The University of North Florida’s Osprey racing team showed off its third-generation race car at the March 9 19th annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. Showing off the completed frame with suspension and engine pieces in place, the soon-to-be completed car is set to compete May 14 to 17 at the annual Society of Automotive Engineers Formula SAE event at Michigan International Speedway. The competition started in 1979 to challenge student engineers to design, build and drive a race car that can withstand technical inspection, racing and a 13-mile endurance run. Former student Justin Tussey started Osprey Racing five years ago.
Concours chairman and founder Bill Warner invited Osprey Racing to show off its latest car on the show field, surrounded by 325 other classics. The team’s last car, Swoopdie2, came in 81st out of 125 university teams last year, 20 ahead of its 2012 premiere.
Osprey Racers turn Lot 18 into a racetrack
Source: http://unfspinnaker.com/osprey-racers-turn-lot-18-into-a-racetrack/
While most students were sleeping in or soaking up the sun, one group of students spent Labor Day working under the sun in Lot 18.
They blocked the exits with vehicles and marked a course with orange cones. A formula racing engine roared to life. They transformed Lot 18 into a racetrack.
Osprey Racing spent its holiday collecting data and information to improve their vehicle. Some students monitored computer screens and processed data. Others drove or maintained the vehicle.
“The Osprey Racers are a student group that was started by students a few years ago all on there own initiative,” said Dr. Tumeo, Dean of the College of Computing and Engineering.
Osprey Racing, founded in 2010, is a relatively unknown. The club initially lacked funding from UNF. Now local sponsors, such as Sabre Technology and Miscellaneous Sheet Metal, provide the monetary support for Osprey Racing.
“This will be our third year in competition,” said Michael McCollum, president of Osprey Racing “We’ve had a great set of founding people that put the club together and put a whole race car together, almost from nothing.”
Despite its young age, Osprey Racing is making a name for itself. At Formula SAE 2012, Osprey Racing placed 81st out of 120 international teams. The next year at FSAE 2013 the club jumped 20 spots to place 61st.
“We have almost the whole car designed for the coming year already. We’re way ahead of schedule. I think this year we’ll do really well in the competition,” McCollum said.
UNF doesn’t have the same advantage as other schools. Universities like Oregon State have multi-million-dollar budgets, advanced manufacturing equipment and a longer-standing program. UNF’s team, on the other hand, has 30 members and a budget of $25,000.
“When it comes down to it, it’s the experience that’ll take us further than anything,” McCollum said.
Osprey Racing members gain hands-on experience, and not all of it has to do with engineering. Teams are required to put together business models, marketing strategies, and advertisements as if their car were to be mass-marketed. This, compounded with mechanical experience and industrial fabrication, provides a variety of opportunities for students in the field.
“They’ve demonstrated what an engineering education means at UNF. Not only will they get the best education in the country and be a great engineer, but it’s fun,” said Tumeo.
Swoopdie2 hits the road as UNF’s Osprey Racing prepares for next year’s SAE Formula competition
Jason Binder flipped down his helmet visor as Swoopdie2 idled around him.
Then the single-seat racer, a screaming osprey airbrushed on its nose, pulled away from the University of North Florida’s Osprey Racing team to lap Lot 18 at the Jacksonville school.
Summer may be vacation for most students. But Osprey Racing is using it to prepare for its third attack on the annual Formula SAE competition next May at Michigan International Raceway after it came in 81st out of 125 university teams this year. That’s 20 ahead of its 2012 premiere.
“It’s been incredible,” said Binder, who raced in some May events. “… I felt a little bit of fear, a little bit of excitement and a little bit of everything.”
The 2012 car was rebuilt for 2013 but won’t be used again. Instead, a narrower and lighter car with a wing will be built for spring testing with more funding from the university, team captain Beau Fordham said. The school wants the team to keep Swoopdie2 for display when it isn’t used for training.
“We are getting drivers used to driving a Formula SAE-style car,” Fordham said. “That was one of the problems we had last year as people were nervous and didn’t know how the car would react.”
The Society of Automotive Engineers competition started in 1979 to challenge student engineers to design, build and drive a race car that can withstand technical inspection, racing and a 13-mile endurance run. Former student Justin Tussey started Osprey Racing four years ago so engineering students could compete in it.
Working under SAE rules, they built the first car with $25,000 in donations and a used Honda CBR motorcycle engine.
Another $9,000 in donations saw the second-generation car built with 65 horsepower and 60 pounds lighter due to a carbon fiber seat and body. The 17-member team placed in every category.
“It was a lot of emotions because we worked so hard for that last week to get the car together to get it on the track,” Fordham said.
Graduate Ben Witten, last year’s team president, is eager for a top-40 spot at the 2014 competition.
“The first year we knew nothing. The second year we knew a lot more. All we are going to do is get better from now on,” he said, now a team volunteer. “The school has begun to acknowledge us a lot better and back us a lot more.”
Osprey Racing is having a reception Thursday to celebrate this year’s competition and thank sponsors. Swoopdie2 is on the guest list.
UNF engineering team builds, races Formula SAE car
Ten months ago, the University of North Florida Osprey race car was a steel cage and aluminum pieces.
Now the 70-horsepower, 500-pound single-seat racer hits 60 mph in 4 seconds, Osprey Racing president and engineering student Ben Witten said.
Next, people will see how good its design and construction techniques are as the Osprey competes through Saturday in the 34th annual Formula SAE competition at Michigan International Raceway.
“The main thing I love about this car is what it brings out from everybody,” Witten said, noting they went from zero people to about 30. “It is not necessarily a part on the car, it is the people working on the car that I love.”
The Society of Automotive Engineers competition tasks students to design, build and drive a race car and face technical inspections, speed and handling tests and a 13-mile endurance run. The 120 college teams from the U.S., Europe and Asia must also craft marketing and design presentations. Six Florida and three Georgia schools also are competing.
“The biggest learning curve comes from learning how the car actually handles, because it doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world and it is designed by student engineers,” said Justin Tussey, Osprey Racing founder.
Tussey formed Osprey Racing three years ago so the school’s engineering students could use computer-aided design to craft a virtual race car. Computerized machines carved suspension, wheel hubs and other pieces from virtual blueprints out of solid aluminum.
The cars must have a steel tube chassis, at least a 60-inch wheelbase and full roll cage. Donations of cash and equipment covered the car’s $25,000 cost. The Osprey’s 600-cc Honda CBR motorcycle engine fits the rules, and the team can download engine and other data from onboard sensors.
“For a first-year team, we have learned a lot,” Witten said.
Tussey, Witten, Casey Foster and Evan Hathaway will drive in Michigan.
“The good news is that if you simply finish all of the events without breaking down, you are already in the top third, so that’s really our goal,” Tussey said. “… Honda R&D paid for me to fly to Columbus, Ohio, for an interview. A bunch of other people are getting job offers, so it is definitely paying off.”
Two FSAE teams receive vehicle development grants
Source: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/sae/11UPDD0811/index.php?startid=18#/18
Established in 2004, this grant provides funding to one or more Formula SAE® teams to assist with the development of their vehicles. This grant is given in honor of William R. “Bill” Adam’s contribution to FSAE and his lifelong dedication to mentoring young engineers.
Wade Gyllenhaal is the team captain of the Formula SAE team at ASU. Under his leadership, team membership has increased to nearly 25 members, up from an average of around five members in the past several years. He is also president of the SAE International chapter at ASU, which has grown to include over 100 student engineers. Mr. Gyllenhaal is pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering.
Justin Tussey is the founder and president of Osprey Racing, UNF’s first SAE International Collegiate Chapter. Additionally, he was part of a four person senior design team which designed and manufactured the suspension, chassis and wheel package for the school’s first Formula SAE racecar. Osprey Racing is now a flourishing engineering club with over 20 members. Mr. Tussey will graduate in 2012 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
SAE International is a global association of more than 128,000 engineers and related technical experts in the aerospace, automotive and commercial-vehicle industries. SAE International’s core competencies are life-long learning and voluntary consensus standards development. SAE International’s charitable arm is the SAE Foundation, which supports many programs, including A World In Motion® and the Collegiate Design Series.