Welcome
Comp Day 4
Today we ran endurance and fuel economy. Ryan did a great job in the first driver's stint, followed up by an amazing piece of driving by Josh. Unfortunately, the car had some other plans 2-3 laps from the end, and cut out through a slalom. The car refused to restart and we were forced to pull it in. A small group of members is investigating the cause of the problem. We did quite well in design finals coming up with 2nd place. The day was concluded with the awards ceremony. UW came in 17th overall, 15th in presentation, 28th in cost, 17th in accel, 7th in skidpad, and 5th in autocross. The University of Washington Formula SAE team would like to thank all members, sponsors, and family for doing everything that made this year possible. We are all looking forward to next year's competition where Team 20 intends to improve the car even further.
Comp Day 3
Today was our first day of dynamic events. First we ran one round of acceleration, the both rounds of skidpad, and then the final acceleration run. Both went well, though we had several starting issues and we lacked some power due to the exhaust modifications required to pass noise. Despite these setbacks, we were able to secure a very solid 5th place in autocross. Fortunately we were able to use the dyno for a few pulls to fix the exhaust issue. At the end of the evening, we used some extra time to double check the whole car in preparation for the most important event at competition: endurance. Final scores will be published tomorrow after awards ceremony.
Comp Day 2
Today we finished up tech with no problems the first time through. We then proceeded to tilt, noise, and brake tests. For the tilt test, no fluids may lead from the car when it is rolled to the side 45 degrees. There was only one minor leak around the gas cap that was fixed in seconds. After spending a few minutes tweaking the muffler (Supertraps are adjustable) we passed the noise test, where our car is allowed to be a maximum of 110 dB at 11,000 rpm. Finally, we quickly passed the brake test locking all 4 wheels coming to a panic stop. We also went through design presentations smoothly, scored well in the cost presentation, and took care of the business presentation in style. Toward the end of the day at the track, we were called up for design semi-finals where the top 10 teams go more in depth with the judges. More good news came even later when we discovered that we also made design finals, placing us in the top 3 in the design event. Overall the team did outstanding today in preparation for tomorrow's dynamic, driving, events.
Comp Day 1
Our first day at West went great. We arrived early to the track and lost no time setting up. After every one on the team checked in, we took care of a few details and checked over everything in preparation for tech inspection. Seeing as we were the last team to make it into the inspection booths before closing, the judges were unable to finish today and will resume tomorrow first thing. The website will be updated daily with details from each day, so check back often for updates!
Unveiling
Our 2008 unveiling was a huge success!! Thank you to all team members, families, sponsors, and community members that helped make it a success. We would love to hear what you thought of the car and the unveiling. Email us at auto@u.washington.edu
4/20/2008: Our second weekend of testing is now complete and went very well. We did more testing on the wings at various aero settings. Later, after springing a fuel leak, we proceeded to test the new '08 diff, which worked very well.
4/13/2008: Today, April 12, we took the car out for a real shake-down and were very pleased with the results. No major problems were found and it handles very well. Testing will continue throughout this weekend.
Results from the first slush event can be found here.
Check out our article in the U Washington newspaper "The Daily" here.
Last year's Team 18 placed 20th overall out of 70 teams at FSAE West 2007. Some of the highlights were 5th place design (which placed us in the Design semifinals) and 4th place in autocross. The car was very fast, and kept up well with other top teams in endurance until a gasket failure forced us to end our day.
Team 19 aims to take what we have learned from last year's performance and build upon it creating a top finishing car.
