Our mission is to conceive, design, and fabricate a high-performance formula-style racecar to win an annual international competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).
Competition Objective:
The Formula SAE competition is for SAE student members to conceive, design, fabricate, and compete with small formula-style racing cars. The restrictions on the car frame and engine are limited so that the knowledge, creativity, and imagination of the students are challenged. The cars are built with a team effort over a period of about one year and are taken to the annual competition for judging and comparison with approximately 130 other vehicles from colleges and universities throughout the world. The end result is a great experience for young engineers in a meaningful engineering project as well as the opportunity of working in a dedicated team effort.
Vehicle Design Objectives:
For the purpose of this competition, the students are to assume that a manufacturing firm has engaged them to produce a prototype car for evaluation as a production item. The intended sales market is the nonprofessional weekend autocross racer. Therefore, the car must have very high performance in terms of its acceleration, braking, and handling qualities. The car must be low in cost, easy to maintain, and reliable. In addition, the car's marketability is enhanced by other factors such as aesthetics, comfort and use of common parts. The manufacturing firm is planning to produce four (4) cars per day for a limited production run and the prototype vehicle should actually cost below $25,000. The challenge to the design team is to design and fabricate a prototype car that best meets these goals and intents. Each design will be compared and judged with other competing designs to determine the best overall car.
Judging Categories:
The cars are judged in a series of static and dynamic events including: technical inspection, cost, presentation, and engineering design, solo performance trials, and high performance track endurance. These events are scored to determine how well the car performs. In each event, the manufacturing firm has specified minimum acceptable performance levels that are reflected in the scoring equations. The following points are possible:
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Dynamic Events
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Static Events
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Acceleration - 75 points
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Presentation - 75 points
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Skid-pad - 50 points
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Engineering Design - 150 points
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Autocross - 150 points
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Cost Analysis - 100 points
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Fuel Economy - 100 points
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Endurance Track - 300 points
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TOTAL SCORING - 1000 points
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Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Department
ATTN: Formula SAE
114 OPP Randolph Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0238
Phone: (540) 231-5459
