Each Formula car is developed according to the FSAE competition rules and point breakdown. The car must be designed with all areas of judging considered. The basic goal is to develop a powerful racecar with advanced design yet low cost and complexity.

For the official competition rules click here.

A general process for developing each Formula car follows:

-Research & Development
-Design & Engineering
-Manufacturing Planning
-Fabrication
-Testing
-Analysis

Intake

The team chose a tubular intake with equal length runners and even distribution to minimize cylinder-to-cylinder flow variation. A Ricardo WAVE model was used to test several different runner lengths, diameters, and plenum volumes. The final design utilizes 9" runner lengths, 1.5" tubing diameter, and a plenum volume that is 3.6 times engine displacement.

Header

Once again the team used Ricardo WAVE modeling to test several different header designs. The modeling showed that a 4-1 header design could be used with a long primary tube. This combination allowed the team to eliminate poor power delivery common with 4-1 design with little loss of peak torque.

Planetary Gear Drive

The 2006 team designed and built a gear based reduction unit which shortens the wheel base and contributes to the rear wheel weight distribution. This prototype led to the current reduction design. The 2008 team uses a hybrid chain/planetary unit built by the 2007 team.  This unit provides a 4:1 reduction (3:1 from the gears) and weighs 23 lbs.

The frame is constructed of 4130 Chromoly steel tubing. It is 95" long, 38" tall, 28" wide, and weighs 55 lbs. Before the frame was built, a truss and frame finite element analysis program (ESOP) was used to find the optimum frame design. The program doesn't actually output a frame design, rather it shows patterns in frame geometry that can be used to guide the final design of the frame. The final design meets strength and stiffness requirements while minimizing weight.

An GENESIS topology optimization analysis was conducted for the wheel centers. The analysis suggested that three spoke clusters radiate from the center in a logarithmic spiral. These findings were modeled in Solidworks and a stress analysis was done using COSMOS. The stress analysis confirmed the findings of the GENESIS anlaysis. This year's wheel centers are the same size and weight as previous wheels centers used, but cut stress in the wheel center in half.

Pedal Rail

The pedal rail was designed to move 6" to allow for quick adjustment to drivers of different size. The brake system utilizes twin master cylinders that are attached to an adjustable bias bar. This allows for fine tuning of the brake bias via the bias bar.

Brief video of car driving in parking lot. (Spring 2005)
NOTE: The engine was running a little rough in the spring.

Brief video of car driving in parking lot. (July 13, 2005)

Onboard camera. (July 14, 2005)