You would almost never believe it BUT we almost have a driving, functioning race car !!
About the only thing left to do is swap in our replacement ECU.
Side pods are being mounted as I type, one or two internal floor panels being mounted, some fule line pumping to do but beyond that it's ever so close to being the real deal.
Fingers crossed that tomorrow it should be tip top and ready to shake down.
I think it's great time to say thanks to all the boys who have been killing themselves to make this all happen.........won't get too carried away as we're still not quite there yet BUT damn good effort guys.
They all know who they are so we won't name the A-Team just yet but there's a solid group of about 5 guys who have really stood up and got this happening. Working upto 18 or 20 hours a day.......YES thats right running on shear will power almost.
............fingers and toes crossed things keep looking up we shall share news over the next few days before the car heads over to Melbourne on Tuesday.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Unfortunate News
Due to our build being well behind schedule we have unfortunately had to cancel our car launch before the comp.
With our car still being finished off and it having to go on the truck over to Melbourne on Tuesday next week we just didn't have enough time (or finshed car) to have the launch.
I'm sure if you are familiar with the comp, you will understand the enormous effort it is to prepare these cars over the year, with delays on parts and struggle for available labour it is an uphill battle for many teams, with Curtin definately not exempt.
In good news the chassis is painted and the majority of parts are being fitted to the car.
Point to note is our driveline this year looking like it will function remarkedly better than last year, now that we don't have an interferance fit between the drive shafts and the suspension mounts.
The deisgn of the race car is often undertaken by new team members each year and so information and past expereience is often lost, this means design problems can be re-occuring but we are lucky this year to have a solid team core that attended the comp last year and we are making the appropriate modifications to our design approach based on what we learned last year.
We are still very hopeful for a good performance at the comp this year, so don't lose faith in us yet.
It's still full steam ahead in the workshop day and night. The painted body turned up today and should be all mounted up by tomorrow.
Brake lines were complete yesterday thanks to some help from Perth Brake Parts.
Keep you eyes on this page as we are set to have lots of progress over the next few days.....we simply just have to enable us to compete in Melbourne this year. Short on days for work but we have plenty of determination.
With our car still being finished off and it having to go on the truck over to Melbourne on Tuesday next week we just didn't have enough time (or finshed car) to have the launch.
I'm sure if you are familiar with the comp, you will understand the enormous effort it is to prepare these cars over the year, with delays on parts and struggle for available labour it is an uphill battle for many teams, with Curtin definately not exempt.
In good news the chassis is painted and the majority of parts are being fitted to the car.
Point to note is our driveline this year looking like it will function remarkedly better than last year, now that we don't have an interferance fit between the drive shafts and the suspension mounts.
The deisgn of the race car is often undertaken by new team members each year and so information and past expereience is often lost, this means design problems can be re-occuring but we are lucky this year to have a solid team core that attended the comp last year and we are making the appropriate modifications to our design approach based on what we learned last year.
We are still very hopeful for a good performance at the comp this year, so don't lose faith in us yet.
It's still full steam ahead in the workshop day and night. The painted body turned up today and should be all mounted up by tomorrow.
Brake lines were complete yesterday thanks to some help from Perth Brake Parts.
Keep you eyes on this page as we are set to have lots of progress over the next few days.....we simply just have to enable us to compete in Melbourne this year. Short on days for work but we have plenty of determination.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Team Banner
We have just come out with this years new banner to advertise our hyperthetical product.
ie: our race car.
Scope of the project for thsoe that aren't familar with the FSAE-A competition the purpose of the competition is, teams are to assume that they work for a design firm that is designing, fabricating, testing and demonstrating a prototype vehicle for the nonprofessional, weekend, competition market.
ie: our race car.
Scope of the project for thsoe that aren't familar with the FSAE-A competition the purpose of the competition is, teams are to assume that they work for a design firm that is designing, fabricating, testing and demonstrating a prototype vehicle for the nonprofessional, weekend, competition market.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Build progress and car launch
Well as you can guess, we are all feeling a little worn out but the fight continues.
CMT vs the clock. We wish we could stop time and complete the car in a day but we are that fortunate. We have made steady progress and the car is looking very close to completion but just not quite there.
With more late design changes being made we are awaiting the re-work on a few of our machined parts (namely diff half shaft bearing seals amoungst others).
Most of the welding required on the chassis to accomodate all the auxillary gear in the car has be done, with special thanks going to a past team member (Rob Lipowiec) for coming in and generously lending a hand with his tig welder.
Also our favourtie technician Mike 'Spud' Holland for putting in hundreds of hours of welding and machine time, particularly because his wife is about to give birth at almost any moment now.
It must be said that CMT could not function if it weren't for the extra special efforts of the uni technical staff each year and it seems we always have one or two past team members coming in the lend a hand when it gets the the pointy end of the build.
Unfortunately it looks like car launch may be pushed back to Friday this week as we await the boday work (fingers crossed finished Wednesday) but we will keep you updated on that as we learn more.
For now it's back to the build and keeping the faith that we can get there........I think I can I think I can....
CMT vs the clock. We wish we could stop time and complete the car in a day but we are that fortunate. We have made steady progress and the car is looking very close to completion but just not quite there.
With more late design changes being made we are awaiting the re-work on a few of our machined parts (namely diff half shaft bearing seals amoungst others).
Most of the welding required on the chassis to accomodate all the auxillary gear in the car has be done, with special thanks going to a past team member (Rob Lipowiec) for coming in and generously lending a hand with his tig welder.
Also our favourtie technician Mike 'Spud' Holland for putting in hundreds of hours of welding and machine time, particularly because his wife is about to give birth at almost any moment now.
It must be said that CMT could not function if it weren't for the extra special efforts of the uni technical staff each year and it seems we always have one or two past team members coming in the lend a hand when it gets the the pointy end of the build.
Unfortunately it looks like car launch may be pushed back to Friday this week as we await the boday work (fingers crossed finished Wednesday) but we will keep you updated on that as we learn more.
For now it's back to the build and keeping the faith that we can get there........I think I can I think I can....
Thursday, November 19, 2009
5 Days till Car launch
With the days left to finish the car rapidaly declining we are in need of longer days.
With some team members really knuckling down and spending LOOOOOONG nights working on the car, we should be right to finish in time.
Body went to paint yesterday eta for final mount to car is set for Monday /Tuesday. (we know a day before car launch is cutting it fine but figners crossed)
Pedal box should be finalised today, oil tank should be mounted this afternoon, harness mounts and seat mounts will be getting final welding tonight.
A few small things still need some brackets fabricated and mounted but we have made solid progress over the last few days.
Some members have shown allegeric reactions to the expoxy used for fibreglassing so that has been a minor set back but we are pleased that more than the 4 or 5 usual members are getting in and doing their part.
I'm sure it's the same with most teams but it is always hard to get people available or willing to do fabrication work on the car but we've had some good efforts put in.
Keep a watch for pics over the weekend and car launch Wednesday next week.
With some team members really knuckling down and spending LOOOOOONG nights working on the car, we should be right to finish in time.
Body went to paint yesterday eta for final mount to car is set for Monday /Tuesday. (we know a day before car launch is cutting it fine but figners crossed)
Pedal box should be finalised today, oil tank should be mounted this afternoon, harness mounts and seat mounts will be getting final welding tonight.
A few small things still need some brackets fabricated and mounted but we have made solid progress over the last few days.
Some members have shown allegeric reactions to the expoxy used for fibreglassing so that has been a minor set back but we are pleased that more than the 4 or 5 usual members are getting in and doing their part.
I'm sure it's the same with most teams but it is always hard to get people available or willing to do fabrication work on the car but we've had some good efforts put in.
Keep a watch for pics over the weekend and car launch Wednesday next week.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Progress Photo's
These were taken Sunday, just a few of the parts we've recently had come in.
front upright
rear upright
rear upright again from different angle
the new shockies
We should have more pictures to show soon, just need to upload them......
front upright
suspension rockers
rear upright
rear upright again from different angle
the new shockies
We should have more pictures to show soon, just need to upload them......
8 days to go till launch
After working on car till 4.30am yesterday good progress on the body has been made, side pods are now being mock mounted to the car.
Bunch of brackets been made for components to mount to chassis.
Dry sump oil system is currently having some parts machined for it but getting very close.
Fingers crossed body goes to paint tomorrow afternoon if not it absolutely must by Thursday.
Wheels are finished machining just some test fitting before we put the finishing touches on them but looking good.
Still lots to do and less time to do it but we are pushing hard to get there.
Bunch of brackets been made for components to mount to chassis.
Dry sump oil system is currently having some parts machined for it but getting very close.
Fingers crossed body goes to paint tomorrow afternoon if not it absolutely must by Thursday.
Wheels are finished machining just some test fitting before we put the finishing touches on them but looking good.
Still lots to do and less time to do it but we are pushing hard to get there.
Monday, November 16, 2009
9 Days till car launch
With 9 days to go and a blown ECU we are awaiting a replacement from Sydney. Should be here before the end of the week.
Body still needs painting and pretty much everything still needs to be mounted to the car.
There are a number of parts that have been mounted but approx. only 15% of the whole car if I was to be generous.
We are cutting it fine and trying very hard to get back to any form of realistic chance of a finished car before the end of November.
So many parts are very close but many things have required re-working post design and manufacture to get them to fit right.
We will keep you posted as the days roll by we are hoping for some large improvements in coming days.
Body still needs painting and pretty much everything still needs to be mounted to the car.
There are a number of parts that have been mounted but approx. only 15% of the whole car if I was to be generous.
We are cutting it fine and trying very hard to get back to any form of realistic chance of a finished car before the end of November.
So many parts are very close but many things have required re-working post design and manufacture to get them to fit right.
We will keep you posted as the days roll by we are hoping for some large improvements in coming days.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Curtin Motorsport - 1st blog
Well if you know FSAE you know that it's crunch time.
With about 2 weeks of time left before we have to send our transporter over to Melbourne we are burning the midnight oil in an attempt to arrive in better shape than last year.
I'm sure we are not the only team that seems pushed for time but it always seems as if you are soo alone in the world when you are behind schedule and doing your best to get the car running in time to find faults BEFORE you get to the comp.
Currently we are doing ok in terms of parts, just need to mount them all in and check packaging of the car as a whole.
Having some ECU troubles currently, we have swapped from Autronic to Adaptronic this year. because this is unfamiliar software we are still getting used to and taking baby steps at the moment (at this stage in the game we should probably be taking leaps but thats how it goes)
Keep an eye on this blog in coming days to see some build progress snaps and here more from the CMT workshop.
See you all at FSAE-A Melbourne 2009 !!!
With about 2 weeks of time left before we have to send our transporter over to Melbourne we are burning the midnight oil in an attempt to arrive in better shape than last year.
I'm sure we are not the only team that seems pushed for time but it always seems as if you are soo alone in the world when you are behind schedule and doing your best to get the car running in time to find faults BEFORE you get to the comp.
Currently we are doing ok in terms of parts, just need to mount them all in and check packaging of the car as a whole.
Having some ECU troubles currently, we have swapped from Autronic to Adaptronic this year. because this is unfamiliar software we are still getting used to and taking baby steps at the moment (at this stage in the game we should probably be taking leaps but thats how it goes)
Keep an eye on this blog in coming days to see some build progress snaps and here more from the CMT workshop.
See you all at FSAE-A Melbourne 2009 !!!
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