Basics?

[murpia]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rennich:
What I'm looking for right now are goals. If I know averages in chassis weight, engine weight, etc. I can set goals for my team to meet. Everyone likes to be praised for a job well done; if they have a target and meet it, then it's even better. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Set yourself some performance targets for your car, set yourself a cost target and a time target. Do some engineering analysis, decide if those targets were realistic. If yes, go for it, if no - revisit your targets.

Total weight, chassis weight, engine power etc. etc. will define themselves as part of the engineering process, they are not ends to themselves.

This is how product development is done, this is a good way to learn, which is the point of the competition.

Regards, Ian

[IttyBitty]

Not to be redundant...but I'm going to restate Pete's point...TIME GOALS.

Because in your first car, almost nothing will turn out the way you planned...and that should not mean that you feel like you didn't meet your goals. Getting a car done should be your goal - even if its 70 lbs heavier than you anticipated, or whatever else happens to be the case.

And I'm also going to throw this in right now...you may not finish in your time goal. As Pete said, this is a HUGE project. So set one, try to make it, and if you don't keep your eye on the bigger goal - to build a car.

Where's Alex from Stanford when you need him? he can tell you right now what its been like trying to get their team off the ground.

cheers,
Nika

[kwancho]

Aw, I'm being called out on another basic design turned project management topic.
What Nika said. I've spent the last 3 years trying to get a team off the ground, and we're probably disbanding the team because we're not really getting anywhere.
First, make sure you have half a dozen guys as crazy about building a racecar as you are. Second, once you're done designing, you're only about 20% done. Nothing'll work the way you intended the first time.
Get started building ASAP. You'll learn ten times more from actually building a car and getting it running than spending 70% of your time futzing with the design.

[Christopher Catto]

agree with you. just one important point. do not underestimate how rushed or poor design can hinder your progress during build.

so, dont spend an extra day trying to reduce in CAD the mass of your wheels by 20g. but DO make sure if you use cad or something useful for design that you at least sit with a cup of tea and go through all the parts and find out where they interfere. stupid things like radii or chamfers are a pain if one guy does it one way, one guy the other.

team morale suffers when you cant fit the wishbones because the brackets are 5 thou undersize, or splines dont fit well because someone did a cheap job for you so the fit is as tight as hell.

things to think about. KEEP IT SIMPLE. invest time in proper decision making. do not make things out of scrap: they eventually let you down. HUNT FOR SPONSORSHIP. the money will help you at least relax for a bit before you run out of cash. and last thing. keep hunting for sponsorship. have one guy do it on a monthly basis.