Day 7 which is technically day 4 of competition, is endurance day where the cars are tested to there maximum with two heats of two drivers completing 16 laps each as well as a drivers change. The endurance event is the highest scoring event with 300 pts on offer. Fuel economy is also run at the same time which is worth 125pts so all up there are 425pts on offer.
6:15am Wake Up
Today is the big day for a number of reasons, firstly for the second year in a row we are aiming to complete all events at competition. Secondly we are aiming to finish top ten this year which means that we need to finish enduro and actually score points this time. As last year while we finished the endurance event, due to the number of cones we hit plus going off track quite a few times meant that we had nearly 4 minutes in time penalties added onto our time which put us over time.
The team got up and the drivers were the first out the door and on there way to the track for drivers briefing and last minute checks of the car.
9:30am Practice Track
Wes and Dave are our first drivers in as they are generally quicker and hit less cones, we had a quick shake down of the car in the practice track. Unfortunately it had begun to rain, so fingers were crossed that the weather wasn't going to get any worse. We then went and fueled up with a bit of confusion over whether the driver needed to be fully suited up or not meant that we were bumped back down the queue. UWA, Monash and ECU had just finished there first endurance, as our drivers were off watching the endurance we had to borrow ECU's driver to fuel up.
After we fuel up we quickly moved to join the queue, for endurance the run order is set by the order of finish in autocross so those that finished first start first etc, and if you miss your spot than you have to go to the back of the queue and you also get a two minute time penalty. In the mean time the weather had gotten worse and they had declared a damp track and then very quickly a wet track and then back to damp so we had to do a very quick wheel change from slicks to wets. Under the rules if the track is declared damp by the clerk of course then you have the choice of running either wet tyres or slicks, if the track is declared wet then you have to run with wet tyres. Due to the extremely wet conditions we decided to change to wets.
While waiting in the queue the weather had cleared up, and the track was starting to dry up from looking at the weather there was a 45 minute window until the next lot of rain was due to come in so we made the decision to switch to slicks, which turned out to be a very good decision.
11:00am Endurance Heat 1
Wes was the first driver and took off in a hurry due to it still being wet was a little slow, however he started to reduce lap times very quickly while only hitting a few cones to produce the fastest lap on lap 13 of 58secs which was very quick especially considering the conditions. We were over taking the guys out on the track, and overall the commentators were very impressed with our car.
Driver change over went very smoothly, with Stockton helping Wes out of the car and Dave into the car, and Dave was ready to start his stint. Dave took off and started off little bit hesitantly however he was very quickly settled into a routine and was driving very quick for the conditions. Luckily the rain held off and Dave successfully completed all of his laps, meaning that for the second year in a row we have finished all events at competition, which is a huge achievement. As well they hit very few cones so in theory we stand a good chance of getting some good points, however this year there are so many teams that are competing in endurance event its going to be very difficult to get a good placing.
After we finished the race, we headed over to refuel when Dan went off to get lunch today which is subway. After we got back to the pits we got the car up on the stand and conducted a quick spanner check and fluid system check to ensure that the car is still safe to drive while our drivers go off to analyse Go Pro footage and DL1 data.
In the meantime design results were released and we had come 13th with 105pts, while ECU won the event well done guys! and with UWA a couple of places below us.
2:00pm Endurance Heat 2
Endurance heat 2 started with Stockton and Penna our drivers, the track had dried out a far bit so the drivers should have a good shot of getting some good times. Penna started off and was a bit slow but had also never driven on the track, as he drove further he got more familiar with the track and got faster.
After a quick driver change over with Stockton getting in the car and started off quite well very aggressively.
Once stockton had finished we refueled and then set about cleaning up the pit bay and getting all the equipment back to our accomodation.
Once we had gotten all the equipment back to our accomodation we had our team photo as well as the Western Australian team photo.
6:00pm Award Ceremony
After which we headed off back to the accommodation and to get ready for the after party which this year has been once again organised by RMIT at the Colonial Hotel.
9:00pm Results
At 9:00pm when the team was at the Colonial Hotel the results were released, we had gotten 8th place overall with 477 pts, achieving a goal of finishing top ten.
A huge thankyou to everyone who has helped us this year as well as our sponsors and supporters it has been truely appreciated.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
2011 FSAE-A Competition Day 7 Update
Day 6 is technically day 3 of competition and consists of dynamic events skidpan, acceleration and autocross as well as cost and design finals.
6:30am Wake Up
Today the plan was to get to Victoria University as soon as the gates opened to start work on preparing our car for the dynamic events. The first car left at 7:15am and got there with plenty of time to conduct quick spanner checks etc, I arrived just after 8:00am and set about fixing up the brake bias. While the electrical guys set about checking over our electrical system.
We lined up in the Que for the practice track to scrub in our brand new set of comp slicks just after 9:30am and Penna was the driver delegated with this honourable task. Penna mainly did some circle work however he did have some issues with following directions.
After that we headed off to the skidpan track, this year has been an awesome year for FSAE-Australasia with on Friday a record 18 teams got through all components of technical inspection. This has meant that there are a lot more cars running in the event than in previous years and subsequently there are lines for this event. The two drivers for skidpan are Penna and Apples, these drivers were chosen based upon driver training conducted. The skidpan event tests consists of a track in the shape of a figure 8 and involves the drivers doing two right hand circles and two left hand circles. At the same time that skidpan is running acceleration is also running which has also seen people queuing up for.
We lined up for skidpan, with in the back of our mind knowing there may be either and engine or electrical issue as we have kept getting low oil pressure readings, however we decided to chance it by filling the oil tank up with a bit more oil. Penna was the first driver through and conducted two laps of the right hand circle before pulling in as the car was not driving that well.
Luckily we are allowed two attempts at skidpan, so we rejoined the back of the Que and took out the program that was causing the engine to cut out. Penna rolled up to the start line and took off in a hurry, he was a little slow however unfortunately he got a bit confused and ran off track, luckily the track Marshall's were nice to us and allowed us to rerun it. His second attempt went well while he was going slower he got through both circles with a time of 5.4seconds unfortunately he exited through the wrong gate and as such we had an off course and the run didn't count.
We quickly raced back to the pits and had a once over on the car and then headed straight for the acceleration track, Apples and Stockton are our two drivers, with Apples suited up and in the drivers seat he pulled two very respectable times of 4.8s and 4.5 sec especially considering the shifter was not working at 100%. The we pulled in for a quick driver change and Stockton hoped into the drivers seat and had an awesome first run pulling and acceptable 4.5secs, however it was his second run that blew everyone one away with a 4.203second run, which put us first in the acceleration event however there was plenty of time for other cars to get in a run at acceleration.
W then headed back for the skidpan run with apples hoping in the drivers seat, he got off to a hesitant start and unfortunately got confused with the track, luckily they allowed us to have another go. Apples was very hesitant however got around both circles and exited correctly with a time of 6.2seconds this wasn't as fast as we would have like to have gone however we have still competed in both events and scored points in both events.
While the skidpan event was on the results for the presentation event were announced with CMT coming at 17th place 39.75 pts which while we would have liked to place higher overall very happy with the amount of points that we scored.
Then we headed back to the pits to do a once over of the car, and fix the brake bias as well and do a general systems check. At the same time Matt Aldous from Altair Hyperworks stopped in for a quick chat, with tony gray on how we are going etc.
Then we headed over to autocross this year they are allowing teams to conduct 4 runs of two laps each for autocross with two sessions running one from 1:00pm to 2:30pm and from 2:30pm to 4:30pm, the line for the first session was already 12 cars deep by the time we got there. Our two drivers were Dave and Wes who after two of our best drivers. We quickly progressed towards the start line, however just as we were about to start the fuel pump wouldn't prime. Some quick fault finding by Ben and we had isolated the fault to the fuel pump itself.
16:00pm Autocross
We quickly got the car reassembled and lined up for autocross, our drivers each had two laps and were pulling quite respectable times of 65 to 62 second laps, meanwhile Pete Marsh over at UWA motorsport team was pulling 52 second laps well done guys!
After we finished we headed back to the pits and the results for Acceleration had been released we had come second with 4.2 secs and scored 49.2 pts out of 50 with UWA beating us by 0.02second to come first and ECU came third making it a one two three finish for Western Australian Teams well done ECU and UWA.
Cost in the mean time had also been released and while we originally had a very low score of 24.8 pts to finish 21st after some enquiries it was discovered that the cost report mark had not been added on and we finished with a 17th place and 57.4 pts with 38 out of 40 for the report itself well done guys for putting in such a huge effort.
Skidpan, we ended up 18th with 3.5 pts. and autocross we ended up 13th with 19.64 pts.
Once again we left the car on site as the team left to get some well deserved shut eye!
6:30am Wake Up
Today the plan was to get to Victoria University as soon as the gates opened to start work on preparing our car for the dynamic events. The first car left at 7:15am and got there with plenty of time to conduct quick spanner checks etc, I arrived just after 8:00am and set about fixing up the brake bias. While the electrical guys set about checking over our electrical system.
We lined up in the Que for the practice track to scrub in our brand new set of comp slicks just after 9:30am and Penna was the driver delegated with this honourable task. Penna mainly did some circle work however he did have some issues with following directions.
After that we headed off to the skidpan track, this year has been an awesome year for FSAE-Australasia with on Friday a record 18 teams got through all components of technical inspection. This has meant that there are a lot more cars running in the event than in previous years and subsequently there are lines for this event. The two drivers for skidpan are Penna and Apples, these drivers were chosen based upon driver training conducted. The skidpan event tests consists of a track in the shape of a figure 8 and involves the drivers doing two right hand circles and two left hand circles. At the same time that skidpan is running acceleration is also running which has also seen people queuing up for.
We lined up for skidpan, with in the back of our mind knowing there may be either and engine or electrical issue as we have kept getting low oil pressure readings, however we decided to chance it by filling the oil tank up with a bit more oil. Penna was the first driver through and conducted two laps of the right hand circle before pulling in as the car was not driving that well.
Luckily we are allowed two attempts at skidpan, so we rejoined the back of the Que and took out the program that was causing the engine to cut out. Penna rolled up to the start line and took off in a hurry, he was a little slow however unfortunately he got a bit confused and ran off track, luckily the track Marshall's were nice to us and allowed us to rerun it. His second attempt went well while he was going slower he got through both circles with a time of 5.4seconds unfortunately he exited through the wrong gate and as such we had an off course and the run didn't count.
We quickly raced back to the pits and had a once over on the car and then headed straight for the acceleration track, Apples and Stockton are our two drivers, with Apples suited up and in the drivers seat he pulled two very respectable times of 4.8s and 4.5 sec especially considering the shifter was not working at 100%. The we pulled in for a quick driver change and Stockton hoped into the drivers seat and had an awesome first run pulling and acceptable 4.5secs, however it was his second run that blew everyone one away with a 4.203second run, which put us first in the acceleration event however there was plenty of time for other cars to get in a run at acceleration.
W then headed back for the skidpan run with apples hoping in the drivers seat, he got off to a hesitant start and unfortunately got confused with the track, luckily they allowed us to have another go. Apples was very hesitant however got around both circles and exited correctly with a time of 6.2seconds this wasn't as fast as we would have like to have gone however we have still competed in both events and scored points in both events.
While the skidpan event was on the results for the presentation event were announced with CMT coming at 17th place 39.75 pts which while we would have liked to place higher overall very happy with the amount of points that we scored.
Then we headed back to the pits to do a once over of the car, and fix the brake bias as well and do a general systems check. At the same time Matt Aldous from Altair Hyperworks stopped in for a quick chat, with tony gray on how we are going etc.
Then we headed over to autocross this year they are allowing teams to conduct 4 runs of two laps each for autocross with two sessions running one from 1:00pm to 2:30pm and from 2:30pm to 4:30pm, the line for the first session was already 12 cars deep by the time we got there. Our two drivers were Dave and Wes who after two of our best drivers. We quickly progressed towards the start line, however just as we were about to start the fuel pump wouldn't prime. Some quick fault finding by Ben and we had isolated the fault to the fuel pump itself.
16:00pm Autocross
We quickly got the car reassembled and lined up for autocross, our drivers each had two laps and were pulling quite respectable times of 65 to 62 second laps, meanwhile Pete Marsh over at UWA motorsport team was pulling 52 second laps well done guys!
After we finished we headed back to the pits and the results for Acceleration had been released we had come second with 4.2 secs and scored 49.2 pts out of 50 with UWA beating us by 0.02second to come first and ECU came third making it a one two three finish for Western Australian Teams well done ECU and UWA.
Cost in the mean time had also been released and while we originally had a very low score of 24.8 pts to finish 21st after some enquiries it was discovered that the cost report mark had not been added on and we finished with a 17th place and 57.4 pts with 38 out of 40 for the report itself well done guys for putting in such a huge effort.
Skidpan, we ended up 18th with 3.5 pts. and autocross we ended up 13th with 19.64 pts.
Once again we left the car on site as the team left to get some well deserved shut eye!
2011 FSAE-A Competition Day 6
Day 5 which is technically day 2 of the competition has all the static events (cost, presentation, and design) as well as technical inspection (Scrutineering, Tilt Test, and Noise and Brake test), so it is a very full on day.
5:30am Wake Up
A large number of the team were up til very early in the morning getting the car ready to take to comp and such they were given a bit of a sleep in while the rest of the team got up and was rushing around trying to pack the rest of the equipment. Since our scrutineerring time was 8:30am we were aiming to be at the competition by 7:30am when the gates open to ensure that we have enough time to give the car a once over and to set up our pit bay. Since there we think there are some issues with the left rear wheel on the trailer we decided to play on the safe side and not take the trailer in, so all of our gear will be transported in the back of hire cars. Luckily our technicians Dave and Derek have a hire car, as well as Chris Ford having a hire car so we had plenty of space to transport all of our equipment and spares to competition.
The rest of the team was woken up around 6:30am to ensure that they had enough time to have a shower and get to the car etc. Unfortunately we had under estimated the amount of time it takes to get everyone showered fed, and out the door and we didn't leave our accommodation til 7:30am which has left us with little time to unpack the hire cars, set up our pit bay and have a final quick check of the car.
8:30am Scrutineering
We made it to scrutinneering with seconds to spare, with the team having one of the first spots of scrutineering. After an hour and 15 minutes and a couple of small things that we immediately fixed, there was only one thing that the scrutineers could pick us up on which was not having the chain guard forward enough. This was an easy fix, for the egress test (egress refers to the drivers getting out of the car within 5 seconds, this is to ensure that the driver can quickly exit the car in an emergency situation) this year instead of getting all of our drivers (Apples, Stockton, Dave, Penna and Wes) to do the test only 1 driver was randomly chosen. This year it was Dave, who quickly exited the car in 4.8 seconds.
We quickly rushed back to the pits to fix up the chain guard, a huge thank you to Monash Motorsport Team for giving us some 3mm Chromoly to fix up the chain guard.
11:00am Presentation Event
Presentation event, Geisler has spent the last couple of days researching and compiling the presentation. The presentation event is based upon the idea that we are trying to sell our prototype car to a company and that we need to present our business case for why they should invest there money into us. To help Geisler out Apples went along to provide any technical support required.
According to Dan, Geisler blew the judges out of the water providing an excellent presentation
11:30am Tilt Test
We refueled the car and wheeled it around to the tilt test line, there were a couple of other teams ahead of us in the Que, tilt test is used to see if there are any leaks by tilting the car up to 45 degrees, then to see if the car is going to be stable i.e. not roll over at high speeds they tilt to car up to 60 degrees which is to illustrate a 1.6g cornering in which the car is allowed to lift one wheel all while there is a . When we got onto the tilt test, we were asked to remove our floor so that they can see if there are any leaks, however since we were already on the tilt table they allowed us to take the car up 60 degrees, which we performed excellently in no wheels lifting at all a first for us. Then we got off the tilt table and dropped the floor and rejoined the Que, however there were already a Que for the tilt test and lunch was rapidly approaching, so we left the Que and went back to the pits to put the floor on and prepare for the cost event
1:00pm Cost Event
We rolled the car around to the cost event and waited in line to start our cost event, Geisler and Mitchell Brown. Geisler and Mitchell dazzled the cost event judges with feedback consisting of that we had a very well presented report.
After Cost event we quickly rolled the car back to the Que at Tilt Test, we passed through tilt test thanks to some clarification on the rules, and headed straight over to the noise and brake test. We had tested the noise previously and on our noise tester we were under noise, so we started the engine up with Dave in the driver seat we took the engine up for a full sweep from 0 to 11,000 rpm with the noise test coming in at 104.5dB, a huge thank you to Penna for sorting out the exhaust for us.
Brake test was next Dave, took off fast and braked hard, unfortunately the brakes didn't lock up. After a quick chat to the driver, Dave took off again and stomped on the brakes and locked the wheels up.
So at 2:30pm on day two of competition we had the third and final sticker to form part of the SAE sticker, and we had hence completed technical inspection the fastest we have ever completed technical inspection ever. Next time for design event!
3:20pm Design Event
Design event, is traditionally an event that we don't do that well in it however we went in there with an optimistic mind, before design event started we weighed the car unfortunately we came in at 261kg which is very heavy.
After design event finished, we headed back to the pit bay and started to spanner check the car in preparation for tomorrow's events, we also checked the front brakes as there had been comments from drivers that the car was pulling towards the right, after a quick investigation it was discovered that two of the bolts were binding so we took off the brake rotor and filed down the rotor bobbin slots, in the mean time the majority of the team went back to the accommodation and slept.
7:30pm Home Time
For the first time ever CMT is leaving our car on site, as there is no real work we can complete on our car only tuning work and everyone is really tired. So we left Victoria University and picked up some food on the way back and most of the team went to bed straight away.
5:30am Wake Up
A large number of the team were up til very early in the morning getting the car ready to take to comp and such they were given a bit of a sleep in while the rest of the team got up and was rushing around trying to pack the rest of the equipment. Since our scrutineerring time was 8:30am we were aiming to be at the competition by 7:30am when the gates open to ensure that we have enough time to give the car a once over and to set up our pit bay. Since there we think there are some issues with the left rear wheel on the trailer we decided to play on the safe side and not take the trailer in, so all of our gear will be transported in the back of hire cars. Luckily our technicians Dave and Derek have a hire car, as well as Chris Ford having a hire car so we had plenty of space to transport all of our equipment and spares to competition.
The rest of the team was woken up around 6:30am to ensure that they had enough time to have a shower and get to the car etc. Unfortunately we had under estimated the amount of time it takes to get everyone showered fed, and out the door and we didn't leave our accommodation til 7:30am which has left us with little time to unpack the hire cars, set up our pit bay and have a final quick check of the car.
8:30am Scrutineering
We made it to scrutinneering with seconds to spare, with the team having one of the first spots of scrutineering. After an hour and 15 minutes and a couple of small things that we immediately fixed, there was only one thing that the scrutineers could pick us up on which was not having the chain guard forward enough. This was an easy fix, for the egress test (egress refers to the drivers getting out of the car within 5 seconds, this is to ensure that the driver can quickly exit the car in an emergency situation) this year instead of getting all of our drivers (Apples, Stockton, Dave, Penna and Wes) to do the test only 1 driver was randomly chosen. This year it was Dave, who quickly exited the car in 4.8 seconds.
We quickly rushed back to the pits to fix up the chain guard, a huge thank you to Monash Motorsport Team for giving us some 3mm Chromoly to fix up the chain guard.
11:00am Presentation Event
Presentation event, Geisler has spent the last couple of days researching and compiling the presentation. The presentation event is based upon the idea that we are trying to sell our prototype car to a company and that we need to present our business case for why they should invest there money into us. To help Geisler out Apples went along to provide any technical support required.
According to Dan, Geisler blew the judges out of the water providing an excellent presentation
11:30am Tilt Test
We refueled the car and wheeled it around to the tilt test line, there were a couple of other teams ahead of us in the Que, tilt test is used to see if there are any leaks by tilting the car up to 45 degrees, then to see if the car is going to be stable i.e. not roll over at high speeds they tilt to car up to 60 degrees which is to illustrate a 1.6g cornering in which the car is allowed to lift one wheel all while there is a . When we got onto the tilt test, we were asked to remove our floor so that they can see if there are any leaks, however since we were already on the tilt table they allowed us to take the car up 60 degrees, which we performed excellently in no wheels lifting at all a first for us. Then we got off the tilt table and dropped the floor and rejoined the Que, however there were already a Que for the tilt test and lunch was rapidly approaching, so we left the Que and went back to the pits to put the floor on and prepare for the cost event
1:00pm Cost Event
We rolled the car around to the cost event and waited in line to start our cost event, Geisler and Mitchell Brown. Geisler and Mitchell dazzled the cost event judges with feedback consisting of that we had a very well presented report.
After Cost event we quickly rolled the car back to the Que at Tilt Test, we passed through tilt test thanks to some clarification on the rules, and headed straight over to the noise and brake test. We had tested the noise previously and on our noise tester we were under noise, so we started the engine up with Dave in the driver seat we took the engine up for a full sweep from 0 to 11,000 rpm with the noise test coming in at 104.5dB, a huge thank you to Penna for sorting out the exhaust for us.
Brake test was next Dave, took off fast and braked hard, unfortunately the brakes didn't lock up. After a quick chat to the driver, Dave took off again and stomped on the brakes and locked the wheels up.
So at 2:30pm on day two of competition we had the third and final sticker to form part of the SAE sticker, and we had hence completed technical inspection the fastest we have ever completed technical inspection ever. Next time for design event!
3:20pm Design Event
Design event, is traditionally an event that we don't do that well in it however we went in there with an optimistic mind, before design event started we weighed the car unfortunately we came in at 261kg which is very heavy.
After design event finished, we headed back to the pit bay and started to spanner check the car in preparation for tomorrow's events, we also checked the front brakes as there had been comments from drivers that the car was pulling towards the right, after a quick investigation it was discovered that two of the bolts were binding so we took off the brake rotor and filed down the rotor bobbin slots, in the mean time the majority of the team went back to the accommodation and slept.
7:30pm Home Time
For the first time ever CMT is leaving our car on site, as there is no real work we can complete on our car only tuning work and everyone is really tired. So we left Victoria University and picked up some food on the way back and most of the team went to bed straight away.
Friday, December 16, 2011
2011 FSAE-A Competition Day 5
Technically this is the first day of the actual competition however since we arrived on Sunday I technically count that as day one.
6:30 pm Wake Up
Woke up, and had a quick chat to Ben about what was happening with the car and what had happened after I went to bed. So the guys had run the car for a bit after I had gone to bed to determine if the fuel problem had been fixed it hadn't. The oil pressure issue still hadn't been fully resolved so it was decided that to see if there was any actual damage to the engine we would need to drop the sump. To see if there is any copper etc in the oil.
Today is the first day of competition, with the tasks today to register the team, get our drivers CAMS licence's and to attend both the team and driver briefing. As well as finish setting up the car and getting it rules compliant.
After a quick phone call to Glenn Campbell to discuss our current engine problems it was determined that the best way to figure out what is actually happening is to buy a fuel pressure sensor. While Kara and Ben hurriedly found a place that sold us a fuel pressure sensor that will fit into our system. Geisler and Mitchell hurriedly finished the Cost Addendum, which we only discovered was due at registration a little while ago. Meanwhile I am racing around getting everyone to sign the disclosure forms for competition.
12:00 pm Team Registration
Geisler, Kara and myself set off first to drop me off at Victoria University to register the team, while they carried on there merry ways. After which Derek and Dave, Dept of Mechanical Engineering Technicians, dropped me back off at our accommodation. The sump was just being put back on the car, as I arrived and Apples and Dave were in the process of doing a suspension set up. Chris Ford made an appearance at our accommodation, to check on how we were going.
3:00pm Team Briefing
Chris Ford kindly drove me in for the team briefing, and when we got to Victoria University there were already a couple of cars going through scrutineering. Scrutineering is the first component of technical inspection, and involves a team of qualified scrutineers inspecting the car to ensure that the car is safe to drive and complies with all the rules.
4:00pm Driver Briefing
Our drivers made it into Victoria University just in time for drivers briefing, and after drivers briefing was finished everyone except Kev and Apples headed back to our accommodation. Kev and Apples stayed behind to walk and video the autocross / enduro track.
Once we got back to accommodation the suspension set up that had been started before was finished and Ben and Kara had installed the fuel pressure sensor. With the rest of the team concentrating on cleaning up the workshop and packing everything up ready to take to comp tomorrow morning.
Unfortunately the fuel issue still hadn't seemed to go away, so Ben decided to check the MAP sensor and that's when it was discovered that the pins in the plug weren't quite connecting. After the pins were fixed up the car ran beautifully.
The car had one last spanner check completed on it, before the team went to bed.
6:30 pm Wake Up
Woke up, and had a quick chat to Ben about what was happening with the car and what had happened after I went to bed. So the guys had run the car for a bit after I had gone to bed to determine if the fuel problem had been fixed it hadn't. The oil pressure issue still hadn't been fully resolved so it was decided that to see if there was any actual damage to the engine we would need to drop the sump. To see if there is any copper etc in the oil.
Today is the first day of competition, with the tasks today to register the team, get our drivers CAMS licence's and to attend both the team and driver briefing. As well as finish setting up the car and getting it rules compliant.
After a quick phone call to Glenn Campbell to discuss our current engine problems it was determined that the best way to figure out what is actually happening is to buy a fuel pressure sensor. While Kara and Ben hurriedly found a place that sold us a fuel pressure sensor that will fit into our system. Geisler and Mitchell hurriedly finished the Cost Addendum, which we only discovered was due at registration a little while ago. Meanwhile I am racing around getting everyone to sign the disclosure forms for competition.
12:00 pm Team Registration
Geisler, Kara and myself set off first to drop me off at Victoria University to register the team, while they carried on there merry ways. After which Derek and Dave, Dept of Mechanical Engineering Technicians, dropped me back off at our accommodation. The sump was just being put back on the car, as I arrived and Apples and Dave were in the process of doing a suspension set up. Chris Ford made an appearance at our accommodation, to check on how we were going.
3:00pm Team Briefing
Chris Ford kindly drove me in for the team briefing, and when we got to Victoria University there were already a couple of cars going through scrutineering. Scrutineering is the first component of technical inspection, and involves a team of qualified scrutineers inspecting the car to ensure that the car is safe to drive and complies with all the rules.
4:00pm Driver Briefing
Our drivers made it into Victoria University just in time for drivers briefing, and after drivers briefing was finished everyone except Kev and Apples headed back to our accommodation. Kev and Apples stayed behind to walk and video the autocross / enduro track.
Once we got back to accommodation the suspension set up that had been started before was finished and Ben and Kara had installed the fuel pressure sensor. With the rest of the team concentrating on cleaning up the workshop and packing everything up ready to take to comp tomorrow morning.
Unfortunately the fuel issue still hadn't seemed to go away, so Ben decided to check the MAP sensor and that's when it was discovered that the pins in the plug weren't quite connecting. After the pins were fixed up the car ran beautifully.
The car had one last spanner check completed on it, before the team went to bed.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
2011 FSAE-A Competition Day 4
7:00am Wake Up
I had a sleep in this morning due to being in the workshop til 2:30am, the majority of the team is still in bed as they had been up til 4am.
Kara was up so I had a chat about what went wrong with the car last night as we had issues starting the car last night. When the car was stripped to paint the chassis and reassembled some how an earth wire snapped, so the electrical guys had to fix this, in fixing this they had to strip the MAP sensor connector. Unfortunately when they reconnected the MAP sensor they had the wires around the wrong way, and MAP sensors don't appreciate having voltage following through them in the opposite direction. So unfortunately we had killed our MAP sensor, therefore once Dan woke up he set off with Kara to find another MAP sensor. The MAP sensor we use is off of a commodore, however this was not the original part from a commodore and the part we purchased was, which in theory shouldn't be a problem however for some random reason the plugs for the two MAP sensors were not quite the same.
10:00am Packing ready to go to Silhouette Karts
I rang Silhouette Karts, to see if we could come over today to do some testing. Silhouette Karts is one of only a handful of karting places that allows FSAE teams to drive there cars on there go kart track. The track was booked for a private function until 11:00am, and after that we were free to use the track until 5:00pm. I quickly woke everyone up and set about packing up tools etc to get ready to go to Silhouette Karts.
Luckily Kara and Dan had returned by now and unfortunately had no luck with finding the exact MAP sensor at the electrical store they went to, however luck was on our side. As Kara had found a place that sells the MAP sensor that we want is one our wayish to Silhouette Karts, therefore to save ourselves time, Kara, Dan and Ben set off to pick up the MAP sensor while the rest of the team packed up our tools and loaded the ute onto the back of the trailer and headed straight for Silhouette Karts.
1:00pm - Silhouette Karts
We arrive at Silhouette Karts at approximately 1:00pm and set about unpacking the hire cars, and setting up our pit bay. Jono and Kevin headed off to get the team some lunch, and returned a little while later with Hungry Jacks. Kara, Dan and Ben arrived a short time later with a new MAP sensor in hand.
Kara and Ben quickly set about installing the new MAP sensor with the help of a drill bit from ECU Racing. Once the MAP sensor was installed some checks were made, we fired up the engine and after some initial concerns we determined that the engine was safe to run.
3:00pm - On the track
AT 3:00pm Wes suited up and jumped into the drivers seat ready to test out our 2011 car, the team as well as a couple of the guys from QUT and ECU helped to be track Marshall's, Wes started off hesitantly however are a couple of laps his confidence in the car was growing and he was starting to drive the car more aggressively. However this was also when we started to have throttle response issues, with the car lagging quite badly when the throttle was applied to the point where the car was stalling. (On a side note ECU were looking very good driving around the track will definitely be a top five contender this year)
Wes limped the car back to the pit lane entry and Ben quickly got his laptop out and with the help of Penna and Stockton tried to diagnose to problem. After refueling Dave suited up and headed out on the track, with the car for the first couple of laps holding up okay however the car then started to have lag problems with the throttle so the car was pushed back to our pit bay and after some quick thinking it was decided that the fuel system was the cause of the throttle lag and we pulled the seat out and started to fault find with the initial thoughts that the terminals on the fuel pump had come loose. Unfortunately they hadn't come loose, after running the car with the seat out it was noticed that bubbles were streaming from the fuel tank. After conducting some fault finding on the fuel rail, and conversing with the guys from ECU Racing as to some possible causes of the problem we decided that the pressure regulator on the fuel rail was not working correctly and we about trying to locate another pressure regulator.
Stockton managed to find another pressure regulator and a set of injectors at a local motorcycle wreckers Victorian Motorcycle Wrecker, Dan Stockton and James set off at 4:45pm to get there by closing time of 5:30pm. While the rest of the team packed everything up and set off back to our accommodation to finish off rules compliance checks and trying to determine what is the cause of our throttle response issues.
6:30pm - Fuel System Checking
Stockton, Dan, James and Ben returned from the wreckers they had managed to get their with 15 minutes to spare and then proceeded to spend the next half an hour searching through the store for various spare parts. While Dan, James, Stockton and Ben had been away Penna had found a spare pressure regulator and had bolted it onto the car, so by the time they got back we could test out the fuel system to determine if the pressure regulator had failed.
Since we couldn't find the problem we decided to reassemble to fuel system and test again to see if the ECU is throwing up any fault that we should be concerned about. In doing so the engine turned itself off, which was later found to be the low oil pressure cut off, which means that we have oil pressure issues.
2:30am Bed time
Stockton, James, Ben, Kara, Dan, Dave and Wes stayed up into the wee hours of the morning trying ton determine the cause of the oil pressure issues with the area, with the guys thinking they have fund the fault the shim holding the pressure relief valve in place may have come loose. This has occurred before so we are hoping this is what has occurred.
Tomorrow is registration and briefing day, and fingers crossed if we can get the car fixed in time we will be going to silhouette karts for some last minute testing and driver training.
I had a sleep in this morning due to being in the workshop til 2:30am, the majority of the team is still in bed as they had been up til 4am.
Kara was up so I had a chat about what went wrong with the car last night as we had issues starting the car last night. When the car was stripped to paint the chassis and reassembled some how an earth wire snapped, so the electrical guys had to fix this, in fixing this they had to strip the MAP sensor connector. Unfortunately when they reconnected the MAP sensor they had the wires around the wrong way, and MAP sensors don't appreciate having voltage following through them in the opposite direction. So unfortunately we had killed our MAP sensor, therefore once Dan woke up he set off with Kara to find another MAP sensor. The MAP sensor we use is off of a commodore, however this was not the original part from a commodore and the part we purchased was, which in theory shouldn't be a problem however for some random reason the plugs for the two MAP sensors were not quite the same.
10:00am Packing ready to go to Silhouette Karts
I rang Silhouette Karts, to see if we could come over today to do some testing. Silhouette Karts is one of only a handful of karting places that allows FSAE teams to drive there cars on there go kart track. The track was booked for a private function until 11:00am, and after that we were free to use the track until 5:00pm. I quickly woke everyone up and set about packing up tools etc to get ready to go to Silhouette Karts.
Luckily Kara and Dan had returned by now and unfortunately had no luck with finding the exact MAP sensor at the electrical store they went to, however luck was on our side. As Kara had found a place that sells the MAP sensor that we want is one our wayish to Silhouette Karts, therefore to save ourselves time, Kara, Dan and Ben set off to pick up the MAP sensor while the rest of the team packed up our tools and loaded the ute onto the back of the trailer and headed straight for Silhouette Karts.
1:00pm - Silhouette Karts
We arrive at Silhouette Karts at approximately 1:00pm and set about unpacking the hire cars, and setting up our pit bay. Jono and Kevin headed off to get the team some lunch, and returned a little while later with Hungry Jacks. Kara, Dan and Ben arrived a short time later with a new MAP sensor in hand.
Kara and Ben quickly set about installing the new MAP sensor with the help of a drill bit from ECU Racing. Once the MAP sensor was installed some checks were made, we fired up the engine and after some initial concerns we determined that the engine was safe to run.
3:00pm - On the track
AT 3:00pm Wes suited up and jumped into the drivers seat ready to test out our 2011 car, the team as well as a couple of the guys from QUT and ECU helped to be track Marshall's, Wes started off hesitantly however are a couple of laps his confidence in the car was growing and he was starting to drive the car more aggressively. However this was also when we started to have throttle response issues, with the car lagging quite badly when the throttle was applied to the point where the car was stalling. (On a side note ECU were looking very good driving around the track will definitely be a top five contender this year)
Wes limped the car back to the pit lane entry and Ben quickly got his laptop out and with the help of Penna and Stockton tried to diagnose to problem. After refueling Dave suited up and headed out on the track, with the car for the first couple of laps holding up okay however the car then started to have lag problems with the throttle so the car was pushed back to our pit bay and after some quick thinking it was decided that the fuel system was the cause of the throttle lag and we pulled the seat out and started to fault find with the initial thoughts that the terminals on the fuel pump had come loose. Unfortunately they hadn't come loose, after running the car with the seat out it was noticed that bubbles were streaming from the fuel tank. After conducting some fault finding on the fuel rail, and conversing with the guys from ECU Racing as to some possible causes of the problem we decided that the pressure regulator on the fuel rail was not working correctly and we about trying to locate another pressure regulator.
Stockton managed to find another pressure regulator and a set of injectors at a local motorcycle wreckers Victorian Motorcycle Wrecker, Dan Stockton and James set off at 4:45pm to get there by closing time of 5:30pm. While the rest of the team packed everything up and set off back to our accommodation to finish off rules compliance checks and trying to determine what is the cause of our throttle response issues.
6:30pm - Fuel System Checking
Stockton, Dan, James and Ben returned from the wreckers they had managed to get their with 15 minutes to spare and then proceeded to spend the next half an hour searching through the store for various spare parts. While Dan, James, Stockton and Ben had been away Penna had found a spare pressure regulator and had bolted it onto the car, so by the time they got back we could test out the fuel system to determine if the pressure regulator had failed.
Since we couldn't find the problem we decided to reassemble to fuel system and test again to see if the ECU is throwing up any fault that we should be concerned about. In doing so the engine turned itself off, which was later found to be the low oil pressure cut off, which means that we have oil pressure issues.
2:30am Bed time
Stockton, James, Ben, Kara, Dan, Dave and Wes stayed up into the wee hours of the morning trying ton determine the cause of the oil pressure issues with the area, with the guys thinking they have fund the fault the shim holding the pressure relief valve in place may have come loose. This has occurred before so we are hoping this is what has occurred.
Tomorrow is registration and briefing day, and fingers crossed if we can get the car fixed in time we will be going to silhouette karts for some last minute testing and driver training.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
2011 FSAE-A Competition Day 3 Updates Cont.
Okay so I went to bed last night at 2:30am so I missed the fun fault finding mission, so when we disconnected the electrical system to paint the car and then reassembled the system it appears that some how managed to wire up the map sensor backwards which is referred to as doing a Callum.
The map sensor didnt appreciate this that much and susequently we now need to purchase a new map sensor. Oh well it happens
The map sensor didnt appreciate this that much and susequently we now need to purchase a new map sensor. Oh well it happens
2011 FSAE-A Competition Day 3
Day 3: Tuesday 13th December 2011 - 2 days till Comp starts
Well the day started out with such high hopes with the aim to get the car into a state to go to Silhouette Karts to do some testing, however we encountered a few technical difficulties and as such we are not really in that position anyways the following is a recap of the day.
6:00am Wake Up,
Apples, Kev and Kara have been up since 4:00am taking over work on the car from the guys who had worked through til 4:00am. The car has been reassembled and the electrical guys are slowly working through the electrical system to ensure that the system has been reconnected properly and that the earthing is good.
The guys have been cleaning up the workshop, and torquing up the bolts on the wheels, as well as working through the gigantic list on the board.
9:00am
After a quick chat to Stockton (Technical Director) the plan for the day is determined, the plan is to get the car into a state where we are happy to take it to Silhouette Karts to conduct some last minute driver training and verification of suspension set up. The main reason why we need to be 100% sure that the car is fine before we go to Silhouette Kart, is that Silhouette Karts is a good hour drive from where we are staying and by the time you include packing an unpacking etc it is a good 4 - 6 hour adventure.
With the plan of attack for the day sorted out, the team split up and set about both getting the car into a state to go to Silhouette Karts as well as continuing getting the car into a rules complaint state.
The day was overall uneventful, which is always a good day with the team really starting to focus on preparing for technical inspection as we were lucky enough to secure an 8:30am time slot for technical inspection on Friday morning and we want to get through technical inspection as quickly as last year to maximise our ability to further refine the car set up and obviously to maximise our points.
1:00pm
Suspension Set up time, Dave and Apples completed the suspension set up with Wes in the drivers seat. Maximise our time, at the same time as the suspension set up was being completed Stockton made the seat inserts for Wes, and then our five drivers, Apples, Wes, Stockton, Penna and Dave Taylor quickly got into the car to test the ride heights.
5:00pm
After the suspension set up we conducted a thorough spanner check to ensure that everything was bolted on, we also conducted a quick brake light check to double check that everything was functioning correctly.
A quick brake test to ensure that the brake light was plugged in correctly.
12:00am
After the spanner checks were completed and the brake test was completed the car was given a once over to ensure we hadn't missed anything. Then a final check of the car to ensure that it is in working order, which unfortunately it wasn't, a connector had managed to break and the car sounded to be running very rich and running only on three cylinders.
After some investigation from Ben and Kara, it was discovered that the MAP sensor may not be working correctly, as well as the team has sooted up a set of spark plugs.
3:00am
Unfortunately it appears that Silhouette Karts may not be happening tomorrow well really today but oh well better to have these problems now than at comp.
Well the day started out with such high hopes with the aim to get the car into a state to go to Silhouette Karts to do some testing, however we encountered a few technical difficulties and as such we are not really in that position anyways the following is a recap of the day.
6:00am Wake Up,
Apples, Kev and Kara have been up since 4:00am taking over work on the car from the guys who had worked through til 4:00am. The car has been reassembled and the electrical guys are slowly working through the electrical system to ensure that the system has been reconnected properly and that the earthing is good.
The guys have been cleaning up the workshop, and torquing up the bolts on the wheels, as well as working through the gigantic list on the board.
9:00am
After a quick chat to Stockton (Technical Director) the plan for the day is determined, the plan is to get the car into a state where we are happy to take it to Silhouette Karts to conduct some last minute driver training and verification of suspension set up. The main reason why we need to be 100% sure that the car is fine before we go to Silhouette Kart, is that Silhouette Karts is a good hour drive from where we are staying and by the time you include packing an unpacking etc it is a good 4 - 6 hour adventure.
With the plan of attack for the day sorted out, the team split up and set about both getting the car into a state to go to Silhouette Karts as well as continuing getting the car into a rules complaint state.
The day was overall uneventful, which is always a good day with the team really starting to focus on preparing for technical inspection as we were lucky enough to secure an 8:30am time slot for technical inspection on Friday morning and we want to get through technical inspection as quickly as last year to maximise our ability to further refine the car set up and obviously to maximise our points.
1:00pm
Suspension Set up time, Dave and Apples completed the suspension set up with Wes in the drivers seat. Maximise our time, at the same time as the suspension set up was being completed Stockton made the seat inserts for Wes, and then our five drivers, Apples, Wes, Stockton, Penna and Dave Taylor quickly got into the car to test the ride heights.
5:00pm
After the suspension set up we conducted a thorough spanner check to ensure that everything was bolted on, we also conducted a quick brake light check to double check that everything was functioning correctly.
A quick brake test to ensure that the brake light was plugged in correctly.
12:00am
After the spanner checks were completed and the brake test was completed the car was given a once over to ensure we hadn't missed anything. Then a final check of the car to ensure that it is in working order, which unfortunately it wasn't, a connector had managed to break and the car sounded to be running very rich and running only on three cylinders.
After some investigation from Ben and Kara, it was discovered that the MAP sensor may not be working correctly, as well as the team has sooted up a set of spark plugs.
3:00am
Unfortunately it appears that Silhouette Karts may not be happening tomorrow well really today but oh well better to have these problems now than at comp.
Monday, December 12, 2011
2011 FSAE-A Competition Day 1 and 2 Updates
2011 Formula SAE - Australasia competition is rapidly approaching with 3 days until the competition begins on Thursday the 15th December. The following is a recap of what the Curtin Motorsport Team have been up to for the past two days.
Day 1: Sunday 11th December 2011
To maximise our time in Melbourne and to save costs we caught the early departing at a fresh 5:30am in the morning on board Virgin. ECU an UWA appeared to have the same idea as a fair few of there team members where also on the same flight.
We arrived in Melbourne just after midday and set out picking up our hire cars, a huge thank you to the guys down at budget for giving us a good deal on the hire cars. This year we got three Hyundai Getz's and a Ute to help transport both us and the car around from our accommodation to competition etc.
Once we picked up the hire cars, we had a quick lunch break at the local MacDonald's and then straight to our accommodation. Once there we unpacked the cars, and had a quick brief on the ground rules and what to expect at competition.
After the debrief we headed off into Hooper's Crossing to pick up all the items that team members had forgotten to bring, including towels, pillows etc as well as food for the next week.
After we had finished shopping, and made dinner we then went through the things to do list for the car, as well as some static event preparation.
The majority of the team headed off to bed early, as this is last time for at least the next week were we are able to get 8 hrs sleep.
Day 2: Monday 12th December 2011
We woke up around 7ish, had breakfast and Dan and Jono set off to pick up the trailer from the depot. A huge thank you to the guys down at Watson's Transport for once again transporting our car and trailer from Perth to Melbourne return.
Geisler set out not long after Jono and Dan left, with Kara and Ben to get the welding gas bottle and some electrical supplies. The trailer and car arrived at our accommodation just after 9:30am, and the team rapidly set about unpacking the trailer and changing the upright assemblies on the 2011 car over from the 2010 set to the 2011 set.
The workshop was set up in very quick fashion thanks to some prior thought being put into packing, once the car was reassembled, we moved the car out of the workshop to conduct noise test. According to the noise tester, we need to be at 107dB or below to be under the noise requirements for competition. Unfortunately we are at 108bB and 110dB which means we are more than likely to not pass the noise test. However Penna, the team member responsible for the intake and exhaust systems, has a few different ideas for reducing the noise of the car.
Once the car was back in the workshop, work recommenced on the car with the brake system being properly bled and Penna modifying the exhaust in an attempt to reduce the noise of the car. Once Penna had finished modifying the exhaust we moved the car outside again for another noise test, this time we were 105dB and 107.2dB which means we will be very close to noise however fingers crossed we pass.
The car was then taken back to the workshop, where the majority of the team had dinner very kindly made by Kev. After dinner, we set to work stripping off suspension and taping up the car so that we can paint the chassis. The chassis was painted in relatively quick fashion, and was reassembled.
The list of jobs to do on the 2011 car hasn't decreased as fast as we would have liked however tomorrow we should be able to get a good run at it.
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