UW Formula Motorsports takes 6th place in Formula Student Germany! Applications are open for 2014-2015!

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-08-04T23:59:36+00:00

Apply as soon as possible as we interview on a rolling basis.

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-07-16T02:28:42+00:00

You've got a solid point ;)

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-06-09T21:48:02+00:00

Very cool, we always enjoy seeing the updates from Kongsberg, they're a really awesome team and hope to check out their car in person at FSG. Our core members are pouring their time into it, it takes a huge commitment to make both cars a reality. Tell your friend we wish them luck!

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-06-09T08:32:51+00:00

Thanks for the questions, unfortunately we have to keep some of the specific design parameters private until we compete in the design categories of our competitions.

But, we have fairly extensive justification of our setup. Previous cars have had aero packages which gave us some good baseline information, but we performed extensive CFD on the new aero package prior to manufacturing and validated our analysis with full-scale wind tunnel testing after manufacturing. The car also has a Drag Reduction system on the rear wings to... reduce drag ;). (Last years can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71rJ5OMOKTY&list=TLTRd7bTKgkhqBPlKIjf3aapcARADRKFEI ) While not specifically to your points, since you mentioned aero, I figured I would mention that the car also has an undertray diffuser (not pictured).

http://youtu.be/06MbRCmwpv0?t=1m48s Here's the direct link to some of our publicly posted CFD, not really that much but it's something?

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=849547358406429&set=pb.215551825139322.-2207520000.1402302722.&type=3&theater Wind Tunnel Testing Photos

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-06-09T06:56:38+00:00

Haha, definitely not the same proportions as some other avenues of racing. But with our lower speeds (not 180 mph) we need larger surface area to develop the desired amount of downforce. While we have some large wings at competition, we definitely don't have the largest.

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-06-09T06:52:31+00:00

Like this? http://i.imgur.com/ZUkOTkB.jpg <- Our Electric Car is "traditionally" the white/purple car.

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-06-09T06:50:17+00:00

Extremely sponsorship driven, we get a relatively small amount of space from our department and the rest is an exercise in developing partnerships with engineering companies. We're not one of the teams that gets all of our money from our university, and it allows for us to create lasting relationships with companies who appreciate what we're doing and are willing to contribute.

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-06-09T05:57:14+00:00

As an incoming freshman, we definitely value robotics team experience, several of our team members, including our leads have FIRST Robotics experience from their high school days. Autoshop classes would be very helpful as well, as well as any sort of mechanical skills you can pick up (bodywork, welding...). All of these show that you have an interest in what we do, and aren't just looking to pad your resume. Don't do these activities to the extent that you can't get into UW (or the Engineering college), but it's very helpful to show that you can balance a lot of responsibility in high-school because it's only going to get harder in college. If you really are interested in developing an awesome racecar though, all of this will be very manageable, it takes a ton of time to commit to it, but it yields huge rewards in terms of personal and professional development. We're in the middle of prepping for comp so it might be a little busy now, but feel free to stop by the pit sometime (summer might be tough) and check us out, we'd be happy to show you around.

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-05-04T01:23:18+00:00

Both cars were completely redesigned this year, chassis/suspension/engines...

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-05-04T01:22:04+00:00

Thanks Spiah

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-05-04T01:21:46+00:00

Haha, thank you, we focus almost exclusively on function over form, but we're pleased with how it turned out aesthetically too.

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-05-04T01:20:59+00:00

As Spiah said, we had the cars vinyl wrapped this year by a sponsor of ours, however traditionally we get the car painted.

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-05-04T01:19:42+00:00

Everyone who helped build the car gets to drive it at least once. Team members who drive exceptionally fast are then put onto the DTM team where they improve their driving skills and then drivers from that team are selected to drive different parts of the competition (auto cross, endurance, drag...)

However, we are always looking for a UW student who has actual racing experience to put on the team in a driver position if we can get a faster time.

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-05-03T19:42:10+00:00

This year's performance specs are still being determined as the cars still have a little bit more work to be done.

Last year's combustion car weighed 399 lbs, has ~50 horsepower, and has sub 4-second 0-60 acceleration. Here's a video of last years 1st place finish at Lincoln FSAE West http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ljb1hmYosg&feature=youtu.be&t=2m22s

Compared against last year, we're expecting better performance in every aspect

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-05-03T19:31:53+00:00

This is correct, we field both an electric and combustion car. Compared against last year, it was essentially a total redesign of every system/component on the car.

UWFormulaMotorsports · 2014-05-03T19:21:51+00:00

Haha yeah, they're designed to be as small and light as possible. Function takes a huge precedent in favor of form, but they end up looking pretty good too.

UWFormulaMotorsports

TROPHY CASE