couple of weeks. I haven't seen where they have clarified it, has anybody else? I am curious if we will have enough time to change the tires ourselves or if we will need two sets of rims.

We have no returning members on our team, just a bunch of rookies, so any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Sam Zimmerman
University of Idaho
Vandals Racing

[Argus Tuft]

Sam and the Vandals...sounds like a good name for a band =]

In response to your enquiry re the new tyre rules, be just a little patient because an announcement is imminent.

There are no surprises, and common sense will prefail.

I hear there will be a 'dry' 'wet' and 'damp'
declaration. dry tyres in the 'dry', 'wet' tyres in the wet and either in the 'damp' with permission to change in the driver change area.

The specific details will be released shortly after the final draft has been vetted by all who need to.

Argus Tuft

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy !

[James Waltman]

Michael Jones gave the heads up about the current status on January 13th in the
» FSAE.com Forums » Competitions » Wet Weather Rules Announcement thread.

Basically there was a link to SAE. It looks like the details have not been worked out (and why rush, we have almost 5 whole months left) but we will be running in the wet.

http://www.sae.org/students/fsae-rain.doc

One of the changes under consideration for wet weather:
"Safety Barricades – Safety barriers will be installed to protect the key track marshal positions."

It seems to me that once they decide that the cars will have a hard time staying on the track putting up safety barriers may not be the best course of action (maybe we should stop running!).

Could someone let me know where the November announcement is? I think that it was on the listserve but I couldn't find it. I think that is where they assured us that our designs would not have to change so they were justified in changing the rules so late.

James Waltman
waltmaj@cc.wwu.edu
http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/
Formula SAE
Vehicle Research Institute at
Western Washington University

[Michael Jones]

The original November release is in the SAE forums. Agreed with the safety barricades issue. Should be, well, interesting...

---
Cornell Racing
http://fsae.mae.cornell.edu

[matt giles]

I think the wet tire rule is excellent. It may be dissapointing if you can't afford rain tires, but no one ever said racing was an affordable thing to do. If SAE decides to regulate what tire you actually decide to use, that will be dissapointing though. You can drive in any weather with a slick if you go slow enough. Conditions change, and if it's to your disadvantage, thats too bad. It was too bad when most schools couldn't do the endurance last year. Racing is always part luck. Even on a dry day the track is different at the beginning than at the end. If everything was perfect and equal, we would all be in spec racers that someone else built. And it would be boring as hell.

-Thats my opinion

Matt Giles
Composites Team Leader
Kettering FSAE

[Angry Joe]

I can't say I'm sorry they allowed this, but funds are an issue with us. We'll probably treat it as an emergency contingency, which means the cheapest tires (and wheels, if necessary) that we can find.

We'll be the car running on 13" escort rims and snow tires at competition

Just kidding... I hope

Lehigh Formula SAE

www.lehigh.edu/~insae/formula

[Dominic Venieri]

teams could always just run on a hoosier rain tire the whole event. they're not so bad, as long as you design for them.

you could also go with your slicks, and have them cut. tom at mid atlantic motorsports (the hoosier guy who goes to Detroit) cuts tires.

www.formularpi.com

[Nigel Lavers]

The UofA has ~25g budget, but we've been trying to get out of debt for the last few years (was at -8g and we've reduced it to -2).

The Engineering department gives us a lot: ~$5000 along with resources like a team truck (from the 2000 Ethanol vehicle challenge), a brand new storage space, and technical support from the technicians in the shop.

We have a much further drive than the teams in the East, so our travel budget is about $11,000. If there was an Western FSAE competition we would be able to save a lot of money and time.

Nigel
FSAE
UofAlberta