Welcome to the /r/FSAE Lincoln Competition Weekend Official Discussion & Updates Thread!

I hope everyone's been having fun in the sun! I hear it's 105°F (40°C) out there on the tarmac today!! Make sure to wear sunscreen, and stay hydrated.

What is Formula SAE?

The Formula SAE® Series competitions challenge teams of university undergraduate and graduate students to conceive, design, fabricate and compete with small, formula style, competition vehicles.

In short, Formula SAE is a student engineering competition in which students design, build, and race a small open-wheel race car.

Events

Static Events [675 points]

• Sales Presentation [75 points]
  • The objective is to evaluate the team’s ability to develop and deliver a comprehensive business case that will convince the executives of a fake manufacturing firm that the team’s design best meets the demands of the amateur weekend competition market and that it can be profitably manufactured and marketed.
• Cost Analysis [100 points]
  • The students are to assume that a serial production of 1000 cars a year will follow the prototype. The cost calculation is discussed with a jury based on a report. The objective of the event is for the participants to learn and understand the manufacturing techniques and processes of some of the components that they have chosen to purchase rather than fabricate themselves.
• Design [150 points]
  • The students explain their constructive solutions to a jury of experts from the automotive and motorsport industries in report and discussion. The concept of the design is to evaluate the engineering effort that went into the design of the car and how the engineering meets the intent of the market. The car that illustrates the best use of engineering to meet the design goals and the best understanding of the design by the team members will win the design event.

Dynamic Events [675 points]

• Acceleration [75 points]
  • The cars are evaluated on their accelerating abilities from a standing start over a distance of 75 meters.
• Skidpad [50 points]
  • The objective is to measure the car’s cornering ability on a flat surface while making a constant-radius turn. The course will be a pair of concentric circles in shape of the number 8; the cars demonstrate how good lateral forces can be absorbed (up to 1.4g).
• Autocross [150 points]
  • The objective is to evaluate the car’s maneuverability and handling qualities on a tight course without the hindrance of competing cars. The course will combine the performance features of acceleration, braking and cornering into one event. The results of the Autocross scores determine the starting order for endurance.
• Endurance [300 points]
  • Over a distance of 22 km the cars have to prove their durability under long-term conditions. Acceleration, speed, handling, dynamics, fuel efficiency, reliability – the cars have to prove it all.
• Fuel Efficiency [100 points]
  • Implicitly included in Endurance.

Useful Resources

• Student Handbook PDF
• Program Event Guide
• Official Endurance Track Video
• Official Autocross Track Video

Preliminary Results

Combustion

Electric

Preliminary results can be found at http://students.sae.org/cds/formulaseries/news/

Winners

Combustion: Auburn University - War Eagle Motorsports

Electric: Czech Technical University of Prague - eForce FEE Prague Formula