UCSD
Formula SAE:
“We’ve got GROSS oversteer – but FUN oversteer!”
 
Ferrari and Miata in autocross action at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium
Recently an unfamiliar
entrant participated in one of our Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) autocrosses
at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium. He caught my attention because of his car –
which was an open-wheeled race car (expensive red Ferraris and quick Miatas also
tend to attract my attention). Curious, I asked the driver about it. I found out
that it was a car designed and built by several University of California at San
Diego (UCSD) students. It was their most recent entry in the annual Formula SAE
(Society of Automotive Engineers) competition in Detroit.
UCSD Formula SAE car
What a neat idea for a
car enthusiast wishing to further his or her education: go to college and use
what you learn to design and build a winning race car. I had to learn more.
The national
organization, sponsored by DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company and General
Motors, describes Formula SAE this way on their Website: “Students design,
fabricate and compete with small formula-style race cars. Restrictions are
placed on the car frame and engine so the students’ knowledge, creativity and
imagination are tested. Four cycle engines up to 610cc can be turbocharged or
supercharged to add a new dimension to the challenge of engine design.” “The
vehicles are judged in three different categories: static inspection and
engineering design, solo performance trials and high-performance track
endurance.” The events are held each May in Detroit.
UCSD Formula SAE car at rest
The “Students… Start
your Engines!” story in the news archive for the UCSD Jacobs School of
Engineering Website (www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/students)
is a good introduction to UCSD’s Formula SAE program. The goal of the students
is to participate in the annual Formula SAE competition in Detroit. UCSD
students have already done so several times. This is a major undertaking but
with great potential rewards. Students and their work are on display in front of
potential employers in Detroit. That represents a terrific career opportunity.
The UCSD Formula SAE
homepage (http://sae.ucsd.edu)
will direct you to pages that provide much more information about the program,
including the program’s history, member profiles, photos and sponsorship. Links
to additional reference Websites can be found at the Formula SAE Website (www.sae.org/students/formula.htm).
Here is a more detailed
breakdown of this year’s all-encompassing competition: “The group will be judged
in eight categories: a 22 km endurance event and a timed autocross event on a
track defined by cones; fuel economy; skid pad; a 0-60 mph acceleration test; an
engineering design critique; an oral presentation to pitch the car design to a
fictitious manufacturer; and a final cost report analysis by industry experts.”
Aside from learning
about automotive design, engineering and construction, participation in Formula
SAE also teaches the nearly 30-member student team about business. They operate
as a business and conduct themselves accordingly. In their pursuit of
sponsorship, students make their pitches to everyone from individuals to
decision makers at corporations.
Corporate sponsors have
donated thousands of dollars, parts, materials, expertise and services, as well
as offering valuable discounts. Individuals have also provided monetary
donations, parts, tools, services and instruction. One particular individual
contributed $40 towards the cost of autocrossing, as pictured here.
According to Micah
Bayless (President and studying Aerospace Engineering): “We have to be fully
self-sufficient, whereas schools like Michigan State, Cornell and Rensselaer are
running on annual budgets of nearly $30,000 apiece to develop their cars.” These
worthy and hardworking UCSD students are very dependent upon sponsorship from
our community.
Bayless added that one
goal for this year’s car was “to incorporate the clean-burning ethanol E85 fuel
into their design.” I noticed that the list of sponsors includes San Diego’s
Regional Transportation Center, and that they provided E85 Ethanol fuel. You may
recall a recent “AutoMatters” column in which I discussed the variety of
alternative fuels pumped at the RTC fuel station -- part of Pearson Ford’s
state-of-the-art Regional Transportation Center (on El Cajon Blvd.).
There are additional,
challenging opportunities for Formula SAE students to put their cars – and their
skills, to the test. According to Formula SAE Student Central, “the Sports Car
Club of America (SCCA) has created a class specifically for formula cars built
to conform to the requirements of SAE’s Formula SAE® student design competition.
Entrants in this class will compete for the first time at the Tire Rack® SCCA
Solo National Championships in Topeka, Kansas.” That opportunity is another good
reason to practice at our local autocrosses – and in so doing expose us to a
UCSD Formula SAE car.
UCSD Electrical Engineering student Charles Wang
So let’s get to the fun
part already. What is a Formula SAE car like to drive? I asked driver Charles
Wang (Chassis & Drivetrain, and studying Electrical Engineering) that very
question. Here’s what he told me: “I’ve autocrossed my 1991 Toyota Celica GT and
the difference between that and a Formula SAE car is completely opposite. My car
is front-engine, front wheel drive and our Formula SAE car is mid-engine, rear
wheel drive. Beyond that my car runs on street tires; the Formula car runs on
slicks.”
Charles Wang autocrossing a UCSD Formula SAE car that he helped create
I asked if his Celica
exhibited understeer versus oversteer for the Formula SAE car. To that Charles
laughed, saying: “Oh yeh, oh yeh, we’ve got GROSS oversteer – but fun oversteer!”
For those of you who may not be sure what that means, when a car is said to
understeer it has a tendency to not turn as sharply as you’d like (forcing you
to slow down to be able to make turns), whereas a car that oversteers wants to
slide out at the rear (it has a tendency to spin at speed).
Charles Wang autocrossing at Qualcomm Stadium
He went on to add: “My
Celica is classed in H Stock, which is the absolute slowest class there is, and
the Formula SAE is just under A Mod, which is the second fastest class.” Our SAE
car has about 62 horsepower. It’s about 585 pounds. With the driver it’s a
little over 700. My Celica has 130 horsepower but then it weighs about 2900
pounds.”
“There’s a lot of
automotive guys from GM, Ford and Chrysler because it’s in Detroit. What they do
is they receive the cars and they start scoring them. They give points based on
how well you can justify your car and how it’s built.” “You explain to the
judges, like we’re explaining to each other, how you went about that process and
the concept that’s behind it.” “It’s required by the Formula SAE rules to build
a new car every year.”
“There are teams that
have been in the competition for about 24 years, and so they of course have the
experience and all these cars to build upon. They usually place in the top 25%
but sometimes they drop back a little bit. For everyone currently on (our UCSD)
team, this is their first year. There was a team in ’97, a team in ’98 and a
team in 2000. In ’97 and ’98 they actually went to competition but in 2000 they
didn’t have enough funds to make it there. Since then there hasn’t been a team
until our team.”
“We placed, I believe,
78th out of 140. It’s about middle of the pack. The same problem we were having
today was that the clutch was giving out. That’s what put us out of the
endurance, which is 35% of the overall points, so we’re kind of missing that big
chunk of our score.” “(Today) the first run was pretty slow because I couldn’t
shift. The second run I just got a little too aggressive out there and I got
lost on the backside, where I went up the hill.” Regarding his clutch-related
difficulty getting started again, “it’s still kind of a rare problem. Not very
many people have seen that problem before but basically we’re either losing
pressure in the hydraulic lines or the master cylinder is either gunked up or
kind of cocked to the side and so it won’t return itself. Basically the pedal
gets stuck to the ground. You can’t shift, you can’t put it in neutral and you
can’t restart it. What I did was I had to hook my foot on the bottom of the
pedal to lift it back up and then pump the pedal again to build up some more
hydraulic pressure. The first run I was trying to shift and it wasn’t working
for me so then the second run I just tried to keep it in one gear.”
“Even community colleges
– there were a couple actually, had cars. It’s not just the big public and
private universities.”
As for Charles’ thoughts
on employment opportunities, “a lot of the motorsports and the Big Three – GM,
Chrysler and Ford, look specifically for Formula SAE experience.” “It really
varies. There are guys at Ford, Chrysler, GM, Cosworth Racing Engines and
Garrett turbochargers (Engine Boosting Systems).”
Charles appreciates the
additional learning opportunities made available to him through his
participation in UCSD’s Formula SAE program. He told me that: “I’m pursuing an
Electrical Engineering degree. However, for the car I designed the frame and
suspension geometry. I did most of that in Computer Aided Design. It’s more of a
Mechanical Engineering type of thing to do. That’s one of the good things about
the University of California SAE group. You’re exposed to so many different
disciplines in a project.” “Another reason why I like this project and joined
this student organization is because it’s really a hands-on project.” Charles
seems to be an intelligent, articulate and enthusiastic young man. I suspect he
will go far.
As always, please share
your stories and send your comments to
AutoMatters@gmail.com. Enjoy the archives and more at
www.AutoMatters.net. Drive safely and do join me again next time.
Copyright © 2004, 2006 Jan R. Wagner – #110r2
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