All across the country, the Society of Automotive Engineers encourages student groups to develope, build and race their own formula cars. At Oregon State we've been doing it for over 20 years!
We recently competed in Detroit and placed in the top 20 out of more than 100 teams. We would have had top ten, but were hit with a 4 minute penalty in the endurance race for using too much fuel!! Last years car weighs in at about 475 lbs wet weight, and developes 80 bhp from a 600cc Kawasaki motor breathing through a 21mm restrictor. We have our own engine dyno and tune the Haltech system ourselves. We also install custom camshafts and a dry-sump system along with other modifications.
some basic specs:
1.4 lateral G's
1.6 braking G's
0-60mph 3.4 secs
C.G. 10.2 inches off the ground
top speed ~92mph (gearing limited)
All our racing is done on autocross style courses, so top speed is not really important. Needless to say, when we took this thing to a local autoX last year it was the fastest thing there by a wide margin...
The whole car us custom built in-house, including the chrome-molly chassis and carbon fiber bodywork.
So, here are some shots of the 2008 car. this one should weigh in at about 400 lbs wet with around 85 bhp :)
Custom 3-piece wheels designed and built in-house with 10" Hoosier tires (duct tape is there to protect from oil and grase around the shop)
custom designed and built differential with variable lockup
rear double wishbone suspension setup with pushrod actuation. Last year's car had a more inboard mounting position, but we found that the shock fluid was overheating due to lack of airflow around the body and being too close to the engine.
Front double wishbone setup, again with pushrod/bellcrank actuated inboard suspension.
carbon/honeycomb seat
Custom uprights with Brembo calipers and semi-floating rotors.
Last year's titanium dashboard and CF body panels.
I wish I had some pics of the full car, but it was being disassembled when I took these, b/c of a little engine trouble. During a driver practice session, one of our senior drivers went to shift, and.....
the tranny just ate it's own 4th gear. We're not totally sure why yet, we just tore it down that day. We will get her all fixed up and running though, there isn't any damage to the engine or other parts and all of the metal shavings were caught in the filters.
When I get some more pics or videos, I will post them!
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