Download - Spartan Racing February Newsletter
Writers and Editors: Marjo Mallari
Ross Fraser, Manuel Mangrobang, Dustin Decker, Robby Sampson,
Moy Barajas
facebook.com/SpartanRacingSJSU @Spartan_Racing
arly this month Spartan Racing made our
way in to the Silicon Valley International Auto
Show. We set up a booth in our continuous
attempt to meet new people and make
connections but of course we made time to check
out the newest vehicles available for 2012. I was
most excited to see one of the new Fiat 500s but
ended up disappointed. I was hoping that a little
European flavor in an American company would
help to improve Chrysler’s products, but it seems that they only managed to make the Fiat feel small
and cheap. I got an alternate opinion from a young
man named Troy who was looking at the same car
as me. Troy thought the car was super cool and
wants one when he gets old enough to drive. There were few cars that seemed original or
innovative at the show but one that comes to mind is the Scion IQ. It seems perfect that the
compact vehicle manufacturer would eventually build a micro car to compete with the likes
of the Smart Car. The worst feature a manufacturer was touting this year was the new Dodge Challenger’s driver side fuel filler door,
and the best was Mercedes’ trunk bag. The
Mercedes S-Line can come equipped with a
drawer mounted within the trunk that you can
pull out and transform in to a bag to keep
items from rolling around the trunk; an
interesting little feature. It was great to get my hands on this year’s newest vehicles and see
what today’s automotive engineers can do
and I am now more confident than ever that
the next generation of engineers that Spartan
Racing is molding will be more impressive.
E Ross Fraser
his month, Spartan Racing was honored to
be invited to SAE Mid-Cal section's Collegiate
Design Series Outreach event. SAE
partnered with World Speed Motorsports to
host teams from four schools, as well as numerous
industry professionals at Infineon Raceway in
Sonoma, California. In addition to our Formula and Hybrid/Electric teams, teams from Sacramento
State, UC Merced, and UC Berkeley also attended.
In addition to seeing a presentation given by one of our
own alumni, Joey Penniman, we had the opportunity to
network with other teams as well as the professionals
themselves, who spent three hours answering questions
about design review. We also had the chance to give
feedback to Kinelogic, a company based in Sacramento
that is marketing a data-acquisition system tailored to
FSAE teams.
Moy Barajas, the FSAE Powertrain Team lead, had this to
say about the event: “[I] had a good conversation with
Paul Hasselgren about engine stuff...regarding valve overlap and muffler design... He basically
confirmed some assumptions I had, but also raised more questions I'm interested in testing.”
Robby Sampson, the FSAE Chief Engineer: “The event was very well organized and had a bigger
turnout than we expected.” He went on to say that the event benefited the team most by getting
team members in the proper mindset for a design review, and kicking off design binder material
preparation. This turned out to be quite a valuable outing and hope we are invited to this event again
next year.
he Formula Team’s 2012 challenger, SR-4
began to taking shape on January 16th with
the arrival of our chassis tubing. All of our
steel tubing arrived laser cut and ready for
welding thanks to the awesome folks over at Carroll
Racing Development in Orange, CA (http://www.crd-
usa.com/). The weeks prior were spent preparing
and assembling the frame welding fixtures. Once
the tubing arrived, we didn’t waste any time getting
to work. Thanks mainly in part to the oversight of our Manufacturing Lead, Ryan Sharp, three days
after delivery every tube had been tacked in place and in another few days the tubes were almost
fully welded, the engine had been test fit, and the frame was ready for brackets. Because many
other components require a completed chassis the real manufacturing can finally begin.
Morgan Crouch
T
Robby Sampson
T
FORMULA u p d a t e January has been a tense month as we try to pick up
steam after the break, but we all feel confident about our
current progress.
The Chassis Team has nearly finished manufacturing the
frame and the engine has been test fit to ensure proper
mounting and clearance. The next step is the design and
manufacture of a rig for testing the torsional rigidity and
structural efficiency of the frame. The data from the chassis
tests are important to the design judging portion of our
competition and give us reassurance of the frame’s strength.
The Suspension Team has been well underway
manufacturing the smaller components of the spring/damper
systems, including the bell cranks, brackets, and the numerous
inserts and spacers. The tedious manufacturing of the major
components of the wheel package, specifically the hubs,
uprights, and wheel centers, have also begun, and should be
completed in the coming weeks. Assembly and manufacturing of the control arms and brackets will
begin shortly as well. Morgan Crouch, Suspension Lead, has done a great job motivating himself and
his subteam and it shows.
Of all the subteams the Powertrain Team has made perhaps the most progress over the winter
months. Moy Barajas, our Powertrain Lead, opened our engine and completed the numerous
modifications we had planned. These included removing the top two gears in the transmission,
increasing the compression ratio, and adjusting the intake and exhaust cam timing. The engine block
and covers have been painted following this year’s black and teal paint scheme. The intake system is
currently in its final design phase, and components of the oil and fuel systems have begun
manufacturing. The team hopes to begin initial testing and
verification of the engine modifications by installing the
engine into SR-3, our 2011 car, in the near future.
Our Composites/Aero Team has decided not to
continue further development of a rear floor diffuser due to
time and resource issues. However, they are still working
diligently to finalize designs for the essential sidepods and
nosecone. Next, Composites plans to begin structural testing
the carbon fiber structural floor panels. We would also like
give big thanks to our new sponsor, Axiom Materials, Inc.
(http://www.axiommaterials.com/), who donated enough pre-
impregnated composites to last us for a long while. Welcome
to the team.
Our Electronics and Firmware team successfully
assembled our new Megasquirt III ECU and are beginning to
put together the wiring harness so that engine testing and
troubleshooting can begin.
Robby Sampson
ELECTRIC his winter break, Electric has not been able to move forward with manufacturing.
Frame design has been finalized with electrical components in mind, but the
frame jig and frame manufacturing has crawled to a standstill. Yet again, this team is behind.
On the bright side, the Electrical Sub team has been able to move forward. We have
finally decided on what components to use. The car will be using the same electric
powertrain as that of the road-going motorcycles from Zero Motorcycle, the same
batteries, motors, and motor controllers. All we need to go ahead with the purchase is
to arrange a price and find the funds.
We have discussed making the Formula Electric car a two year project, yet even with
the amount of delays the team still wants to make the car as a one year project.
Changing to a two year schedule would surely cause a plummet in team moral. For now
we are committed to working hard to achieve our goal but will reevaluate if it becomes
necessary.
u p d a t e Manuel Mangrobang
T
BAJA u p d a t e he Baja team has been working outside of the shop notching tubing and beginning to weld our frame together. We built a set-up that will
allow for the frame to be completed outside of our shop since space has become limited. By the beginning of February we plan on finalizing our gearbox design but keeping to our timeline is proving harder than
expected. There are some near future purchases, such as axles, tires and rims, safety gear, shocks, and brakes that we need to deal with. This year we plan on upgrading our shocks, if funding will allow, to adjustable float shocks so we can better tune the suspension. The axles will be out of a Yamaha ATV and should fit up nicely to our differential. With the start of classes, shop problems and most of our team working to pay for school, finding a time and place to work on the vehicle is becoming our biggest obstacle. In an effort remedy the problem we have set aside weekends throughout the semester dedicated to working on the vehicle so that we can get back on schedule.
Dustin Decker
T
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