2. OSU Formula SAE (2005-2009)

The Four Fastest cars in Germany in 2009 lined up before endurance.

OSU 09'

The 2008-2009 car transition was the single largest change in vehicle integration that we ever made. We went to carbon fiber pre-preg chassis, to a single cylinder engine, changed all of our electronics, and shortened the wheelbase 125 mm (5 inches). This was made possible by a lot of pre-development done during the 2008 year on the engine and the composites methods and techniques. Even with that, and a lot of the best guys we have ever had on the team working extremely hard, this year was a brutal fight the whole way through.

These changes we also made with the the long term plan of forming GFR in mind. These changes in vehicle concept from a high power four cylinder to a lightweight single cylinder were done to test which concept was going to be the one GFR would form around. At the these were seen to be the Delft vs. Stuttgart concepts. As it turned out 2009 year was one of the most satisfying and rewarding I have even had as we picked up several top finishes and awards and made a name for Oregon State in the international Formula SAE community. Little did they know what we had up our sleve for the following year.

Specifications:

2009 Torsional Rigidity Testing, this method tests installed stiffness's as well.

Accomplishments:

• 1st Place Overall: Austria

• 1st Place Endurance: Austria

• 1st Place AutoX: Austria

• 1st Place Fuel Economy: California, Austria

• 1st Place Business Presentation: Austria

• 2nd Place Design: California

• DNF: Germany

My Contributions:

• Stepping out of the team captain role and in to a technical director position to develop new people and accommodate for new structure necessary for developing GFR.

• Vehicle systems integration.

• Forging good personal relationships that would become the foundation of the GFR collaboration and leading others to do the same.

• Selection and implementation of the Motec ECU and ACL data acqusition system.

• Selection and implementation of all on car sensors.

• Personally responsible for the entire planning and wiring of both the car harness and the data acquisition harness.

• ECU Engine Tuning and mapping.

• Developing the elector Pneumatic shifting system and tuning it to be reliable.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Senior Project class on SAE.

• Vehicle Suspension Setup (Driver)

OSU 08'

A ambitious car, the target plan was to take 2 years in the development, build, test cycle so that we could focus on details a really drop weight. Target was 400 lbs. At 401 lbs the result was one of the lightest 4 cylinder cars ever made. Intermittent electrical problems plagued testing and development of the car and ultimately a sensor failure due to being too close its thermal limit failed the car out of endurance at the only competition it ever went to.

Specifications:

Accomplishments:

• DNF: California

My Contributions:

• Co-Team captain in 2008 with technical emphasis. Highest technical authority position of the team at the time.

• Highly involved in trying to keep people motivated on the project and the necessary social interaction.

• Heavily involved in pursuing new sponsorship opportunities. Secure several key sponsors (both financial and material/service).

• Redesigned all outboard suspension components to package with the change to 10" wheels

• Personally CNC'd: 8 wheel centers (2 op), 6 uprights (3 op), 4 bellcranks (2 op), 3 sprockets, full shifted mechanism, 8 sway bar arms (2 op), 4 wheel nuts, 8 brake rotors, and many other miscellaneous parts. This is the most in house CNC manufacturing we have even done to date.

• Personally responsible for over 70% of the tubes coped for chassis manufacturing.

• Vehicle Suspension Setup (Driver + Engineer)

OSU 06' / 07'

A refinement on the 2005 car, the 2006 team had high team turn over from the 2005 year and suffered from inexperience and lack of coherent management. After the failure at California in 2006 it was deiced reuse the car at the 2007 competition in Michigan (allowed because they fell within less ten 12 months). This allowed for a more aggressive development step to be taken for the 2008 car with less risk. The car was fast, winning acceleration in 2006 and finishing endurance in 2007 in Michigan with the 5th fastest time, ahead of TU Graz which took third overall at that competition.

Specifications:

Accomplishments:

• 1st Place Acceleration: California 06'

• 1st Place Business Presentation: California 06'

• DNF: California

• Large Fuel Consumption Penalty: Michigan 07'

My Contributions:

• Co-Team captain in 2007. Highest authority position of the team at the time.

• Personally responsible for over 50% of the tubes coped for chassis manufacturing.

• Designed and manufactured the entire braking system including the pedal assembly. Brake system calculator is still used on the team today for basic calculations.

• Full exhaust system manufacture, including hand fabricating the exhaust 4-2-1 from mandrel bends, muffler mounting and

• location, and the interface to exhaust ports.

• Sheet metal fabrication of the fuel tank and the electronics box

• Redesign of the shiftier to include a linkage that automatically clutches on both upshifts and downshifts.

• Vehicle Suspension Setup (Engineer)

OSU 05'

My first year and introduction to Formula SAE. The 2005 car and team was a very reasonable iteration of the 2004 car. The team leadership was strong and produced a reasonably welcoming environment. The 2005 car was the first OSU SAE car of the 2000's to have been built with a reasonably complete vehicle concept that functioned as a whole. The attitudes and philosophy in the team at this time set the bar for the incoming members which would later go on to lead the team in future years.

Specifications:

Accomplishments:

• DNF: Michigan

My Contributions:

• Hand Fabricated the Exhaust 4-2-1 from mandrel bends.

• Helped with Redesign of the Brake Pedal when original design had compliance problems

• Coped tubes for chassis manufacturing.

• Tried to learn all I could from the experienced members

• Autocross Driver