Brief overview 

A handful of university professors got together 20 years ago to form an SAE student design competition that started out being called the Mini Indy.  It has now morphed into an international competition for college of engineering students.  It serves as an excellent training program for applying engineering theory to road and track automotives.  Brazil, Canada, China, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Sweden, United Kingdom, Venezuela, and universities all over the United States competed in the last Formula SAE West competition.  These cars have to be built from the ground up each year.  Designing, fabricating, machining, outsourcing, and marketing sponsorships to corporations and individuals are just a few of the components these students will delve into in the project of designing a high performance car.

The end result is to have a car marketable to a manufacturing firm. Something that is feasible to build, capable of being reproduced, and has the performance a weekend autocross racer could respect and desire to own.  The car is required to have functional and reliable handling, braking, acceleration capabilities, and safety components, as well as aesthetic looks and an ergonomic feel.  This is not all!  Since the car has to compete within real world constraints, unlike classroom problems, it has to conform to a $25,000 budget.

As with any project, they have to be geared towards a specific audience and purpose.  At competition, each team is judged on criteria of cost analysis, marketing presentation, engineering design, and various dynamic performance trials.  A panel of judges from the automotive and motor sports industry comes from all over the world for these events.  The available competitions in the U.S. are in: 1) Michigan International Speedway, Detroit, MI, 2) California Speedway, Fontana, CA, and 3) Virginia International Raceway, Alton, VA.  There are also satellite events in Japan, Italy, Brazil, Australia, and Germany.  Acceleration, skid pad, autocross, and endurance dynamic events test the designs aptitude for success. 

History

The Formula SAE program began at TTU in 2002. In 2006, a new team was formed and organized in a business-like structure. At the top of the student-run program are two co-advisors: Dr. Glen Johnson , a professor of Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Dr. Ahmed ElSawy , Professor and Chair of Manufacturing and Industrial Technology (MIT).   They act as the liaison between the team and the College of Engineering, TTU and Society of Automotive Engineers ( http://students.sae.org/competitions/formulaseries/ .) Also they provide valuable technical and business consultation to the team. In the past, the team captains ran the team's technical and business aspects of the program. Their job is to ensure that the team as a whole succeeds. They accomplish this by supervising the group leaders. There are technical and administrative groups. The technical groups are concerned with the design, manufacturing and testing issues to include the engine, suspension, frame, drive train, composite structures, and driver interface. The administrative groups are in charge of fundraising, finance, public relations, and driver training and maintenance groups. Each member of the team is part of a technical and administrative team, even the team captains.

The set-up of the 2007 team is consolidated into one group approaching each step of design, manufacturing, and marketing.  Past groups targeted suspension, engine, frame, drive train, driver interface, composites structures', finance, fundraising, and driver maintenance individually.  The 2007 team consisted of fewer students with diverse background and characterized with better technical and interpersonal skills.

Academics

Being a fully accredited university, the academic aspect of the program is very important. Although the Formula SAE club at TTU is run out of the College of Engineering, the team membership is open to all engineering majors, technology, and business students with good academic standing.                                                    

The above picture illustrates an FEA stress analysis of the frame design with the use of Pro Engineering 3-D drawing by Jim Droke an MIT major.  The ANSYS program was used under the supervision of Dr. Chris Wilson, an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. 

Inside the Manufacturing and Industrial Technology department, two classes work cooperatively with the Formula SAE team.  Machine Design (MIT 3401) works to incorporate machine elements and material properties, for parts such as the a-arms.  With knowledge gained from lectures and homework, teams apply these resources for final projects of a variety of topics. Special Problems (MIT 4990) also has a group project for the FSAE car as well as Internal Combustion Engines ( ME 4630). This team works on a variety of improvement designs and manufacturing ideas.  They use data from previous competitions to continuously improve the FSAE Car.  Each of these team members dedicates time all semester to ensure there are no failures and the car outperforms the previous years.

Eligibility

So how does one get involved with Formula SAE? Well, first of all, FSAE is not for everyone. It involves long hours of research, design, manufacturing, testing, and administration.  The challenge provided is balanced by the outstanding opportunity and reward of building and racing a formula FSAE style. Individuals must also be members with the SAE. For membership information, go to http://www.sae.org/ . And finally, participants must sign a liability waiver and provide a proof of health insurance at the competition.

Todd Kaller and Curtis Easterling, pictured here are analyzing the frame length in conjunction with the pedal mounts

Testing the 2007 car before going to the competition
From Left to right: Jarrod Goodwin; Todd Kaller; Eric Wisniewski
On the driver seat: Curtis Easterling (2007 Team Captain)

Year breakdown                                                     

Beginning in the fall, designs are hatched and run through critical thinking within the group based on past designs.  After extensive planning, the team gears up for Christmas Break, when the parts are ordered and the build begins.  In the spring semester, the 3-D models were created, frame is built, and stress analyses were simulated.  At the end of spring/beginning of summer, the car is put on the dyno and tested on closed track.  This is a very condensed version of all the efforts put into the car.

Competition

The first day is spent preparing for the technical inspection.  If any aspect of the car does not meet the requirements, it has to be fixed immediately or else the car cannot race.  Following the rulebook from design to finished product really pays off at this point (http://students.sae.org/competitions/formulaseries/rules/.)

The next couple days are filled with design and cost judging and numerous dynamic events. All the while, the rest of the TTU FSAE team is talking to other teams and exchanging ideas. Various corporations are also present in the event seeking future engineers.

The final day ends with the design finals and awards banquet. By the end of the competition, each member on the team realizes what he or she had worked for all year. Their efforts had been represented at an international competition.  Either they may or may not finish all the static and dynamic events, they still came home with experiences that others who chose not to take part in FSAE competition could only dream of. So when the students return from competition, they write a series of recommendation reports for the upcoming technical and administrative teams. A lot of members graduate and move on yet, for the underclassmen, the journey has just begun.

This year marked the first time the TTU team has completed all events without any breakdowns or disqualifications.  This is actually a great accomplishment since this car is being put to the limit, especially in the 13-mile endurance run.  Some of the biggest schools in the country with sponsorships from major corporations like GM, Boeing, and Honda cannot say this.  TTU was 1 of only 18 teams that received points in all events and received a certificate of accomplishment from SAE. Some points from the presentations of the static events were taken as constructive criticism for the next car design.  To be more competitive in the races to come, the weight of the car will have to be reduced and the car appearance should be prettier. This is due to judges seeking designs of a car to be less than 500 pounds. 

2007 Drivers
From Left to right: Jarrod Goodwin; Todd Kaller; Eric Wisniewski
On the driver seat: Curtis Easterling (2007 Team Captain)

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all students and professors involved in the 2006-2007 season:

Students:  Travis Flowers, Travis Jones, Justin Chartier, Todd Kaller, Curtis Easterling, Eric Wisniewski, Jarrod Goodwin, Jim Droke, Brad Ward, Matt Lane, Chris Crunk, Jason Black, Aaron McDonald, Justin Jolly, Jesse McCaslin

Professors:  Dr. Glen Johnson (Former Dean of Engineering and Professor of Mechanical Engineering); Dr. Ahmed Elsawy (Professor and Chair of the Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Technology); Dr. Chris Wilson, associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering; and Dr. Mike Allen, Associate Professor of Mathematics & undergraduate ME student & a Team member.

Staff: Mr. Mike Renfro, R&D Engineer, Center for Manufacturing Research; Mr. David Walker, Mechanical Engineering Lab Technician; and Mr. Barry Allison, MIT Engineering Lab Technician.