S&T's world-ranked Formula SAE team probably has the most grueling competition series of any U.S., or for that matter, foreign team. They are literally racing coast-to-coast for 2009, winning the Virginia warm-up race and taking 6th at the world event in Michigan. They even sandwiched a valuable trip to team sponsor's Goodyear Akron test facility after the grueling northern trip. Their goal was now to win the FSAE season finale near Los Angeles and wrap up the Miners' best season ever. This is not just a case of shifting the well-trained crew from race to race; it is summertime and not every student who worked the previous races is available. Some have summer jobs, a few are taking classes, and others have even graduated so the team isn't playing with a full deck (so to speak) :)
Anyway, after overcoming some highway drama en route (see previous story), S&T Racing started the event in fine style by sailing through tech inspection with no issues, then winning the skid pad event for the first time ever. The skid pad is a very tight figure-eight course run one direction then the other. It is a timed test to determining how fast and effectively a car can make it through the kind of demanding turns drivers will encounter in both the autocross and endurance courses.
While waiting to start the autocross event, team leader Aaron Young called in to say the Miners made the design semifinals for the third time this year, a very consistent showing. As it turns out only two teams (usually it is 4 or 5 crews) made the finals and S&T was unfortunately not in that elite pairing.
By that time perennial racing power Rochester Institute of Technology, which placed very high at the Michigan races, had established themselves as the leader. Going into the all-important endurance race RTI held a 40 point lead over the Miners, with the other 96% of the teams so far behind as to be barely on the radar. There would be no way to tell if an RTI miscue and another miraculous driving effort like we saw from Andrew D'Hooge and D.J. Quint in Michigan last month could rally the Miners to their best-ever racing season.
In what amounted to a two-car race RTI and S&T performed extremely well but in one of those cruel twists of fate a sheared bolt doomed to the Miners to a DNF (did not finish) in the all-important endurance race. The endurance race requires each team to pit their car for a driver change and equalize any advantage one particularly skilled driver might hold, as well as to make sure fresh drivers are on course at all times. When S&T's car
came into the pits all was going well. The driver swap went quickly but just as Rolla tried to pull back onto the course a steering bolt failed and made the car undriveable, eliminating any chance to win the day.
Ironically this may have been the result of the Miners' exceptional performance for 2009. The car was road ready earlier than usual so S&T had time to train to an extraordinary degree, practicing with the car several times a week. It takes a lot of asphalt to practice autocross racing, so Rolla's K-Mart, Lowe's and even the Waynesville High School parking lots became "tracks for a day", except that "tracks for a night" would be more accurate because much of that testing took place around midnight.
It may have been that ambitious testing regimen that led to the car's demise. Per SAE rules these teams build a new car each year and sell, scrap or retire their cars tp training vehicles. In short, the cars have a design life cycle of only one season and S&T's car came up short by maybe 15 minutes. We've reported the Miners "thrashed" their car to a spectacular endurance race finish in Michigan, and that was the norm for S&T Racing this year. They pushed that car to its best through months of practice, training their drivers to razor's edge perfection and setting a new benchmark of team organization and performance. They continued that remarkable pace through at least two trips to professional testing facilities, three major races, and perhaps surprisingly, numerous public relations and recruiting outreach events. All of that work may have edged the flashy car just minutes past its design limit.
And while their official SAE racing season is over, the learning opportunities continue. Most of the team is remaining an extra day in California to take in some seminars to help them now, next season, and throughout their professional careers in years to come.
Now THAT'S an S&T education.
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