Engineering students construct a racecar that will go farther - and faster - than ever before

For most of us, a car is a practical device that takes us from point A to point B. But there is another class of people who are, well, obsessed with the workings of cars. Some grow up with dreams of designing and building cars entirely on their own and aspire to careers in the auto manufacturing industry as automotive engineers or in other areas of mechanical engineering.

At the University of Kansas, many such visionaries and builders of automobiles find their way to Jayhawk Motorsports. Each year, this group of seniors and volunteers in the School of Engineering designs builds and tests a totally new Formula SAE racecar to vie against other colleges and universities from around the world in a competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers. It’s both a capstone project for engineering seniors and a wonderful opportunity for developing team-building skills.

“Maybe 10 to 25 percent of the students go into automotive engineering,” said Jayhawk Motorsports faculty adviser Robert Sorem, associate professor of mechanical engineering at KU. “The others go into wide-ranging careers from an Imagineer at Disney, to flying fighters for the Navy, to building GPS devices for Garmin. Many of the students have never worked on a car. This project encompasses all aspects of mechanical engineering from thermal systems like the power train to mechanical systems like the car’s suspension to ergonomics dealing with driver visibility, steering forces and pedal forces. They are responsible for all aspects of the project. This project is about learning how to work effectively on teams. Oh, by the way, we just happen to build a really fast, really cool racecar that competes on an international level.”

The process began in the fall with designing this year’s racecar to the exacting specifications of the society, which holds annual competitions in mid-May in Michigan. Only a few parts, such as the engine, can be purchased or donated. The rest of the vehicle must be designed, machine tooled, formed and assembled by the students themselves.

“This is the reason I got into mechanical engineering,” said team member Seth Turner of Overland Park. Turner works on the racecar’s power train group. He explained the rigors of designing and manufacturing a racing vehicle, versus what a student mechanic might learn.

“I started building cars in high school,” Turner said. “But technical schools miss the design aspect. Instead of being given a problem like a leaky radiator to fix, we’re given the task of designing the radiator itself. We’ll design parts and write the manuals that others will get trained to work on.”

The 2009 Jayhawk Motorsports team is broken down into workgroups that conceptualize and fabricate different systems of the racecar. There are teams specializing in the vehicle’s chassis, power train, suspension, aerodynamics and electronics.

Their tasks begin on computer-aided engineering software, where each team member contributes his or her ideas to the design — always bearing in mind that their racecar must be as fast, maneuverable and light as possible. Decisions made on a computer in the fall affect manufacture and performance down the road.

“It’s got to accelerate fast, it’s got to turn fast, and it’s got to stop fast,” said Michael Puckett, senior, who acts as Jayhawk Motorsports’ team leader. “And we have to get all of our own funding.”

Puckett manages the design, fabrication and testing phases; coordinates the workgroups; schedules meetings; and is in charge of rounding up financial and parts contributions from outside sources.

“The only thing I actually designed was the headrest,” said Puckett.

Browse photos from the workshop

David McKinney / University Relations

The 2009 Jayhawk Motorsports team is broken down into workgroups that conceptualize and fabricate different systems of the racecar.Click here for photos from the workshop

But as team leader, Puckett’s efforts at raising money could make the difference between success and failure on the racetrack. Puckett estimates that this year’s team has raised roughly $100,000 in money, parts and manual labor.

With this war chest, the 2009 class has some history to live up to — or maybe even surpass. Recent Jayhawk Motorsports teams have built an increasingly successful record in the competitive world of Formula SAE racing. For example, KU students won two back-to-back top-10 finishes at the Formula SAE competitions in Detroit in 2006 and 2007. What’s more, between 2001 and 2007, Jayhawk Motorsports was the only Formula SAE team to finish each competition event in each of the seven years. In 2007, KU’s team reached the design finals for the first time in school history, placing fourth for engineering the vehicle.

“Each year’s team is different,” said graduate student Erich Ohlde of Lindsborg. Ohlde is a Jayhawk Motorsports veteran from the 2006 team who acts as the 2009 team’s technical adviser.

“This project gives us a senior design project, and a way to compete, as well as a real-world team building before we get out there,” Ohlde said. “Each year brings unique challenges and opportunities. But you never know until you get into competition. There are teams that excel in design and may falter in building, for instance.”

This year’s Jayhawk Motorsports racecar is designed on the principle that lighter is better. So the team has opted for an Aprilla SX55 engine, which at 553cc has less horsepower than many engines previously used. But the team believes that its lighter weight should bring better maneuverability and acceleration on the serpentine track where Formula SAE racing takes place.

“Torque is more important than horsepower,” Puckett explained. “We can accelerate to high speeds and use all-mechanical steering because we’re light.”

This year’s Jayhawk Motorsports students are following school tradition by utilizing a carbon fiber monocoque chassis with a honeycomb core (KU was the first Formula SAE team to manufacture a carbon fiber chassis in 1998). The entire chassis assemblage weighs only 29 pounds. Indeed, with its lighter engine, and the team’s design focused on reducing heaviness, the car’s overall weight should come in at a lean 380 pounds.

Every such choice the team made in the blueprint of the racecar will impact the final results of the SAE competition.

“Eventually, it’s going to be one of your friends in the car driving it. So you want it to be as safe as possible and to run as smoothly as possible,” said Tina Coop, a junior from Spring Hill, who is on the suspension team.

Coop’s positive feelings towards her fellow students in Jayhawk Motorsports is a good gauge of the quality team building that is key to these students’ success as they plunge into the manufacturing, assemblage and testing phases. Coop, the daughter of an auto mechanic, is a chemical engineering major taking the class as an elective, as well as one of two women participating in Jayhawk Motorsports this year.

Racing out of the classroom

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Get a view from the driver's seat as last year's engineering racecar gets put through the paces on an area track.

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