2006 U of Washington Unveiling

[Denny Trimble]

Not to be outdone by certain teams who get their cars done very early, we've just rolled out our entry for next year's event. This should give us 12 months of testing before the west coast competition, but we don't think we'll need it. We might just take a break for 11 months, then fire it up next May.

Our new design saved 330lbs, thanks to the design tips we've gleaned from this forum.

Side View
Steering and Pedals

Such amenities as cable stops, heel rests, steering column support, etc. etc. have been discarded, as this is a pure racing machine!

We have an "active ackerman" system on the car, by means of grade 2 fasteners as kingpins, and wheelbarrow wheel bearings. Depending on loading, the toe can vary by +/- 2 degrees. Active camber is in the works, too...

Our corner weights are adjustable thanks to our lightweight mild steel frame, which underwent significant FEA analysis.

All we need to make it comp spec is an SAE sticker!

See you in California...

[Mike T.]

I, being one of our school's most unrelenting critics of the quality of our department, can't let this go without comment. I'll include a short disclaimer with respect to my my grammer and spelling skills, they do not reflect our university due to the copius amounts of alcohol I have consumed after my last finals for the 2004-2005 school year.

Continuing on... to exemplify John Bucknell's previous point, I built a go kart out of wood in my days as a middle schooler in the asshole of america that was more functional than this fine peice of machinery. Anyhow, on the eve of our final day of classes, I and a few others attempted to to do burnouts with this fine machine (and succeeded in a way), but found that even with nobody seated, it could only do one wheeler peelers due to the massive twist in the chassis. And, considering the crappy throttle pedal, this was only doable by manually holding the throttle at the engine end. It's impressive what a little bit of chain lube and a slick basement floor can accomplish in terms of smoke quantity.

The worst part is it'll likely earn a high grade, and conceded to some students and our machine design course professor that he didn't do any kind of analysis on the chassis like he wanted to, since he couldn't figure out how to use COSMOS in Solidworks. I think he missed the point that you're actually supposed to gain some sort of useful knowledge through the project, and that it should show it.

Sometimes I wish I could speak of our department more highly, but with this kind of thing going on, it's impossible. Anyhow, enjoy the humor, and be thankful you don't have to deal with these kinds of people if you don't,

Mike Trumbore
UWFSAE '02-'06

[B Hise]

Haha, our sub team is unbeliveably lazy. We scare off the slackers here too. Much better off without them. Our team doesn't farm out any of our subsystems to other classes or senior peojects because of the problems EliseS2 mentioned. Some engineering students just dont have the knack to design parts, all they want to do is run numbers. Or do nothing. Lame...

Bryan
UMD

[Travis Garrison]

What? You mean I don't get the year off?

Travis Garrison
UW FSAE

[TG]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by mtg:
If you are starting a team, I'd recommend not having it part of a class. As mentioned above, when there's a grade associated with it, people tend to do "just enough work not to get fired", or this case, a failing grade.

Our team has no class credit with it. We also have no slackers, they quit immediately because they don't have to be there. One of the larger problems we have is people trying to do too much work and reinvent the wheel all the time.

If people want a senior design project, let a couple senior veteran team members basically get a little credit for something they were already going to do anyway. Other than that, I think class credit hurts the team. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've been basically hand picking the people that will be in this class. All of them are A students and seniors. It will all be for tech elective credit in a project design class. All of the guidelines and a timeline will be figured out before the beginning of the semester. In addition, we were trying to go to competition this year, but the money didn't play out, so we now have material suppliers and know what we have to work with.
Something tells me I won't have to worry about their motivation. I think my main worries will definately be elsewhere (getting money for one, other parts of the design that will not be in the class, etc.)

[Dr Claw]

you have to remember though, FSAE is the easiest senior project ever...its already defined, and you can copy a design from last year. no need to be creative at all.

lawrence tech is hurt badly by this phenomenon. the seemingly HARDEST senior project is the easiest path to graduation for some people that dont want to do anything. that go-kart is probably comparable to some of effort put forth by the slackers on any FSAE team

[mysticv6]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TG:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by mtg:
If you are starting a team, I'd recommend not having it part of a class. As mentioned above, when there's a grade associated with it, people tend to do "just enough work not to get fired", or this case, a failing grade.

Our team has no class credit with it. We also have no slackers, they quit immediately because they don't have to be there. One of the larger problems we have is people trying to do too much work and reinvent the wheel all the time.

If people want a senior design project, let a couple senior veteran team members basically get a little credit for something they were already going to do anyway. Other than that, I think class credit hurts the team. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've been basically hand picking the people that will be in this class. All of them are A students and seniors. It will all be for tech elective credit in a project design class. All of the guidelines and a timeline will be figured out before the beginning of the semester. In addition, we were trying to go to competition this year, but the money didn't play out, so we now have material suppliers and know what we have to work with.
Something tells me I won't have to worry about their motivation. I think my main worries will definately be elsewhere (getting money for one, other parts of the design that will not be in the class, etc.)

Tim Gruhl
President, ASU SAE </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'd rethink having 'A' students. I say this because when you have 'A' students, they may have the book smarts, but are almost never willing to put the time into it that it needs, because they are too busy concentrating on school, and can't be dedicated enough to the program. This is a problem we've had before, and the trend seems to be the better your grades are, the less of an asset you are to the team.

Building a fast race car is not necesarily related to good grades...

[Denny Trimble]

Not to be outdone by certain teams who get their cars done very early, we've just rolled out our entry for next year's event. This should give us 12 months of testing before the west coast competition, but we don't think we'll need it. We might just take a break for 11 months, then fire it up next May.

Our new design saved 330lbs, thanks to the design tips we've gleaned from this forum.

Side View
Steering and Pedals

Such amenities as cable stops, heel rests, steering column support, etc. etc. have been discarded, as this is a pure racing machine!

We have an "active ackerman" system on the car, by means of grade 2 fasteners as kingpins, and wheelbarrow wheel bearings. Depending on loading, the toe can vary by +/- 2 degrees. Active camber is in the works, too...

Our corner weights are adjustable thanks to our lightweight mild steel frame, which underwent significant FEA analysis.

All we need to make it comp spec is an SAE sticker!

See you in California...

[drivetrainUW-Platt]

manual disk brakes, thats what I said when I joined the team..might have saved us the shit at the 04 comp not having an operating brake syetem...skrew hydralics..go cables!

[TG]

I didn't set it up so only A students can join, it just so happens that the people whom have shown interest are A students. As far as the book smarts, true to some extent, but I believe these guys are very interested in this and have something to prove. Besides I do have a couple of good contacts that will be advising us on to what to do and what not to do (a former driver for Minardi and current Ferrari test driver comes to mind). But I do think that their interest and past projects that they've completed show that this is a plausible idea.