FSAE-A improvements

I would like to propose that all teams who have a competition in their own country cease from complaining about the costs to go to comp http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_razz.gif

I think I spent around $1300-1800 every year I was studying/doing FSAE to get to Aus - it wasn't ever easy to come up with the money but if you care about it, you find a way.

Back on topic, I'd agree with Rex regarding the points/results that are released, I always found it very frustrating that the best source of somewhat detailed results were photographs of posted scores from the comp. I also think historical results should remain on the website for future reference

I'm not complaining, just pointing out why Aus Comp will probably not roam around aus.

The FSAE-A website needs to have previous events on it, the things that disappear are always good to have. Especially detailed results, judge comments etc.

My two main issues.

- Involve other engineering companies. At the end of the day we have a very large group of capable students looking for graduate employment. The Automotive industry cannot possibly accommodate all of them. With increased industry involvement it is likely costs to teams could be reduced. Why is the IEAust not involved with this competition?

- More consultation with universities (faculty advisors). The recent rule change in the middle of the year was ridiculous, and was implemented with no time for teams to change fundamental concepts. This is an educational event and not involving the educational institutions in the major changes to the competition is at best a waste of a good resource and at worst will end participation by a number of universities.


In the earlier years of the competition there was more broad involvement with the automotive industry (this meant more prizes such as the PBR brake prize). There was also more communication and consultation with Universities. For example Australia was the first competition to allow for wet weather tyres as a direct result of communication with participants, prior to that the comps just stopped in wet conditions.

Kev

what mid year rule change was this that you speak of?

The reallocation of points for the events. Check the Australian ammendment.

Kev

oh yep, we saw those. i just saw "mid year rule change," and panicked a bit lol

Pretty big change, especially with the American formula, not too sure why they are reverting back to the old numbers either, how hard is it to have different numbers? Though We are not complaining with no.2

I agree 100% with Kev. I would love to see SAE-A collaborate with IEAUST. Like he said not all FSAE grads end up in the automotive industry and the skills acquired can make you a valuable engineer across multiple engineering industries. The comp is absolutely struggling for cash so why not diversify and get some of the mining engineering companies and their suppliers on board?

I would also like to see some industry involvement at the comp. We have just got home from Formula Student in the UK and they had some cool stuff like the Airbus team doing 30 minute slots on a practice track shooting teams cars at 1000 frames per second. We were able to do a braking run, two accel launches and a slalom. The film has been very interesting from the little investigation I have done so far.

I liked how the Aus comp used to have extra awards, I think it should be reintroduced but I suspect it requires some effort from volunteers on the committee to set it up and then judge. I'm sure by now there are enough FSAE alumni to help out with this sort of thing. At FS UK the overall winner got a tour of the Red Bull F1 factory on the following Monday. We could send a team to FPR or HRT or something like that I'm sure it would be a fairly unique and interesting prize to give away.

The other aspect is the live timing for dynamic events. This combined with good commentary would make the comp much better for your average spectator and also improve the experience for competitors. The use of Natsoft timing last year was very good. I liked being able to stand in the driver change area and see what times our guys were doing, it was just a shame no one else could see it.

On a more technical side I think it would be good to have teams do a dyno pull on the same dyno prior to design event. ADFA has a hub dyno... maybe they should take it the comp. I would also like to see CG height measurement station and yaw moment of inertia swing. The numbers could be written on your tech sticker along with over all mass. Tech inspection all day Thursday would be awesome too.

To finish off I have to echo the comments about the FSAE-A website. It used to have all the newsletters with Pat’s tech tips and Q&A along with past results. I would have thought an archive of results would be the bare minimum for the site.

I’m trying to get there as a volunteer this year and coaxing a few more Defence FSAE Alumni to get along as and help out.

Cheers

Re: past results - I can't even get a link to the 2010 results anymore!?

For an engine guy, it would be cool to have a dyno session for every car (before design would make sure all cars are in a running condition for design, and weigh-in...). However, I fully acknowledge that FSAE is a handling comp, and thus suspension design is what makes you got fast - therefore, having CoG and yaw stuff would be VERY useful: for any teams that haven't/can't done it themselves, to compare against other unis, and for design judges to have more data when asking questions/giving marks.

Re: ADFAs hub dyno. If you bring it, I'm sure teams who are done for the day would love to use it. Although, if something broke, it would be hard to explain to the rest of your team what exactly you were hoping to achieve... maybe a post Sunday enduro dyno competition???

besides bragging rights what use would a dyno at comp actually be? i mean like if you're needing a dyno tune while at comp you've got some issues to deal with.

accurate four wheel scales and CoG height measurements would be a more useful one, in my opinion, as it would give weight distribution and CoG position etc, which design judges and teams can both use to evaluate their packaging etc and it doesnt risk breaking anything.

just my personal opinion. oh and maybe a professional tire fitter or supplier tent (similar to the welders) so that if you have to swap a set of tires onto rims it can be done easily and correctly. or so if you have bulk punctures you can get new rubber etc.