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
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