UT Arlington Formula SAE car

[MXmaniac]

I'm a freshman Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Texas at Arlington. We have a pretty impressive Formula SAE team. Here's our 2010 car under construction. We'll be taking it to Detroit at the end of the semester for the big competition against other universities, but the car should be drivable in February so we can start testing/tuning.

The car was designed from the ground up by students as a purpose-built autocross racecar. It will have full aerodynamic bodywork(mostly carbon-fiber, including full undertray). The engine is a 250cc Honda, single-cylinder, with a turbocharger and custom fuel-injection.

The first pic is a rendering of the finished car, and the rest are progress pics in chronological order.

Since this is my first year on the team I spend most of my time in the shop building the car, but hopefully next year I'll start getting involved in the design process of the 2011 car.

Rendering:


December 4, 2009:


December 9, 2009:


January 5, 2010:


January 13, 2010:


January 16, 2010:


Engine in test-platform for dyno runs:


Another shot of the engine:


January 16, 2010:


January 16, 2010:

[Britain Smith]

Thats cool man. I was on the UT Austin team many years ago and was one of the drivers from the enduro event in Detroit. There is a Washington team that comes to our AX events from time to time for practice. Here is my AX weapon now.



-Britain

[cdowns]

very interesting//during speedweeds down here theres always a school from ohio that shows up and do very well in the dirttrack racing series

[Keith Seymore]

You are very fortunate!

When I was in school (GMI - General Motors Institute) in the 80's the only SAE program was "SuperMileage"...



Stick with it, enjoy it and good luck!!

K

[SkylineNXS]

Hey hows it goin, nice car. Im actually on the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign team, and we are at about the same build stage as you guys. I am a junior and this is actually my first year on the team, but its a blast, and you can learn loads from it. Definitely keep with it, certainly if you want to go into the automotive filed like me. Go mechanical engineers.....have fun

Brad

[nuke1]

That is freaking cool, what size turbo on that bike?

[MXmaniac]

Originally Posted by Britain Smith

Thats cool man. I was on the UT Austin team many years ago and was one of the drivers from the enduro event in Detroit. There is a Washington team that comes to our AX events from time to time for practice. Here is my AX weapon now.



-Britain

Thanks. Your car looks great, that's an awesome picture too.

Originally Posted by SkylineNXS

Hey hows it goin, nice car. Im actually on the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign team, and we are at about the same build stage as you guys. I am a junior and this is actually my first year on the team, but its a blast, and you can learn loads from it. Definitely keep with it, certainly if you want to go into the automotive filed like me. Go mechanical engineers.....have fun

Brad

Yeah I'm already learning a ton. Can't get enough. Can you give any more info about your car? Maybe I'll see you in Detroit!

Originally Posted by nuke1

That is freaking cool, what size turbo on that bike?

I don't know the specs on the turbo, but its a little guy. They took it to the dyno a couple weeks ago, but the intake was causing a resonance so they couldn't run it under boost. With the wastegate open it still made respectable power. A new intake has been fabbed up now so hopefully it will go back to the dyno this week and see what it does with some boost and more tuning.

At this point the frame is almost ready to come off of the jigs so the undersides of the joints can be welded. Currently we are mainly making tabs for mounting various components.

[Custom 68]

very cool, I was in ours at Rolla Mo in 91-93 we did well it is a fun project

[MXmaniac]

Originally Posted by Custom 68

very cool, I was in ours at Rolla Mo in 91-93 we did well it is a fun project

Thanks, man.

Here are some pictures from tonight. The frame came off the jigs and got flipped upside-down to weld the bottoms of the joints, the carbon-fiber undertray is getting mounted to the frame, radiator mounts are almost done, seat pan is done. Firewall templates are in progress. Motor went to the dyno today but I haven't heard any news yet about how that went. Some of the control arms are done, and the rear uprights are finished. Hopefully the frame and suspension pieces can head out for powdercoat on Monday. If all goes well the car should be drivable by late-February.

[MXmaniac]

Here's a link to a short video of the motor running. The motor is a 2004 Honda CRF250X(bought as a brand-new motor) with a Microsquirt standalone ECU, turbocharger, and runs on ethanol.

http://www.facebook.com/v/1189230980583

[nomrlz]

cool project. how much is it suppose to weigh when done? was wondering about power but see it's not done yet. there are a few turbo hayabusa guys i'm friends with that have been using the megasquirt with some success.

good luck and have fun

[my67chevytruck]

very cool. keep up the work....