UWA Motorsport 2009: March 2008

UWAM Express March

UWAM Express

Issue #38 March 2008

From the Project Manager

A quarter of the year has just passed and it is dawning on us the urgency of the task ahead. Having finished the first month of university for the year, we are all getting back into the swing of lectures, assignments and eventually exams. This first month of university is often a challenging one where the reality of what we have before us comes down hard. Not only do we have to complete our units towards our engineering degrees, but also build the fastest Formula SAE car in the world! Since last year’s win in Victoria we have been passed down a very large pair of shoes that we have to fill. But we are all eager and definitely up to the task!

We are also gaining a renewed appreciation for space in the workshop as the 2007 guys are busy perfecting their car ready for the US competition in Detroit, Michigan. Work space is tight and we work hard not to get into each other’s hair, which is easy with 30-odd students in a small workshop! This is where tolerance to your fellow colleagues and a bit of patience really pays off. Sometimes, especially when both the 2007 and 2008 guys want to run a car at similar times, the limited tool supply creates issues. But thanks to the fact that we all get along very well with each other and we understand the importance of harmony, no real conflicts occur.

There is a new rule that will be implemented in Formula SAE in 2009 that directly spear-heads the safety of the students. This requires a heavy re-design of the chassis and everything that relates to its size which basically encapsulates everything. Since we are currently designing a car for the Australasian SAE-A Competition in 2008 and the US Formula SAE-East Championship in 2009, we build a car that will abide by the rules for both competitions. This new rule, which will be explained in this newsletter is a major consideration for many teams world-wide, meaning a lot of brainstorming, redesign and thus some very late nights!

We are all extremely positive about our car and always dream of winning the Australasian Competition back-to-back, something that has never been done by UWA Motorsport before!

Best Wishes,

Michael Talikowski

2008 UWA Motorsport Project Manager

talikm02@student.uwa.edu.au

Jack’s Hill Team Drive Day

There is truly nothing like driving a UWA Motorsport Formula SAE race-car. Early in the year we wanted to get as much of the team as possible to have a drive of one of the cars to get the motivation levels up. This is a vital exercise as it gives the team some perspective as to what we are all working towards. By letting the guys smell, hear and taste what it is like to drive the 2005 car, it gave them the opportunity to really feel what we are working towards. The acceleration, braking and cornering capabilities of this car are breath-taking, literally! I personally have never experienced anything like it on four wheels! It was truly a fantastic day which allowed about 12 of the guys to have a drive, with the 2005 withstanding the test of inexperienced drivers superbly! We all came away with huge smiles on our faces and a new appreciation of racing and what these cars a capable of.

UWAM Display at Smokefree WA Night Masters

We were invited by one of our newest sponsors, the West Australian Sporting Car Club, to put on a dynamic display in between races at the Barbagallo Night Series event. We were more than happy to oblige and took both the winning 2007 car and also our driver-training car from 2005, down to the event. In between the race, in pure F1 style, the team set up a course using cones to simulate tight racing conditions and had both cars zipping around on either end of the long straight at Barbagallo. Our drivers, Pete Marsh and Ayrton Sue put on a fantastic display with some superior driving skill, showing the huge audience just what UWA Motorsport can do!

UWAM competes in MC AutoTest at AHG

Early March saw UWA Motorsport competing in one of the regular MC AutoTest events held at AHG Driving Centre. We would like to thank the organisers for allowing us to compete amongst cars such as Subaru WRX STI’s, Mitsubishi EVOLUTION 9’s, Ford FPVGT’s, Nissan Skylines GTR’s and tuned Mazda RX-7’s. The impressive line-up of road cars was no match for the UWAM cars, especially with drivers Fred Goh, Paul Riley, Wes Jilley and Pete Marsh at the wheel. Once again, our 2007 and 2005 cars were the race vehicles used on the day, each performing beautifully against some of the fastest cars on the road. UWA Motorsport earned the top 4 fastest times on the day, proving our superiority even on a track that these cars weren’t built for!

Rule change affects FSAE teams world-wide

Safety is a major consideration in Formula SAE and rightly so. Students build and race cars that are capable of amazing performance in acceleration, braking and cornering. Our latest cars are capable of reaching 100km/h in just 3.5 seconds. We challenge anyone to beat that in their road-car!

Thanks to the potential danger of racing, as is sometimes seen in motorsport, the Formula SAE Committee often implement rules to ensure that safety is number one. Some current rules that were implemented to ensure a safe environment are:

A 20mm orifice (restrictor) must be placed in the intake of the engine to limit the amount of power that teams are capable of producing by physically limiting the amount of air the engine can breathe.

Roll-bars must be placed in certain positions in the car to ensure in the event of a roll-over, that no part of the driver’s body can be crushed by the up-turned vehicle.

The intake of the engine must be enclosed within the car boundaries such that if a roll-over occurs, there is no chance of the engine free-revving due to a malfunction in the intake or throttle.

Physical linkages must be used for actuating the throttle, thereby making drive-by-wire illegal in Formula SAE. This is another safety rule so that there is no chance of the throttle being stuck open after an electronics malfunction.

These rules are rigorously enforced by the scrutineers at the competition and rightly so, with the safety of the drivers and the teams being everyone’s number one priority.

The new rule that we must build our car around is based on allowing space for templates that the judges will use to measure, ensuring the driver has enough room to exit and move in the event of a fire or other emergency situation. The spacing inside the car must be built to have minimum dimension specified by the judges. This rule will affect different teams in different ways. Some more-so than others in that certain teams had built cars with the main theme being an extremely light-weight car with a smaller engine. These cars are typically much smaller in size than our car with some weighing about 30-40kg less than ours! Teams that implemented such design goals will have to change their approach which will vastly affect their cars inherent characteristics. Things such as suspension geometry and its kinematics is a huge consideration which we must also overcome in order to get the desired setup. Below are quotes from the 2008 FSAE Rules Guide.\

Leg-bay template

“A free vertical cross section, which allows the template shown in Drawing Y to be passed

vertically through the cockpit to a point 100 mm (4 inches) behind the face of the rearmost

pedal when in the inoperative position, must be maintained over its entire length.

The only things that may encroach on this area are the steering wheel, steering column and any

padding that is required by Rule 3.4.14. “Driver’s Leg Protection”.”

Cockpit Opening

‘In order to ensure that the opening giving access to the cockpit is of adequate size, a

template shown in Drawing X will be inserted into the cockpit opening. It will be

held horizontally and inserted vertically until it has passed below the top bar of the

Side Impact Structure (or its equivalent for monocoque cars)’.

F1 in Schools collaboration – bridging the gap

One of the things that UWA Motorsport prides itself on is its contact with the young people of Western Australia. This youth is the future of the state and we certainly want to give them the best chance at success. Western Australia has begun to set a trend on the world scene in terms of exports, human resources and excellence in research and development. UWA Motorsport is nourishing this through our heavy involvement with not only high-schools but any aspiring young people who are eager to learn. In the past, we as a team have travelled far and wide to various schools, promoting engineering and education with our cars and students. We take a considerable amount of time out of our studies and the building of our cars to encourage young people to aspire and show them what education and a strong work ethic can achieve.

In recent years, UWA Motorsport has been involved with a program called “F1 in Schools” (http://www.f1inschools.com/) by acting as judges for the competition typically held late in the year. This year the local committee looking after the competition have been inundated with entries from schools all around WA and have asked UWA Motorsport for their services. Ten of us from the team have been assigned to one school each and we will be acting as another point of support for the young students. To date, they had the support of industry, their teachers and the organising committee. This year, there is another dimension to the competition by having a contact from university, which is the missing link between Highschool and Industry.

We will take great pleasure in being mentors to these young people and hope we can provide them with guidance not only in this competition but after they graduate from Highschool and beyond.

Other events that we are undertaking this year are:

Women in Science and Engineering – Highschool girls from around the state come to UWA to see what is available to them upon graduating school. UWA Motorsport shows the girls around the lab, demonstrating what engineering at UWA has to offer.

ASPIRE – UWA Motorsport has been asked to show their cars at a presentation to students from Highschools in and around Perth who had come to

visit the university and learn about higher education.

Triple S Science Fair – Every year a Highschool hosts a science fair which show-cases what is available after Highschool in the world of Science and Engineering. UWA Motorsport has been invited to bring a car and talk to students about their prospects.

Kalamunda SHS visit to UWA – June will see the students from Kalamunda Senior Highschool come to UWA to sample the delights of higher education. UWA Motorsport will be showing what the university has on offer in terms of extra-curricular activities, providing some high-revving entertainment!

Campus Challenge – Every year the university organises a day where students from High schools around the state get a guided tour around campus. UWA Motorsport take on the task of guiding the visitors around the motorsport laboratory and test facilities to explain a side of university that some may not know about – building yellow race-cars!

Albany Trip – Around mid-year, UWA Motorsport will be taking a trip with one of its cars down south to visit a number of schools in regional Australia. This is a fantastic chance to showcase what studying at UWA has to offer and again to encourage higher education, especially to rural communities where percentage of students undertaking higher education is lower than in the metropolitan areas.

Spotlight on Sponsors

Intercad is Australasia’s leading mechanical CAD supplier, founded in 1988 Intercad has a proven track record of selecting and successfully deploying engineering and design technology for the Australasian marketplace.

Intercad is located in seven offices around Australia and New Zealand ensuring the best possible backup and support for our customers. Intercad’s unique profile in the Australasian design marketplace has resulted in a reputation for excellence as evidenced by the many awards Intercad has received over the years.

UWA Motorsport is very lucky to have Intercad as a sponsor. We use the software that Intercad provides as a critical component to the team’s success in design and manufacture.

Thank You INTERCAD!!!

Contact Intercad:

Shane Parker – Applications Engineer

Suite 2, 4 Sarich Way

Technology Park BENTLEY

WA 6102

Tel: (08) 9472 4522

http://www.intercad.com.au

Altium provides electronics design solutions that help designers create the next generation of electronic products. Altium’s solutions let designers focus on innovation, rather than the need to overcome barriers in design process. Altium’s solutions are easy to use and deploy, and enable the latest electronics technologies and devices to be harnessed to their full potential by all designers. Altium’s solutions are unique because they unify the separate processes of electronics design within a single electronics design environment, working off a single data model, which links all the aspects of electronics design into one process.

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Altium’s valuable software has helped UWA Motorsport achieve high levels of success in past years.

Thank You ALTIUM!!

Contact Altium Limited:

Level 3, 12A Rodborough Road,

Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 Australia

Telephone: (+61 2) 9975 7710

Sales: 1800 030 949 (toll free)

Fax: (+61 8) 9410 3166

http://www.altium.com

Email:

sales.au@altium.com (sales)

support.au@altium.com (support)