2015-2016 Savage – FSAE Racecar

Background

We design, build, test, and compete a formula style race car for the annual FSAE Lincoln competition. This year the competition will be held between June 15-18 at the Lincoln Airpark in Nebraska. The competition, which hosts 80 universities from around the world, has design, cost, business, and dynamic events. In addition, all of the vehicles must first pass a rigorous technical inspection before they are qualified to compete in the dynamic events. This is where our race car fell short last year. We plan to use the lessons learned from last year’s shortcomings to propel our team towards success this year.

Goal and Objectives

Our main goal is to refine the design of last year’s car while recycling main components to produce a vehicle that is more competitive at a price point that is about 40% less than a new build.

Performance wise, our goals are to reduce our skidpad time from 5.4 seconds to 5.0 seconds as well as reduce our acceleration time from 4.2 seconds to 4.0 seconds. These are the performance goals necessary to place in the top 10% at competition.

We plan to achieve our performance goals by making our suspension design more robust, reducing the overall chassis weight by about 20% while increasing the torsional rigidity by 40%, adding live time data acquisition, and introducing aerodynamic devices.

Innovation

Rather than using carbon fiber, which is often difficult to work with and expensive, our body team is looking to introduce a body consisting of an aluminum exo-skeleton covered with a fabric. Testing will confirm if this fabric will be coated with a resin or if a more robust airplane fabric will be used. By doing this, we can have a body that is inexpensive, 5 pounds lighter than last year’s body, and has more complex curves.

Another innovative feature of the car is the infrared tire cameras which will be a major part of the car’s data acquisition. We will use the footage from the infrared cameras to overlay onto Go-Pro footage of the track so we can see the the tire temperature distribution through different loading scenarios. With this information, we will be able to set the suspension of the car more effectively.

The Bigger Picture

Although we are be building a race car capable of super car performance, the larger gains from the project are often overlooked. This year we will be operating under the idea of putting people first and the machine second; after all, there is no machine without the people. We want to build a team that is passionate, has a growth mindset, and says “Not yet!” rather than “I can’t”. We want to facilitate learning and stimulate interest in solving challenging problems by means of a race car, not exams.By doing this, we hope to not only pass down technical information to those who touch the car, but also allow them to learn about themselves and find their own personal growth.

A First Glimpse at Savage!

It’s Alive!

UCI’s Savage is registered for 2016 FSAE Lincoln