Monash Formula SAE Newsletter

Monash Formula
SAE
Newsletter
December Edition, 2002
Formula SAE 2002 has been run and won.
Unfortunately for Monash, electrical gremlins plagued
the car on the final day of competition, and
consequently we missed out on the podium finish that
we had worked so hard for. This final newsletter for
the year details all the triumph and tragedy of last
week’s race at Carrum Downs, and points the way for
Monash Formula SAE 2003. As always we’d like to
thank our many sponsors for their support through out
the year, we look forward to visiting you all in the
coming weeks to deliver a small token of our
appreciation. Have a safe and happy Christmas and
we’ll see you in the New Year.
Regards,
Monash PLM Formula SAE Team 2002
Product Life Cycle Management - proud
supporters of the Monash University
Formula SAE team.
Formula SAE Event Report
Friday: Design, Cost, Presentation &
Scrutineering
Friday saw the car undertake scrutineering along with the design, presentation and cost
events. The technical inspection was passed after a few modifications to the fire wall and roll
hoop bracing, while the tilt table also posed no problems even with the car tilted well beyond
the required 57 degrees (61 in this photo and it still went further). The noise test however was
unable to be passed at the first attempt due to the gusting winds and a slightly crackling
engine. The car was unofficially passed on retesting later that day.
The Presentation Event, where the team attempts to sell their design to a mythical
manufacturing firm, delivered by Scott Wordley was well received by the judges, resulting in a
second place finish. Our score of 74.7 was a mere 0.3 points behind the wining presentation
from Adelaide University.
Unfortunately our Costing Report did not fare as well, as the judges struggled to deal with the
fact that we had maintained a US$ format. They made references to places where we had got
the conversion wrong but were strangely unable to point out any examples. As a result of this
and the added expense of carbon wings we finished 13th out of the 18 teams.
The ‘blue ribbon’ Design Event late on Friday afternoon appeared to go well with the judges
seemingly impressed with the depth of knowledge displayed by our team and the quality of car
produced. Monash also went to the extra effort of building multimedia stands to display videos
from track and wind tunnel testing and allow detail examination of our back-up evidence. We
finished 5th place overall, scoring 126 points out of the maximum of 150 available. We also
came away with a lot of ideas for detail improvements to our car and a few very encouraging
quotes from head design judge and racing legend Carroll Smith. More on these later.
So at the conclusion of the static events we were placed 5th, a mere 30 points behind early
leaders Wollongong.
Product Life Cycle Management - proud
supporters of the Monash University
Formula SAE team.
Formula SAE Event Report
Saturday: Skid Pan & Acceleration
The first item on the agenda for Saturday was the passing of the noise test. After some
adjustments to the mapping overnight the engine ran smoothly and allowed us to pass the
test with 3 decibels to spare. Normally this would be followed immediately by the brake
lock-up test but no driving could be done as the St John ambulance had failed to arrive on
time. Once the medics were on site we managed to pass the brake test without incident,
and began our skidpad and acceleration runs, which were held simultaneously.
Morning rains had left the track wet and lacking grip, and while the weather forecast
suggested the track would dry, the schedule required all teams to complete their runs by
12.00pm, leaving only one hour to complete 4 runs of each event. In consideration of this
constraint drivers Tim Roney and Jarrod Hammond attempted their runs at the skidpad,
clocking 3 of the 4 fastest times in the process (one lap was aborted) to comfortably lead
the event. It seemed that the wings were giving us the edge in the wet conditions.
After adjusting the wing settings to low downforce trim, the team headed directly to the
acceleration run, and began the first of our 4 runs. Matt McLean and Blair Hall struggled to
maintain traction off the wet starting line, but still managed to put us in second place as the
12pm deadline for conclusion of the morning events rapidly approached. At this point we
were horrified to discover that the officials were planning to allow the teams who had not
passed scrutineering on time to run regardless of what time they entered the gate to the
events. The rapidly drying track would ensure that they had a huge advantage over the
teams who had passed scrutineering on time and were forced to run earlier on the wet
track. To make the situation worse we were not even able to notify our drivers of this
potentially disastrous turn of events, (team members cannot enter the track area without the
appropriate dynamic pass. Monash completed its last Acceleration run at midday, only to
watch helplessly as our winning times were bested in the following hours due to the
improved track conditions. As a consequence we were lucky to finish as high as we did,
with 5th in Acceleration and 10th in Skid Pan.
Product Life Cycle Management - proud
supporters of the Monash University
Formula SAE team.
Formula SAE Event Report
Saturday: Autocross
After a disappointing morning, the Autocross Event offered us the chance to really show
people what our car was capable of. Due to the lack of space offered by the venue, the
track was short, tight and twisty, perhaps more so than any other in the history of
Formula SAE. Our two best drivers, Bob Wright and Ben Kennedy stood ready to face
the challenge and win back some respect for Monash.
Ben started off and ran straight into difficulty, a broken chain making it hard to complete
the flying lap. Interestingly Wollongong also broke a chain during the Autocross Event. A
replacement link was quickly sourced (courtesy of the University of Sydney) and in
minutes the car was back on track for another run. Ben drove solidly in his remaining 3
laps, improving each time and putting us into 3rd place. Bob then took the wheel and
gave the crowd a demonstration of how to drive a downforce car, taking a further 0.6
seconds off our best time and securing 2nd place, a mere 0.04 seconds behind
Wollongong. After a blazing final lap Bob looked certain to go under the Wollongong
time by at least half a second only to misjudge the final corner, and come to a premature
halt just meters from the line. I’m sure he’ll be reliving that one for quite some time.
As we headed home on Saturday night we were placed 4th overall behind RIT from the
United States, University of Western Australia and leaders Wollongong.
Product Life Cycle Management - proud
supporters of the Monash University
Formula SAE team.
Formula SAE Event Report
Sunday: Endurance
After checking the car over Saturday night we returned to Carrum early on the Sunday
morning ready to contest the all important Endurance Event. After unpacking the car we
headed to the fuelling station, and while waiting in line attempted to fire up the car for
the first time that morning. The engine misfired but started, apparently running on only 2
cylinders. Thinking that we might have fouled spark plugs we quickly returned to the pits
to track down the problem. Minutes ticked by and we soon realised that we had a
bigger problem on our hands as the line began to form for the first heat of the
Endurance. An increasingly frantic effort by the team to solve the problem was
unsuccessful, and we were forced to miss our scheduled 9.00am start for the
endurance event. After another hour of electrical detective work we managed to get the
car running after finding a bad earth on one of the ignition modules. We chose to run the
car in the first heat at the back of the pack with our B-team (Matt McLean and Tim
Roney) drivers and accept the 2-minute penalty for not being ready on time. This would
allow us to check the reliability and economy of the car before the second heat. Matt led
off the first leg and recorded very competitive times in the process. After 21 steady laps
he pulled into the pits for the scheduled driver change and handed over the wheel to
Tim. Sadly, after the driver change the engine completely refused to fire, leading to our
retirement from the first heat. We quickly traced the fault to a damaged Cam position
sensor, and after replacing it the engine once again fired back into life ready for the
second heat. With A -team drivers Ben and Bob in the hot seat the team were once
again confident of a strong finish. Unfortunately, our hopes were dashed early in Bob’s
stint as the electrical problems struck again, bringing the car to a halt and with it our
hopes for a place on the podium.
Product Life Cycle Management - proud
supporters of the Monash University
Formula SAE team.
Formula SAE Event Report
Sunday
At the final Awards Presentation held at the conclusion of the competition
In his customary post event debrief, Chief Judge (at all FSAE competitions) Carroll Smith
chose to speak about only three of the 18 cars in attendance, these being Wollongong,
Western Australia and Monash. Carroll highlighted our car as being, “ the 1st Australian
team, and only the 3rd team world wide to generate intelligent download.” He also
predicted that in 2003, “Monash will come back with a somewhat, smaller, lighter car, with
probably the same amount of download, and the rest of you better be ready for it.”
In a surprising turn of events Monash was awarded two prizes, the first for our SAE paper
on the aerodynamic development of our car ($10,000 prize, accepted by Scott Wordley)
and the second being the PBR Brake Award ($500 prize, accepted by Alistair McVean).
So with these trophies in hand and markedly raised spirits, the team headed off to the
after party to blow off steam safe in the knowledge that we had forged a reputation
amongst the FSAE community, both here and abroad.
Monash FSAE 2003…?
As you may have guessed, work has already commenced on the ’03 car, which should
be pretty close to Carroll Smith’s prediction. With the blueprint for success mapped out
for us, all team members are prepared for a long year developing what we believe can be
a world beating car. We hope to have you all along for the ride, ever grateful for the
incredible support you give us. We’ll see you all in 2003.
Product Life Cycle Management - proud
supporters of the Monash University
Formula SAE team.
Product Life Cycle Management - proud
supporters of the Monash University
Formula SAE team.