The formula car I'm working on

Rubber · February 06, 2013, 00:27

As many of you may have remembered, back in August I resigned from being moderator. This was primarily due to the fact that I was extremely busy working on my senior project (college).

My project is to design suspension and steering systems for a formula 1 car. This car is roughly 2/3 the size of a real formula 1 car. It will be powered by a 500cc 2 cylinder, 4-stroke engine.

As of right now, the frame is completely welded, the body is mostly done, and suspension and steering parts are almost ready to bolt on. Even though I am supposed to be doing suspension things, I worked a lot on the frame and body. We got the frame complete in 6 days. Over those 6 days, I worked 116 hours.

Here are some updated pictures of the project so far. The frame weighs 62 pounds (28kg). The body weighs approximately 2 pounds (0.9kg). It's light...

The frame pieces arranged in the jig we built to hold it while welding:

Frame being welded:

Part of the team with the welded frame (I'm second from right):

About how it will look:

Laying carbon fiber on the body mold:

Finished body (the black thing) next to mold used to create it:

Terrorista310 · February 06, 2013, 00:52

I no engineer but that head bar protection (in case of flip) its a bit higher..
It will affect the aerodynamics of the F1...

Rubber · February 06, 2013, 06:39

Quote from: Terrorista310 on February 06, 2013, 00:52
I no engineer but that head bar protection (in case of flip) its a bit higher..
It will affect the aerodynamics of the F1...

We have a 161 page book of rules we must follow....The rollbar is that high to meet the rules. Another reason is due to scaling laws. You can scale a car, but you can't scale the driver...so his head sticks up the same amount either way, hence the high rollbar.

Bruno_2MLG4CT · February 06, 2013, 09:16

When i was reading and watching this pictures, i realized just one.
I am

DeHavilland · February 06, 2013, 10:21

Good work, would be nice to see a video!

One of the drivers from our club (KrsSUA) is driving this one in FINRACE Formula Ford cup

Rubber · February 06, 2013, 15:14

Quote from: DeHavilland on February 06, 2013, 10:21
Good work, would be nice to see a video!

One of the drivers from our club (KrsSUA) is driving this one in FINRACE Formula Ford cup

Formula Ford is awesome. I wish we could do that. The one we are doing is similar, but just has more rules. The car is more designed for autocross events, which means lots of acceleration and deceleration and tight turns. Here is a good video of what it looks like. In the video you can see him racing against other cars, but he is really just doing a time-trial against himself.

Vinny · February 06, 2013, 19:36

What is your budget for this project ?

Rubber · February 06, 2013, 19:49

Quote from: Vinny on February 06, 2013, 19:36
What is your budget for this project ?

$10,000 USD

TheShetlandSheepdog · February 06, 2013, 22:06

Goodluck,looks nice.
I"m not a big fan of such races.
I wanted to like races on circuits with streetversions of cars.
Than you see who is the real best.

Rubber · February 06, 2013, 22:14

Quote from: Dundee759 on February 06, 2013, 22:06
Goodluck,looks nice.
I"m not a big fan of such races.
I wanted to like races on circuits with streetversions of cars.
Than you see who is the real best.

The whole point of this is to determine which school is the best at designing a race car. Keep in mind we design and build every aspect of this car ourselves (except the engine). We make our own brake rotors, uprights, a-arms, pushrods, tie-rods, seat, firewall, body, frame, axles, differential, sprockets, pedals, steering wheel...you name it, we make it. This is a competition between approximately 150 colleges from around the world. Competition is on May 8th.

TheShetlandSheepdog · February 06, 2013, 22:16

Nice

.
Lets hope your school wins.
You are all good started

.

Vinny · February 06, 2013, 22:18

Good luck with this Rubber

DeHavilland · February 07, 2013, 16:07

Quote from: Rubber on February 06, 2013, 15:14
Quote from: DeHavilland on February 06, 2013, 10:21
Good work, would be nice to see a video!

One of the drivers from our club (KrsSUA) is driving this one in FINRACE Formula Ford cup
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Formula Ford is awesome. I wish we could do that. The one we are doing is similar, but just has more rules. The car is more designed for autocross events, which means lots of acceleration and deceleration and tight turns. Here is a good video of what it looks like. In the video you can see him racing against other cars, but he is really just doing a time-trial against himself.

Very nice one! When I heard the Autocross, is it like crosscarts then? Like we have here in Finland? My step father builded a big cart in late 60's in the highschool with his class, he still got it but not working, so I when I go to him next time I could take a picture of it.

Rubber · March 27, 2013, 19:30

Sorry for the late reply, but I haven't had time to post in a while due to my big project. Shown below are some updates to it. Feel free to ask questions.

Color combo is lime green and black.

All the black in the first few pictures is a lightweight polyester aircraft grade fabric covering. They are air ducts for the radiator.