2013 COMPETITION

Full photo album on our Facebook page Photo credit: Edwin Lee, Thomas Willson, Connor McGill

On June 16, 2013, the Cal Poly Formula SAE Team set out for Lincoln, Nebraska, to represent

Cal Poly Racing in front of collegiate teams from around the world. Following 15 months and

15,000 hours of work, “Betty” was ready for final preparations ahead of the Formula SAE Lin-

coln competition. We left as prepared as ever,

with a great car, many motivated team mem-

bers, and our experience from 2012 to boot.

As half the team waited to fly out, the other half

drove with van, truck, and trailer for three days

across the Western US to Nebraska, with

stops along the way to sleep and work on the

car. Once everyone was in Nebraska we

stayed up through the night to finish paint, ap-

ply stickers, and complete a long list of other

tasks. Preparing for tech inspection was a

large focus, as was working on the engine

which had run inconsistently in our last test

days. In the morning the trailer was packed up

for the first of four days at Lincoln Airpark for

the FSAE Lincoln competition.

Working on the car in St. George, Utah.

Working through the night in Lincoln.

Tuning and problem solving with the engine.

Preparation

Betty after her first night in Nebraska.

Although registration and tech inspection aren’t the most exciting parts of the competition, we

got straight to it so we could shift our focus toward the following days. We weren’t able to start

tech inspection, but we got our students registered and our safety gear approved. Betty hit the

scales in the afternoon and was decorated

with a sticker reading an unrounded 399.5 lbs.

We now had our sights firmly set on the follow-

ing day, which would be the busiest of them

all. The car was worked on through most of

the night, and our leads prepared for design

judging. By this time we had begun extensive

documentation of the competition experience

and notes on where to focus improvements for

years to come, so we were off to a good start.

Preparing to roll off to the scales.

Day 1: Registration and Tech Inspection

Day 2: Static Events Betty headed straight to the first part of tech: vehicle checks. The scrutineers found some mi-

nor changes to be made right before we had to roll over to the Cost Event. As we spoke with

the cost judge, team members worked to prepare us for our second attempt at vehicle checks.

The judge enjoyed talking with us about our car, and gave us good scores where he could de-

spite our high cost. We later found out that our car was the most expensive at the competition

as measured by the teams’ reports, mainly due to our data acquisition system, carbon-fiber

monocoque, and desire to use the cost report as an extensive log of manufacturing. After leav-

ing the Cost Event, our quick fixes were approved by the scrutineers and we received the first

tech sticker. During the morning we also took part in the Business Presentation, and placed in

the mid-range of all teams.

Next was one of the most anticipated events following all our hard work: Design. We went in

ready to show off our knowledge and car, and got straight to presenting the systems to the vari-

ous judges and allowing them to ask questions. While some pieces of knowledge were miss-

ing, overall the judges were very impressed with the team and Betty. They were especially im-

pressed by our manufacturing quality and cockpit ergonomics.

We held some optimism to make it into the design finals, and eventually were satisfied with be-

ing in the group just below the finalists. This result showed the huge progress we made from

the previous year, and our potential be in the finals one year soon. We ended design judging

and our feedback session with a lot of notes for next year’s team.

With the Design Event completed, we started making the rounds to finish tech inspection. We

fueled up the car and headed to the tilt table, where we passed the leak and rollover tests.

From there we ran the engine at the noise area, and were able to pass with a few decibels to

spare thanks to a beefy muffler and a little help from the wind. A final brake balance change

was made before we started the brake test, and we had only about 10 minutes to show that we

could lock up all 4 tires before the test area was closed. The engine was making very little pow-

er and the new clutch cable wasn’t adjusted properly, so it was difficult to reach a decent speed

which would make tire lockup easy. Despite

these problems we did it on the third try,

meaning we received our final tech inspection

sticker before the dynamic events.

Betty as presented to the design judges.

Planning our attack for the rest of tech inspection. A nice flat spot following the brake test.

With all static events and tech inspections behind us, it was time for the dynamic events. Skid-

pad and Acceleration were scheduled for the morning, and we had to hit the practice area first

to finish preparing our drivers and make sure the engine was working properly. The engine

seemed to run well as we packed up to head to the first event. We started off at Skidpad, and

set a decent time before going to Acceleration. There it was obvious that we had issues, as we

struggled to get off the line quickly and were limited to low engine speeds throughout the runs.

We switched out drivers and made some tuning changes for our next two runs, but weren’t able

to fix the engine. We went back to Skidpad

and improved our time just before the event

closed, and then headed back to the pit area

to plan our attack for Autocross.

We spent a long time at the practice area pre-

paring drivers, and checking the engine and

clutch. Once we had done all we could with

the time available, we headed over to Auto-

cross. Our first run didn’t go to plan, with a

stall due to inexperience with the new clutch

cable. We weren’t able to get the car back into

neutral, and we discovered that the shifter bot-

tle regulator screw had loosened which cut off pressure to the actuator. This was a problem we

encountered the previous year, and solved this year until the seal on an improved regulator

failed late into testing and we had to switch back to the old one. The car got off the line in the

second run, but there was no control of the en-

gine with the throttle as it constantly cut out

and eventually died halfway around the course.

We made tuning changes and got our second

driver ready, and were able to complete two

runs to make sure we had a time set. Knowing

that we’d start Endurance early the next morn-

ing, we went back to the pit area to work on

fixing the muffler which blew out during Auto-

cross, and doing whatever tuning fixes we

could to allow us to complete Endurance.

Getting drivers ready.

Day 3: Dynamic Events

Rolling up to the start line for Acceleration.

We arrived at the airpark in the morning

to the same dark clouds we encountered

the previous year. Knowing that rain was

imminent, we pulled the wheels off and

headed over to the Hoosier trailer to get

our tires changed. We scrambled to pro-

tect the car from rain as it began to pour

down, and ended up doing our final en-

gine tuning underneath umbrellas and

tents. The rain stopped, and we rolled the

car over to the Endurance Event.

The track was drying as we waited to start. It looked like we’d have the option to run on dry or

wet tires, with wets being the tire of choice given the large number of puddles. However, by the

time we got onto the track it was completely dry, and we had to live with our soft, treaded tires.

Our datalogger and display also stopped working while we were waiting, so we were flying

blind for the event.

The car had to be driven very carefully due to

tire graining and lack of tread stiffness, and

initially the shifting worked well but it began to

decay. Downshifting worked decently, but up-

shifting was very intermittent. At the same

time, the engine had become noticeably louder

following a puff of smoke while braking into

one corner, and the corner workers were start-

ing to take closer looks at the car as it went by.

Engine speed had to be kept low to not attract

too much attention, but since upshifting didn’t

work well this meant we had to stay in a higher

gear rather than risk getting stuck in a low one. The course was incredibly tight in one section,

and trying to exit in second gear the engine stalled, just a lap before the driver change. While

the engine cranked over as we tried to restart, the shifter, fuel pump, and ECU were completely

dead. This explained the shifting problems, and the car would have died anyway either on the

track or when we tried to restart after the driver change.

Protection from the pouring rain.

Day 4: Endurance

Waiting to start Endurance.

When the car was rolled back to the grid, the problem was found pretty easily. There was an

enormous hole in the muffler, which looked like it had reached an incredibly high temperature

during the event. A portion of the wiring harness was routed nearby, and the insulation had

been completely melted to the frame. The

fuel regulator was also there, but when we

switched from E85 to 100-octane fuel we

never switched back to nylon hose from

steel-braided, so we avoided what surely

would have been a very large fire. This

muffler failure suggested that we had an

engine timing problem, but with so many

other variables to track down it wasn’t

suspected until this point. We packed up,

enjoyed our last night in Lincoln, and

headed home the next day.

On the track during Endurance.

The damage.

The competition didn’t go exactly to plan, but it was still a success. We earned respect from

teams and judges for our engineering and manufacturing work, and a lot of curious eyes for our

uniquely-designed car. We could have been up there in the Top 10 with a greater understand-

ing of the final details, including a better approach to the static events and a reliable engine

tune. Not only did the 2013 team gain the experience of a lifetime, but we also brought along

members of the 2014 Formula and Formula Electric teams to experience the fun, heartache,

and challenges. We documented every aspect of the competition, which will ensure significant

improvement for next year’s attempt.

While one of our goals of the year was to perform well in Lincoln, the main goal of the entire

project was to create a solid foundation for future success for Cal Poly Formula SAE, through

good design, manufacturing, relations, and administrative practices. We did just that, and with

most of our 2013 team members moving on it will be time for the 2014 team to show that Cal

Poly Formula SAE not only has the potential to do well, but can put that potential into practice.

The amount of work that went into this year was absolutely incredible, and for the car’s exist-

ence we have to thank all who helped us along the way, including team members, faculty,

sponsors, alumni, and families. Without everyone who was there in the design room, machine

shop, or supporting us from afar, it simply wouldn’t have happened. Here’s to everyone who

provided their support, and to the teams for years to come who will show its full benefit.

Conclusions

The group at the end of 2013 FSAE Lincoln.

GOLD Cal Poly Mechanical Engineering

C&D Zodiac

SILVER Quatro Composites

Fast Forward Racing Components

LeMans Karting

Simon Rowe

BRONZE Rappolt Family • Solar Turbines • Waldrop Family

Precision Castparts Corporation • CP-Carrillo • Honeywell

SUPPORT Calspan • SolidWorks • MESFAC • OC Community Foundation • CARSTAR • Nelson Family

Veracity Racing Data • SKF • AERO SFC • Dan Riegels • Advance Adapters • SierraCRM

General Grinding • Banks Power • Tabak Law • Chet Johnston • Tilton Engineering

Texas Almet • Linson Signs • Northwest Transcribers • Temprel • John Waldrop • David Hu

Mike Patton • Jason Schulberg • David Price • Sean Johnston • ThermoFusion

Rutland Family • Vincent Contreras • ECOTRONS • Matt Callendar • Drew Atkinson

Adam Brinkman • Coastal Enterprises • RC Engineering • Reid Olsen • Digi-Key

Thank You to Our 2013 Sponsors