Features At A Glance

The Car

The 2014 Penn State FSAE car was intended to be a refinement of 2013 car. Many of the component of the car was redesigned. Aerodynamics package is wind tunnel tested, the redesigning of suspension system and the utilization of the more reliable four-cylinder motor. We tried changing the car from vinyl to paint. This year’s car weighed in at 521 lbs, resulting in 300 hp/ton. With a blazing 0-60 in 3.8 seconds and a 1.5 G lateral acceleration, a well-rounded car was embedded in the minds of all.

Penn State Racing is facing its toughest year. Having ranked 35th in the 2013 Formula SAE Michigan, the team finished 81st in the 2014 Formula SAE Michigan due to system failure. The Yamaha R6 engine failed and the car’s alternator followed during the acceleration event. The team managed to regroup and swapped engines within 4 hours. Other teams and companies spectating are impressed, however we did not manage to fix or obtain the alternator.

The frame is made out of 4130 Chromoly Steel. The extra time gained from using normal material for the frame was used for testing and fine-tuning the car, delivering a much better result as stated in the opening paragraph. This year, we changed our convention, utilizing the wider 10” Hoosier R25B for maximum performance. As for the shocks, we retained the Kaz Technologies Penske shocks, designed and built specifically for Formula SAE use.

During this year we had a reliable and robust electronics system. The AEM Infinity-10 was tested on the car for research and development during 2014. Due to compatibility reason, we switched back MoTeC CDL3 to gain live data acquisition and post-processed visual aids. Given the time and commitment made to develop our data acquisition, the team has designed the whole harness, and wiring in Solidworks Electronics for 2015 car. By logging numerous data channels that were designed and built by the team, we were then able to study them after practice sessions. This allowed drivers to see specific data and improve for subsequent runs. We used Performance Electronic’s ECU which provided us with a reliable system which communicated with the CDL3 via CAN so that all the engine data could be logged.

This 2014 year, we had access to an engine dyno for the first time in the team’s history. With it we set preliminary maps and conducted design of experiments. We conducted a speed density tune based off a TMAP sensor and throttle position while still paying close attention to our air to fuel ratio. This year, we obtained a spark plug transducer for an accurate fuel map increment. Because of this; reliable sensors will play a much more important role in this year’s car. We hope that this will yield a more reliable car and provide our team a more competitive edge to place higher in completion.