What is Formula SAE?
Formula SAE is an annual collegiate competition where students design, build, and race a small open-wheeled racecar against other college teams. Teams from all across the globe travel to Michigan International Speedway each year to compete in this event. The competition is broken into two categories: static events and dynamic events. Static events are where industry professionals judge the quality of the car and the team through a series of reports and presentations. Dynamic events are where the car races a series of time trials against other teams. The five dynamic events are Acceleration, Endurance, Autocross, Efficiency, and Skidpad. A breakdown of the events and scoring is below.
Dynamic Events
Endurance
Over a distance of 22 km, the cars have to prove their durability under long-term conditions. Acceleration, speed, handling, dynamics, fuel efficiency, reliability – the cars have to prove it all.
Autocross
The objective is to evaluate the car’s maneuverability and handling qualities on a tight course without the hindrance of competing cars. The course will combine the performance features of acceleration, braking and cornering into one event.
Efficiency
Cars are judged on their fuel efficiency during the Endurance event.
Acceleration
The cars are evaluated on their accelerating abilities from a standing start over a distance of 75 meters.
Skidpad
The objective is to measure the car’s cornering ability on a flat surface while making a constant-radius turn. The course will be a pair of concentric circles in shape of the number 8.
Static Events
Design Presentation
The students explain their constructive solutions to a jury of experts from the automotive industry. The concept of the design is to evaluate the engineering effort that went into the design of the car and how the engineering meets the intent of the market.
Cost Report
The students are to assume that a serial production of 1000 cars a year will follow the prototype. The cost calculation is discussed with a jury based on a report.
Business Presentation
The objective is to evaluate the team’s ability to develop and deliver a comprehensive business case that will convince the executives of a fictional manufacturing firm that the team’s design can be profitably manufactured and marketed.
Static Events
Dynamic Events
What is Formula SAE?
Formula SAE® is a student design competition organized by SAE International (formerly Society of Automotive Engineers). The first competition was started back in 1979 after Mark Marshek, then at University of Houston (Texas) contacted the SAE Educational Relations Department in 1978 to discuss adding a variant event of the Mini Baja; the name Mini Indy was founded. As many organizers have found, the work in building a car can be exceeded only by that to organize the event; 1980 failed to produce an organizer. Having seen the potential of the event, Mike Best, Robert Edwards and John Tellkamp, students at the University of Texas at Austin, approached Dr. Ron Matthews with an idea - how about another Mini-Indy, but with some changes? Make the rules more open; let it be as unlimited as possible. It was desired that this new competition would take the cars to the next level of engineering. The Baja competition was great for chassis design, but many students wanted to work on engines as well. The new rules would keep engine restrictions to a bare minimum. Any four-stroke engine was allowed for the first four years with power limited by a 25.4 mm intake restriction.
With grass roots support from his students, Dr. Ron Matthews contacted the SAE Educational Relations Department and set the wheels in motion. To differentiate this new event from the Mini-Indy, a new name was sought. To reflect better the road-racing nature of the event and its increased engineering content, the Formula SAE name was adopted.
The concept behind Formula SAE is that a fictional manufacturing company has contracted a design team to develop a small Formula-style race car. The prototype race car is to be evaluated for its potential as a production item. The target marketing group for the race car is the non-professional weekend autocross racer. Each student team designs, builds and tests a prototype based on a series of rules whose purpose is both to ensure onsite event operations and promote clever problem solving.
Formula SAE promotes careers and excellence in engineering as it encompasses all aspects of the automotive industry including research, design, manufacturing, testing, developing, marketing, management and finances. Formula SAE takes students out of the classroom and allows them to apply textbook theories to real work experiences.
Today, the competition has expanded and includes a number of spin off events. In the United States there are two locations: California and Michigan; Michigan being the largest event and longest running.
This excerpt was taken from www.sae.org, found here.
