Today (Friday) was the first day of dynamic events at the biggest SAE event of the year. All teams were fine-tuning their race cars for the skid pad, acceleration and autocross events while simultaneously looking over their shoulders at their teammates and asking "How'd we do in Design? Cost? Presentation?" Here Josh Noll is helping Eric Borcherding adjust the rear wing for reduced drag just prior to the acceleration test; they later returned the slat to its original position for maximum downforce needed in the autocross. At the same time other pit crew members were under the car setting up the chassis.
Back to the static (non-driving) events, they form the foundation of each team's overall score. A well-managed team will develop a strategy of consistent performance throughout each technological task associated with the competition, because simply winning the endurance race and maybe autocross won't necessarily get you enough points to claim overall victory.
So far the Miners are just doing that. In the static events they just missed making the design finals, earning 115 points and 5th place overall, just one slot shy of the final four teams in that category, their best showing in a long time. S&T took 16th in presentation earning good points in the process, and 17th in cost, only 12 points (out of 100) behind the top-scoring team. Their dynamic results include 20th in acceleration with 52+ points, and 23rd in the skid pad challenge. A look at the score sheets indicates that while the Miners may be topped by some teams, few crews have scored as consistently high across the judging spectrum, and that is good for S&T. These standings are unofficial, they tell us, but short of a major controversy we don't expect them to change.
Today's most exciting event was the autocross where drivers try to go as fast as they can through a meandering course lined with orange cones. Run over a cone and get a two-second penalty, which for the top cars (including S&T) amounts to about a 5% fine for each cone struck
The excitement factor was not limited to just the races. A steady rain was forecast for the autocross hours so all eyes remained on the sky, which kept turning different shades of dark grey all afternoon. The Miners waited to run as late as possible in hopes of getting a clean, warm track on which they'd have a speed advantage but the risk was if they waited too long they'd have to come off the line and switch to rain tires. But the gamble paid off. 
Just as raindrops began to fall #8 blazed to a time of 44.15 seconds (if memory serves) and earned S&T a 3rd place in an event marked by only hundreds of a second between the top teams. After several autocross victories in recent SAE events the Miners were disappointed, but as one long-time S&T supporter said "I never thought I'd see the day when an S&T team is bummed out about a 3rd-place finish in autocross".
Just as S&T ran its last autocross sprint the clouds opened up and the track got real interesting as cars still using dry-pavement tires began to lose their "grip". One car spun out in the last turn and ran off the course just feet from the checkered flag, wasting a fine run. The remaining teams, who quickly switched to rain tires, began to post significantly slower times in the wet.
Looking at tomorrow's critical endurance race vis-a-vis the weather the Miners also switched to rain tires, not to run again but to "break in" the racing shoes on a practice lot just in case they have to run wet in the morning.
Doing his best to create rooster tails of water behind the tires, the Miner driver pushed the car hard through row after row of cones and spun several times trying to get the rain tires ready for possible service. They'll need to run a perfect endurance race (well within their skill set) to stay in the top three tomorrow. Perennial international power, and probable FSAE event leader 
and low-slung Graz* (Austria) University of Technology (right) holds most of the category titles, having won presentation, design, skid pad, and acceleration (they have a VERY light car) so far. They did score poorly in cost, and took a 35-point penalty because their car was built before the rules and the couldn't handle a specific cockpit template.
Now back to the efforts to set up a car's suspension for specific events..........
To properly set up a car it must be weighed down with a driver; "loaded" so to speak. In this case Josh Noll again proves his value to the S&T race force. Josh is one of the team's top drivers and he did a great job of sitting quietly in the driver's seat while his crew set shocks and camber for the autocross. Josh knows how important this task is so he gave it his full attention as we are sure you'll note.
*Lastly, you'll need an update on the P.A. announcement de jour, so here it the leading contender for the M*A*S*H* 4077th award for the best announcement of the event:
"Attention in the paddock, attention in the paddock! The Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) wishes to announce that there are no kangaroos in Austria".
Silly as you might think, we saw one student completely flummoxed by the announcement for a good ten seconds before it finally dawned on him, and he gave a sheepish look of "oh, yeah, I get it now".
The runner-up for P.A. announcement of the day was an team looking for a "metric crescent wrench".
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