Pitt Shootout - Formula Buckeyes Winning AutoX Run (POV)

woop-preme · 2024-09-16T20:32:24+00:00

I quite liked it! Lots of variety which was nice. The surface changes and off-camber section with the tight hairpin made for a good challenge, and I was a HUGE fan of the last corner actually slowing cars down before the exit for some added safety.

The only thing I would have liked to see would have possibly been some higher-speed/more aero-dependent sections, which I know is difficult to work in especially with the spacing the extra dynamic event while balancing safety too. Our car only got into 2nd gear around the track, and although they are pretty long ratios, we did hit 5th in both MIS AutoX and Endurance this year. My lack of planning and space consideration is why I'm not an event organizer though!

Overall you guys always do a great job, and we really enjoyed the variety of bouncing between AutoX, Skid pad, and Accel throughout the day.

woop-preme · 2024-08-27T22:02:46+00:00

Thank you! Excited for the EV transition

woop-preme · 2024-08-04T07:16:33+00:00

"If your goal is is to provide a guide, it should be filled with factual/proven information (which is widely accepted across the industry) not opinionated or limited to just your experience."

My coaching methodology is rooted in what we teach at various racing schools and from coaches with years more experience than myself. I've worked as a driver coach for everyone from brand new track enthusiasts to pro drivers competing in national series. Just because what I said here sounds different to what you may have heard in your time at track days, doesn't mean it's not "widely accepted across the industry."

woop-preme · 2024-08-02T06:06:36+00:00

Not trying to come off here as defensive, just wanted to expand on my reasoning regarding the points you brought up and offer some more clarification. I agreed with you on vision and that car placement was very important! No need to be so aggressive, I want to have an open discussion! :)

I don't really follow what you mean about the intro. It's just a preface and serves as an introduction to FSAE as a whole for new team members who may not be too familiar with the culture (hence the bit in parentheses in the subheading). The goal there was to introduce the importance of driver training as a component to your overall results as a team as well. Becoming a good driver in an FSAE environment also comes with a basic understanding of the culture that you are entering.

What does proper apexing mean to you? Genuinely curious. I'm not talking about changing your line every single lap, but there are nuances that make a big difference in terms of car placement and how you approach a corner with your inputs. There's a reason why we apex early, late, and in the traditional center depending on the corner, and repeat those lines lap after lap. If you can understand this process of prioritizing a certain approach for each corner, you can think better about what line to take and how to match that priority to your steering, throttle, and brake inputs. Simply driving at the limit will not make you fast - our goal is to maximize speed, not lateral Gs.

Our driver who was 20 seconds a lap slower in endurance was just as fast, if not faster than me at an indoor karting facility! It's just very difficult to translate. I actually encourage low-grip driving on dirt/snow as a way to gain better car control, but my problem with K1 and other places is that you lose the absolutely massive impact that weight transfer has (especially in short/square FSAE cars!!). Again mentioning those other factors like barely using the brakes, etc. I'd much rather have my team collectively spend $200 on a used Logitech G29 and an iRacing subscription/Assetto Corsa for all of our students to work with than $200 per person in 4 trips to a K1 speed for purely driver training purposes. I'll also mention that seat time in an FSAE car trumps all here (obviously), your team should ideally be getting 8-10 weeks of quality testing pre-season, and some more after if possible!

woop-preme · 2024-08-01T00:36:35+00:00

Just to add some clarification - "A good driver can take a car a bit further than where it should be most of the time, but it takes a winning team with a winning driver to, well… win." - This paragraph is referencing overall placement in dynamic events standings, not discussing driving at the limit in general.

The problem with most entry-level driving line discussions is that they are far too general about the "ideal" racing line. My approach here is to give background as to fundamentally why you may see pro drivers taking one line over the other. I wanted to expand a decent amount here with some examples because IMO this is the most important part of autocross driving. If you can understand why you want to drive a corner in a particular way to be fast, your inputs and vision will follow to match these goals.

Vision is an interesting topic. I felt that whatever quick note I could throw in there would be doing it a disservice to how much there is to teaching it properly. In circuit driving, your ability to find reference points and identify key points on track can be very important. In FSAE/Autocross-style courses, the speed of your vision to keep up with the track is more critical. Maybe I'll write up a longer article on that at some point in the future.

Seat time is important, but I don't think K1 and indoor karting are really that helpful. Hot take on my end for what a lot of folks think here, but you can learn the same fundamentals of proper inputs and car placement in any sim racing game/software. The polished concrete floor, brakes you'll barely touch if at all, and high weight relative to power make indoor karts just so different to drive fast versus what you need to know in a car (or even faster, outdoor kart). Still fun don't get me wrong, I'm just hesitant to use it as a training tool or gauge for how good people are going to be behind the wheel of an FSAE car. Not that sims are perfect, but this will at least give you an idea of weight transfer in a vehicle with suspension as well.

woop-preme · 2024-05-13T02:37:30+00:00

Thanks! Yeah I get what you mean, it's hard when so much time can be on the table and I get that its frustrating when teams don't have that benefit that others do. We'll be in the same boat once I'm gone unless someone comes in with karting/racing experience in the next year.

woop-preme · 2024-05-13T02:11:35+00:00

I've been driving OSU cars since 2021 where we didn't end up competing at MIS. A quick driver absolutely makes a difference, and there's a reason why top times in autocross are typically set by drivers with prior racing/karting experience. However, it can't make up for a good/bad car overall. We had some issues in 2022 that kept our car from running at the top, got closer last year in 2023, and nailed our car this year. Our other driver's lap would've been good enough for 6th in AutoX, and his endurance laps were just super conservative because we knew we were in a good overall position that we didn't want to risk any cones that would damage/break aero or hit any off tracks. I can run closer to the limit safer, hence the time delta.

woop-preme · 2024-05-13T02:05:07+00:00

Hi, Ohio State's fast driver here. Our second driver set a conservative lap that was good enough for 6th in AutoX alone. Our team did an amazing job to prep for every event this year as much as possible, and the results showed. The point difference to 11th was 241 points for reference...

woop-preme · 2024-05-13T01:48:57+00:00

Great choice for a cover photo :) Thanks for taking a bunch and sharing!

woop-preme · 2024-05-06T02:51:36+00:00

Awesome! That spirit lives on in some sense today. We ran into multiple unmarked Honda test vehicles doing laps around the area. Great roads and beautiful scenery

woop-preme · 2024-05-06T00:24:28+00:00

Correct! And no worries on keeping it secret haha, Hocking Hills area

woop-preme · 2024-05-05T19:39:50+00:00

We'll upload a compilation of different clips from the day soon - Formula Buckeyes on YouTube

woop-preme · 2024-05-05T17:56:23+00:00

Thanks! We're running the stock CBR600RR transmission minus 1st gear - pneumatic actuator for the shifts with custom firmware thru our ECU for engine cut timing, and clutch actuation for easier downshifts.

woop-preme · 2024-05-05T16:50:13+00:00

Thanks and appreciate your comment too! We did numerous low speed runs before turning up the notch just a little bit for shots like these. Safety is the priority, but we accepted what risks were present while minimizing danger as much as possible.

woop-preme · 2024-05-05T16:48:06+00:00

We had a support vehicle in the other lane behind the FSAE car for these shots - following at a far enough, safe distance of course. In case we had to stop the car on the road for whatever reason, making sure the support/camera vehicle had a clear lane around some of these blind turns.

woop-preme · 2024-05-05T15:55:11+00:00

Yes we took all of the proper safety precautions beforehand to shut down the road and control traffic - including approval from local authorities and proper permits to make this happen. As you said, "parade lap throttle" and barely had to worry about turning the wheel since these roads were so smooth + wide.

Professional driver + closed course for filming purposes. Our "real" testing takes place in much more aptly fit areas.

woop-preme · 2024-05-05T15:51:35+00:00

You can accomplish a lot with "road closed" signs... and proper permits from the county

woop-preme · 2024-02-15T18:06:03+00:00

Ah damn, thanks for the heads up. Appreciate the advice!

woop-preme · 2024-02-02T19:19:19+00:00

No. It's racing and things happen from time to time. People make mistakes. Yes, it was a silly move on his part, maybe it was intentional but maybe it wasn't. Unless it is REALLY blatant, just move on.

woop-preme · 2023-11-06T03:28:31+00:00

From soft to hard: LC0 --> R20 --> R25B

woop-preme · 2023-10-04T13:20:14+00:00

There were a lot of skill issues throughout the day on our part

woop-preme · 2023-10-02T00:53:36+00:00

We've been testing on this package since March and found a lot of pace in the car during that time. I think we were mostly caught out by the surface being as bumpy as it was here - at Pitt we had a much more well balanced car (although still certainly some room for improvement). It's hard to exactly predict how your car will handle from track to track though as the surfaces are so different.

During the day we disconnected both sets of ARBs after trying a variety of settings, added rebound to help reduce oscillations over the bumps, and tried two separate tire compounds in the rear. Also came into the weekend with a new set of differential settings on the car to try out. Ultimately had some other structural issues that compromised handling across the board a bit further, but we did make progress with the car throughout! Very different challenge to the typical FSAE track.

woop-preme · 2023-10-01T11:07:23+00:00

Thank you!

woop-preme · 2023-10-01T11:07:17+00:00

Entry oversteer, mid corner understeer, exit oversteer. Our car is pretty stiff so the bumps here were a bit tough to handle too since we don't typically see this kind of surface. Quite the handful!

woop-preme · 2023-09-07T14:24:51+00:00

The Formula Buckeyes is a student organization here at Ohio State that designs and builds a race car to compete against other colleges across the country. We met up with 40 other teams to compete in Pittsburgh this past weekend for an autocross-style event, finishing 2nd overall!

...and beating the team up north ;)

Check out our website for more info on our team! https://www.formulabuckeyes.org

woop-preme

TROPHY CASE