I'm going to school for civil engineering and many schools with established engineering programs also have a Formula or Baja SAE programs. I joined the formula SAE program this year and it has been nothing but fun, more work than a job, but much more opportunities for fun as well, it also happens to be a good way to get rid of a girl friend.
This year we competed in california at FSAE West, FSG in Hockenheim Germany, and FSA in Melk Austria. West went well, but there we had a major problem when a bolt sheared and then the other suspension mount riped out of the monocoque during the first day fo dynamic events. We spent all day and night repairing it finally finishing by 9am the next morning then we went on to take 2nd place. We lost by 9 points to RIT after factoring in the 10 point penalty from the late SEF report on the carbon monocoque 3 months before competition.
I was "lucky" in that I could not find a job this summer so I was able to attend the Germany and Austria competitions. We just finished those up a week ago so I finally got a chance to do some traveling. Hockenheim was rather disappointing since we did not finish endurance because our muffler fell off due to not being able to find steel rivits, the aluminum ones melted. We were 2nd place in autocross beating many established teams and scaring Stuttgart by coming within .120 seconds of stuttgarts 53.103 time. We were one of two teams to not finish endurance due to non-catastrophic failures. 45/78 teams did not finish which is common, most are engine or driveline failures. We calculated the points afterward and we would have been 2nd.
Austria ended a lot better, it was a first year competition and was very small with only 24 teams. Stuttgart, Delft, and Helsinki did not show because of the Italian competition right now, but many of the other top teams were there. This time we found steel rivits and although we did not do as well as we should have in skid pad and acceleration, we still owned the competition winning by over 170 points with 918/1000. That was the first competition OSU Formula has ever won and it felt great to finally have our work and knowledge validated.
The school paid for all transportation and lodging while we were competiting and helped out with the plane ticket which is the only way any of us were able to come. Finally with competition over 3 of my teammates and I rented a car and headed off to do some mountain biking. We rented a ford focus and chose the 18$ upgrade to a navigation system hoping to get an upgrade and we ended up with a mercedes c class diesel wagon. Then we drove a good 600km on the autobahn, toping out at 230km/h, to Winterberg, Germany. It's like a very small whistler, and I mean small. They have a nice slope style park, 4 trails, a 4x course, and some other small stuff. The price was nice, 160€ for two days of riding with a freeride bike(nicolai Ion ST), helmet, and shin guards. Their DH trail was loads of fun even though it was maybe a 3 minute run.
Camping here is expensive at 7€/night per person so we dirtbagged it out in the woods...in the Merc. While on the chairlift we noticed a large pool in town which turned out to be free after 6pm so we were still able to shower and smell pretty for the ladies, which were few and far between.
Afterwards we went to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle (aka the Disneyland castle) in bavaria, sleeping in someone's field this time. BTW, it is illegal to camp in Germany so you better be awake early.
The view we woke up to
Then it was off to where ever the GPS told us there was a club. We ended up in some small town with a lot of night life, surrounded by the alps. Very few roads are gated which ment lots of driving around on the ski resorts and in the Alps. Fortunately none of us speak german so we couldn't read any of the signs telling us to stay out. We ended up driving pretty much to the top of the Alps in Germany. We picked out a perfect spot to camp, then an hour later the man who manages the mountains showed up and told us we couldn't stay. He was very nice about it and went on his way leaving us to pack up at our own pace.
Yes you are allowed to drink in a moving vehicle in Germany, just not the driver...there was lots of beer consumed on the autobahn.
Where have you taken your mercedes rental car?
Then having no place to stay we went to the clubs and one of the guys managed to find two girls who let us stay at their place. Luck was on our side as it ended up downpouring that night and none of us have a tent or bivy sack, sleeping in a bed for the first time in 3 weeks was a good feeling. Now I've got three more days to party it up in Germany and Zurich, Switzerland before heading back to Oregon. To top it off, a Whistler trip is scheduled for some time in the next two weeks.
This year we competed in california at FSAE West, FSG in Hockenheim Germany, and FSA in Melk Austria. West went well, but there we had a major problem when a bolt sheared and then the other suspension mount riped out of the monocoque during the first day fo dynamic events. We spent all day and night repairing it finally finishing by 9am the next morning then we went on to take 2nd place. We lost by 9 points to RIT after factoring in the 10 point penalty from the late SEF report on the carbon monocoque 3 months before competition.
I was "lucky" in that I could not find a job this summer so I was able to attend the Germany and Austria competitions. We just finished those up a week ago so I finally got a chance to do some traveling. Hockenheim was rather disappointing since we did not finish endurance because our muffler fell off due to not being able to find steel rivits, the aluminum ones melted. We were 2nd place in autocross beating many established teams and scaring Stuttgart by coming within .120 seconds of stuttgarts 53.103 time. We were one of two teams to not finish endurance due to non-catastrophic failures. 45/78 teams did not finish which is common, most are engine or driveline failures. We calculated the points afterward and we would have been 2nd.
Austria ended a lot better, it was a first year competition and was very small with only 24 teams. Stuttgart, Delft, and Helsinki did not show because of the Italian competition right now, but many of the other top teams were there. This time we found steel rivits and although we did not do as well as we should have in skid pad and acceleration, we still owned the competition winning by over 170 points with 918/1000. That was the first competition OSU Formula has ever won and it felt great to finally have our work and knowledge validated.
The school paid for all transportation and lodging while we were competiting and helped out with the plane ticket which is the only way any of us were able to come. Finally with competition over 3 of my teammates and I rented a car and headed off to do some mountain biking. We rented a ford focus and chose the 18$ upgrade to a navigation system hoping to get an upgrade and we ended up with a mercedes c class diesel wagon. Then we drove a good 600km on the autobahn, toping out at 230km/h, to Winterberg, Germany. It's like a very small whistler, and I mean small. They have a nice slope style park, 4 trails, a 4x course, and some other small stuff. The price was nice, 160€ for two days of riding with a freeride bike(nicolai Ion ST), helmet, and shin guards. Their DH trail was loads of fun even though it was maybe a 3 minute run.
Camping here is expensive at 7€/night per person so we dirtbagged it out in the woods...in the Merc. While on the chairlift we noticed a large pool in town which turned out to be free after 6pm so we were still able to shower and smell pretty for the ladies, which were few and far between.
Afterwards we went to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle (aka the Disneyland castle) in bavaria, sleeping in someone's field this time. BTW, it is illegal to camp in Germany so you better be awake early.
The view we woke up to
Then it was off to where ever the GPS told us there was a club. We ended up in some small town with a lot of night life, surrounded by the alps. Very few roads are gated which ment lots of driving around on the ski resorts and in the Alps. Fortunately none of us speak german so we couldn't read any of the signs telling us to stay out. We ended up driving pretty much to the top of the Alps in Germany. We picked out a perfect spot to camp, then an hour later the man who manages the mountains showed up and told us we couldn't stay. He was very nice about it and went on his way leaving us to pack up at our own pace.
Yes you are allowed to drink in a moving vehicle in Germany, just not the driver...there was lots of beer consumed on the autobahn.
Where have you taken your mercedes rental car?
Then having no place to stay we went to the clubs and one of the guys managed to find two girls who let us stay at their place. Luck was on our side as it ended up downpouring that night and none of us have a tent or bivy sack, sleeping in a bed for the first time in 3 weeks was a good feeling. Now I've got three more days to party it up in Germany and Zurich, Switzerland before heading back to Oregon. To top it off, a Whistler trip is scheduled for some time in the next two weeks.
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