Engineering students win the world FSAE race car competition

The Cornell FSAE team's car is taken through its paces during world championship competition in Pontiac, Mich., May 23. Ben Kennedy

By Bill Steele

Cornell's Formula SAE race car team won its eighth FSAE World Championship May 23 in Pontiac, Mich., prevailing over some 130 universities from 13 countries. The team of Cornell engineering students scored 926 points of a possible 1,000 in a series of events that ranged from design evaluation to competitive driving.

The competition, sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Sports Car Club of America, challenges students to design and build a race car and drive it in a series of events. The final score is determined by adding points for driving, design and presentation.

The climax is a 22-kilometer race over a one-kilometer road course, at speeds of up to 60 mph. Each team fields two drivers who each drive 11 kilometers. Although it's primarily a race against time, five cars drive the course at once, so overtaking and passing skills contribute to a driver's success. In the first 11 kilometers, Cornell driver Kyle Williams was passed once; in the second 11 kilometers, Cornell driver Dylan Cooke passed three other cars, including that of the second-place team, Texas A&M. "In the first half Texas had a really insane driver, but their second driver wasn't as good and spun out three times," Cooke said. Texas A&M came in second and Auburn University finished third, overall.

Other driving events were an acceleration test, driving around tight circles and autocross, in which drivers race a short but unfamiliar course. Meanwhile, teams are judged on their designs, a "business presentation," in which they pitch their designs as they would to potential investors, and on what the car would cost if put into production. Cornell placed either first or second in all the dynamic events and came in second in design, fourth in cost and seventh in business presentation.

For winning first overall, the Cornell team received the SAE Foundation Cup. In addition, the team took home the Spirit of Excellence Award, the SAE Motorsports Award, the Bosch Engine Management Award, the PACE Best Engineering Design Award (second place), the Henkel Technologies Structural Foam Award (second place), the Goodyear Best Performance Award, the Hoosier Tire Autocross Award (second place) and the Solidworks Skidpad Award (second place). The various awards add up to $4,950, plus 18 tires and some software.

The Cornell student team begins design work in the early fall, completes construction of the frame by the end of the fall term and finishes the car in the spring. About the only components that are bought off the shelf are the engine block and tires. Over the entire two semesters, students practice driving on local courses that simulate the actual competition.

Cornell first entered the competition in 1987 and has won the title in 1988, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002 and this year. "We win often because we take a systems approach," said Al George, the J.F. Carr Professor of Mechanical Engineering and principal adviser to the team. He summed up the systems approach as, "I'm designing this part, and it has to fit in with those other parts." He added, "We also have an unfair advantage, you might say, because we have an outstanding engineering school. Our students really do understand everything they're doing."

The 2004 team members are undergraduates: Katie Bassett '07; Sean Bentley '06; Chris Bonn '05; Scott Buxbaum '05; Derek Carboni '04, skidpad driver; Joe Collins '04; Dylan Cooke '07, endurance and autocross driver; Whitney Cooper '07; Chris Davin '05; Sachin Desai '06; Jon Falco '06; Nick Fishbein '06; Matt Fritsch '04, engine team leader; Jason Harger '04, business team leader; Chris Hopkins '05; Benjamin Kennedy '05; Karleen Leveille '05; Jason Levin '04, electronics team leader and acceleration driver; William Loo '07; Earl Manzano '04; Will Marler '04; Kyle McMann '05; Ilai Onaje-jahath '05; Justin Rice '05; Matthew Robinson '05, autocross driver; Ron Rhode '06,; Michael Rooks '07; Mike West '05; Kyle Williams '04, skidpad and endurance driver and chassis team leader; and Matt Zipfel '04; master's students: Steven Barcelo; Suchitra Garikapati; Steve Grimm; Evan Hopkins; Brian Janos; Travis Martin; Kenny McNutt, acceleration driver; Vamsi Panchagnula; Lisa Prout and Danny Catropa; and doctoral student Mike Jones. Brad Anton, Cornell associate professor of chemical engineering, is co-adviser for the team.

Principal sponsors of Cornell's team include General Motors, Heller Industries and Hunter Industries. Some 50 other firms contribute parts and other support.