S&T's Formula SAE racing team is back from California where the Miners capped off their most ambitious competition season ever by again winning the autocross event en route to a 2nd place finish overall. This is on the heels of 8th place at the world championships and another 2nd place at the Virginia series. In the blistering California sun that defeated the car last year, the strength of their autocross victory and runner-up in endurance also earned them the Autodesk Inventor Award, the second time this year that prize came to S&T.
It is one thing to do well at one event, where your high-speed car holds together for a couple of days. It is quite another to undertake (and succeed in) all three of SAE's major events over a 2-month period, with practice and training in between. That is a testament to the engineering and durability of #82, which was one of the heavier and larger cars at the races. That weight worked against them as they came in 14th in acceleration, just 4/10th of a second out of first place. Skidpad, a high-speed figure-8 challenge, was back in the pack at 25th, but they report that one brake cylinder wasn't properly bled and that imbalance caused them to spin out.

In the midst of all this activity the team kept up a steady schedule of public-relations events, from Rolla's June Summerfest to Jefferson City's Salute to America carnival on July 4th. FSAE took their pride and joy just 30 miles from our satellite engineering school, where the streets were full of hot rods, tractor-pull monsters, dragsters and classic muscle cars, because this year's theme was (duh!) racing. The Miners had a blast talking to other gear-heads about their success and the design ideas behind the victories, and polished their communication skills by hosting the non-racing public as well. The car was a huge hit with the kids, who were encouraged to jump in and make the usual Vroom! Vroom! noises that even the adults like to make. Here's a shot of the cutest sister-and-brother tandem that graced the cockpit Friday.

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S&T's Formula SAE team has won its second straight autocross race in world-class competition. They are in California as part of their three-phased attack on the SAE racing world, following a second place finish in Virginia and 8th at the Michigan world championships. We don't yet have any firm results on acceleration, skid pad, braking or design events, but we'll get them to you as soon as we know.

2008 has been a tremendous turn-around for S&T's quickest and fastest design team (well, if you don't count AAVG's Mach 1.5 missile, but that is unmanned). Last year they didn't finish many races, and this year the Miners have been top-of-the-heap all the way.

This is more than just racing, it is about experiential learning. Like any design and manufacturing firm, you develop, build and test, over and over, until you are sure things will work reliably. Only then can you be sure the product is ready for market. In the past few years FSAE had developed a sophisticated but risky dry-sump lubrication system that would allow them to lower the car's center of gravity resulting in better speed and handling, an "edge" would help them outclass the competition. Years of work and refinement couldn't quite ensure reliability (as last year's race attests), so the '08 Miners returned to proven systems, simplified the car, and improved team communication, and Voila! Top-tier results all the way.

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Missouri S&T's Formula SAE Team is on the way home from the world championship of collegiate racing, and they feel pretty good about their technical resurgence. Their consistent performance throughout the engineering, static and dynamic events landed them 8th place overall among over 100 top-flight international teams that converged on the Michigan International Speedway this past week, and this is the 3rd time in the past five years that S&T has placed on the top-ten team list at the world finals, one of perhaps only five teams to claim that honor. And that handful of great teams was definitely there this week.

As mentioned, S&T rallied to win the autocross, but the endurance race is the top event. The fastest cars are grouped together and fly wheel-to-wheel through a 22km course designed to prove the cars are, in fact, proven.
These events are not just about punching the accelerator and holding on. Each team goes through a grueling round of tech and safety inspections before and even AFTER each race under the watchful (and sometimes changing) eyes of SAE professionals. The students must develop strategy, i.e., which driver starts each race, choosing tires according to the air temperature or track conditions, how best to out-run other top-tier teams, or any other variable that arises just as unexpected problems might arise in industry design efforts.

Team Leader Brad Leuther (in the cool glasses) often starts each day with team briefings to confirm that everyone fully understands the team's strategy, and the Miners' new racing trailer serves as a fantastic meeting place to do just that.

Continue reading "Formula SAE Racing Team Returns To Top-Tier Ranking" »

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A victory in the autocross race and solid performances in the endurance competition helped propel Missouri S&T's Formula SAE Team to its third top-10 finish in five years in the annual Formula SAE international competition, held May 15-17 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.

The Missouri S&T team and its Indy-style miniature race car finished eighth among a field of 104 contestants from 15 countries. The University of Western Australia won the overall event.

The Missouri S&T team achieved its highest finish in the event since 2004, when the team finished fourth out of some 120 competitors. The team finished ninth in the 2005 event. After failing to complete the 2006 and 2007 races, the team's 2008 ranking gives the team three top-10 finishes over the past five years. Earlier this year, Missouri S&T finished second out of 40 teams in a similar race in Virginia.

The Formula SAE events, sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, are designed to showcase the engineering skills of university students. Each year for the Formula SAE competitions, the teams design and manufacture a new car. At each event, teams were judged in several performance categories, including acceleration tests that resemble drag races, and an endurance test. Judges also evaluate cost and design.

In addition to winning the autocross competition with a time of 46.9 seconds, Missouri S&T finished second in a design paper presentation, and finished in the top 10 in the endurance and cost categories.

"Every year since I've been advisor, which began in 2001, the competitiveness has become more and more intense," says team advisor Dr. Hank Pernicka, associate professor of aerospace engineering at Missouri S&T. "For us to win autocross and to be so competitive in the other events speaks well of this team and our program. I'm very proud of this team's accomplishments in such a highly competitive annual event."

Continue reading "Formula SAE: back in the top 10" »

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Missouri S&T's Formula SAE team is unofficially in the top five of some 130 racers going into today's final event, the endurance competition. The 22-kilometer endurance course will test the mettle of all FSAE competitors, but Missouri S&T's Corey Blue thinks the team has a good chance to be in the top three when the smoke clears.

Interview with Corey Blue, Missouri S&T FSAE team member

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Apparently S&T's Formula SAE team's 2nd placed finish at Virginia International Speedway a few weeks ago was just the warm-up for the grand-daddy of FSAE racing, this weekend's field of 100+ international teams tearing up the asphalt in the backyard of the Big 3 automakers. The team earned top-ten placement in design (just four points behind #1) and cost judging Thursday, and despite having the biggest car at the event, landed very good marks in acceleration (12th) and skid pad (14th) Friday. Lunch break was a great chance to do last-minute checks and repairs, using

every engineer's favorite roll-based grey composite material (duct-tape for all you liberal arts grads) prior to the autocross race, the first of the two big races which usually decide the FSAE world champs.
Neil Schreiber started his two autocross runs with blistering runs just over 50 seconds each. As the track warmed up, however, the powerhouse teams from Texas*, Germany and Austria (foreign countries all, but the Europeans speak excellent English) gradually began to post times 3 to 4 seconds faster, dropping S&T down in the ranks. Racing was SO close that only 14/1000 of a second separated the top 2 cars in the mid 47-second range. After a team's oil spill closed the track and cooled the course down, it looked kinda grim for a S&T podium finish, but Richard Colfax, in his
last race before going to work for Goodyear, strapped himself in the car and BLEW THE DOORS OFF the leaders by more than half a second, notching the only sub-47-second mark of the day! That launched the Miners into sole possession of first place and suddenly everyone knew who Missouri S&T was. But before Richard could take his second run mechanical troubles forced the girls and guys back to the paddock for repairs and it looked like they were done for the day. Meanwhile the crew had to sweat out other teams' efforts to surpass the new mark, but at the last minute they hustled the car back to the pit area and were allowed another run.

Richard managed to knock another 2/10ths of a second off his first score, pretty much locking up the event for tomorrow's 22-kilometer endurance race that may well determine the champion. That puts S&T in the pole position, but racing will be exciting because rain and wind is in the forecast, and we don't see many rain tires in the paddock. Stay tuned.........

Continue reading "FSAE Headed To Another Podium Finish?" »

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Update, Saturday morning, May 17, 2008: The team's time of 46.662 was invalidated as the car hit a cone during the run. This resulted in a two-second penalty. But Missouri S&T's earlier run of 46.9 seconds was fast enough to put the team in first place in the autocross competition, 4/10ths of a second ahead of the next-fastest vehicle.

The results are not yet official, but it looks like Missouri S&T's Formula SAE team took first place in the autocross event of the international FSAE competition under way at Michigan International Speedway. Missouri S&T's racer posted a time of 46.662 seconds in the autocross event. That's at least three-tenths of a second faster than the next fastest formula car.

Here's a brief interview with S&T driver Richard Colfax, who drove the car to the top finish today. Colfax is a veteran of six FSAE competitions and graduates tomorrow with a degree in aerospace engineering. (He's also an alum, holding bachelor's and master's degrees in metallurgical engineering from Missouri S&T.)

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The Formula SAE competition is under way here in Michigan. Missouri S&T drivers performed well in this morning's driving events -- skid pad and acceleration. They are now getting the car ready for the afternoon's activities. More news later. In the meantime, here are some sounds from the speedway.

Interview with Brad Leuther, leader of the Missouri S&T team

Interview with John Kiblinger, one of the Missouri S&T drivers

Sounds from the speedway

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Missouri S&T's Formula SAE Team is on their way to Michigan for the annual Formula SAE Competition this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. Team members hope to improve on their second-place finish in last month's event in Virginia.

Follow all the the action from this blog, or if you're a fan of Twitter, sign up to follow this event and other Missouri S&T activities from the Missouri S&T Twitter page.

We'll also post audio updates from time to time on the brand new Missouri S&T Utterz site.

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While the human-powered Miners have been freezing their bicycle seats off, S&T's FSAE racing team has ended a long drought and in a field of more than 25 cars returned to the winner's podium, earning the following consistently high marks at the Virginia International Raceway:
1st Place Autodesk Inventor Design Communication Award - $750
For best overall Design Report
2nd Place Overall - $2,000
2nd Place Goodyear Best Performance Award - 2 sets of tires
For 2nd Place in the Endurance Event
2nd Place Hoosier Tire Autocross Award - 6 tires
For 2nd Place in the Autocross Event
2nd Place Honda Dynamic Event Award - $725
For scoring the 2nd highest point total in skid-pad, acceleration, autocross, and endurance/economy
3rd Place Honda Engineering Design Award - $525
For 3rd Place in the Design Event
3rd Place General Motors Fuel Economy Award - $400
For 3rd Place in Fuel Economy, using only 1.1 U.S. Gallons
Prize Totals: $4,400.00, 6 Hoosier Tires, and 2 sets of Goodyear Tires plus another set for successfully completing endurance per our Goodyear Sponsorship. WAY TO GO, MINERS!!!!

Michigan State, the only other team slated to attend all three FSAE events, didn't show up, so if our luck (and hard work) holds up, Brad and the girls and guys will be the only team to compete in Virginia, Michigan and California. I hope they stoked their GPAs before they entered into THIS competition season, because I wonder how they'd explain a sudden GPA drop to their parents. Maybe the next conversation with their parents will go probably something like this.......

Continue reading "FSAE Roars Into Second Place!!" »

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The official score sheets and placings are still not posted, but the Miners have made it to Design Finals for the first time in years! So far they share the interim podium along with Virginia Tech, Cincinnati, and Wisconsin-Madison. S&T was able to get skid-pad and acceleration runs in this morning and expect to be near the top for each event. Fastest acceleration time was around a 2.9 second run, followed by a 3.1 for second, and the Miners were in 3rd place just 1/10th of a second slower.

More details will be posted as soon as we get them.

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While we have been raving about concrete canoe, steel bridge, AAVG and human-powered racers, S&T's much-improved Formula SAE team has been quietly testing and refining the flashy-looking car.

FSAE has probably the most ambitious competition schedule of any Miner design team, because they are racing at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) this weekend, Michigan Proving Grounds in May, and then Riverside, California in June. That's a LOT of time on the road, and $4+ per gallon fuel is not helping.
We are pleased to report that out of 100 points they were able to secure 89 points in the cost event, the best that they've ever done in that event (not counting the way-back years for which the dog ate the records)! That means the car's production cost is one of the lowest at the event. Last year at two events they averaged only 67 points, so this is a huge improvement and a very good omen because podium teams are usually up in the 82-95 point range. Tomorrow the dynamic events (acceleration, skid pad, and autocross) begin so stay tuned for cool photos!

Continue reading "Formula SAE Race Car Is A Bargain!" »

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See this innocent-looking guy? He is Brad Leuther, Formula SAE Team Leader. He has been pushing, nagging, cajoling, even resorting to bribery (more on that below) and doing everything he can to have the '08 FSAE car operational by January 1st.
That is a critical goal because it gives the team more than three months of testing and evaluation to train drivers, refine the design and work out the bugs to become a top-tier team for '08. Kinda like the old story about the music student who asked "how do I get to Carnegie Hall?", to which an old man replied "practice, practice, practice!".
Anyway, there are tremendous benefits to having a drivable car by January 1. If they make that goal Goodyear will donate a set of new Goodyear racing tires and provide early-season access to the company's test facility somewhere in Texas. The car will also be the keystone of Missouri S&T's display at the St Louis Auto Show January 23rd-27th.

Now about that "bribery" comment. Brad apparently promised that if the car is operational by January 1st he will shave his head, don only a Speedo and cape, and run around campus in celebration. Pray for snow. We'll alert the media. And be careful what you wish for, Brad.

Continue reading "Formula SAE Car Approaches Production Milestone!" »

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We just found this at that You Tube place. Thought you might want to see the formula car in action again.

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Information on UMR's performance in last weekend's Formula SAE event in California is starting to trickle in. It sounds like the team didn't meet its high expectations. Here are a few reports:

UMR did not finish the endurance race due to an electrical problem. They kept blowing electrical breakers due to the heat.

Acceleration improved over Detroit.

12th in Design.

There were 80 cars registered.

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We'll put this YouTube fixation to rest as soon as we have some real news (or fake news, gossip, etc.) to report about UMR's student design teams and various competitions.

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This, apparently, is what happens when you throw a rod. The unfortunate events above put UMR's slick car out of the Formula SAE competition in Detroit last month. But the UMR Formula Car Team has a chance to redeem itself June 13-16 at California Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Let's hope it's raining and that Ashley Judd is there in a sundress.

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Forget about the Formula SAE thing for a minute -- this car looks like it could win the Indianapolis 500. The UMR team is skipping the Indy 500, though, in order to get the car ready for another Formula SAE competition in California. Even though UMR had a back-up engine last week in Michigan, they were worried about throwing another rod. For those of you (most of you, we're guessing) who know what that means, please provide some details by leaving comments. Your humble blogger can barely put gas in a car, let alone give you the mechanical details you desire and deserve. We trust that you, our loyal readers, can make this a much smarter blog by adding comments.

Elsewhere (actually here in Rolla), that Discovery Channel crew that is documenting the Human-Powered Vehicle Team's accomplishments will be in town tomorrow to shoot some more footage.

P.S. Some day, maybe the formula car will run on crude oil that UMR researchers plan to extract from algae.

P.P.S. You might also want to check this out. (It doesn't have anything to do with design teams, but it's very experiential.)

P.P.S.S. If you like the looks of UMR's car (above), you might want to think about bidding on it if they ever decide to put it on eBay. That's exactly what the Formula Car Team did with the 2002 car.

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More than 100 teams are competing in the SAE formula car competition near Detroit this week. The parking lot at the Ford Proving Grounds, which is as big as a small town, is full of mini-Indy cars. UMR's vehicle is said to be one of the coolest cars in the competition...

OK. Now we've got a report from Michigan. UMR's first run in the autocross part of the competition put them in or near the top 10. Then, in an attempt to post an even better qualifying time, UMR threw a rod ...

Breaking: Apparently UMR is out of tomorrow's endurance race. Which stinks, because UMR's car was designed to be very strong in the endurance race. But the team is going to fix the car better than ever in anticipation of the next SAE event June 13-16 at California Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

P.S. Bob will post pics (look to the right of the page) later today or definitely by tomorrow.

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