Terps Racing ~ Formula SAE Division

The team returned last week with a 4th place overall finish at the SAE Michigan competition. 

We would like to thank our sponsors for their continued and invaluable support throughout the season, and we look forward to a continued relationship with these generous individuals and companies. Without you, these successes would not have been possible.

Significant achievements for Terps Racing at FSAE Michigan were:

• 4th place overall

• 1^st place in Skidpad and Endurance

• 2nd place in Acceleration

• 3rd place in the Autocross event

• 4^th place in the Design event

Official results and times can be found at the Formula SAE site: http://students.sae.org/competitions/formulaseries/results/

We are already working hard on the next iteration for 2011. More updates to come...

 

The 2010 Terps Racing rollout will be held on May 5, at 7pm in the Kim Building at University of Maryland.  We invite Friends, Family and Alumni to come check out our newest car and probably the fastest FSAE car every built!

 

Yesterday Terps Racing brought out there new car to the SCCA's driving school test track at Fed Ex Field.  The track record was previously held by Brian Garfield in his F125 with a 26.3 second run.  On our first hot lap Mike Stanley ran a 26.2, and towards the end of the day after lots of setup changes dropped his lap times down to 25.2 seconds.  This is almost 1.3 seconds faster than Terps Racing 2009 car.  Good Job everyone and a special thanks the the WDCR SCCA! 

 

Pictures are posted up and as always check our face book group to see videos of the action!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=367734799701

 

 

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=409271775774

The car is rolling and almost drivng under its own power.  Look for us blasting around the lots during spring break.  Added more build pictures to the media section. 

The Formula SAE Team has been very busy designing building the 2010 racecar (TR10). New photos have been added to the Media page of the site. As the design phase has been finalized, our efforts have shifted to build. We expect to have the TR10 ready to run by February 1st.

Thanks to the contributions of Cartesian Tube Profiling, the frame build has been progressing very smoothly. Expect to see new photos posted soon as the team continues to build over winter break.

The TR10 will be competing in the Formula SAE Michigan event at Michigan International Speedway between May 12th and 15th, 2010. This is the first time the team has returned to FSAE Michigan since the 2005 season.

Continue checking our website as the season progresses for updated news feeds and photos!

We would like to again express our gratitude to our current sponsors. Without your help and generosity, the success of this project would not be possible.

 

For the 3rd time in 5 years, Terps Racing has attended the SCCA Nationals.  Last year the team attended as well, but without a 'Winged' car, there success was fairly limited.  Working around the clock for the last 12 months, the team designed and fielded a new aerodynamic package with the goal of coming back and winning Nationals this year.  

 

After the first day, Mike Stanley sat in second place, less than .2 seconds back from Kansas Jayhawks driver Nick Roberts.  University of Texas Arlington, the defending champions, were sitting in third, a mere .1 second back from Stanley.  Going into day two, this was the closest any FSAE SCCA Nationals race has been.  

 

The Weathermen were calling for 50% chance rain, and both Texas and Maryland were uneasy with this.  That was because we both knew that we only had full depth wet tires that were over 4 years old.  Kansas had brand new intermediate tires which were much more appropriate for anything other than a full blown monsoon.  So, we prayed for either sunshine or hurricanes.  Around 10am, the rain started and continued through about noon.  The race track was very wet and had we ran right then, we would have probably been in good shape.  But as luck had it, we didn't run until about 2pm.  By then, the track was starting to dry up.  All the teams started out on rain tires and after the first run Kansas was sitting on top (as we had figured).  But the track was drying and by Maryland's second run, Mike Cook went out on right side slicks and left side rain tires.  Most of the track was almost dry except for about the last 100 yards which was still very deep water.  Maryland wanted to find out if we should switch to full slicks or not.  After Cook's run, he was sitting with fast time and all the other teams recognized this and switched to full slicks.  We were hoping that any advantage Kansas had would now be eliminated.  Stanley went out for his second run and gained a lot of speed but coned at the very end of the lap.  This didn't matter much though, because the track was drying and we all knew that our third laps would be the fastest.  Since Kansas's Nick Roberts was in a single driver car, this meant that we would have to go earlier for his third run than all the second drivers.  This gave a huge advantage to the second drivers, (both Stanley and UTA's Erick Kohler), because every minute the track was drying.  Nick ran fast time on his third lap, a 52.9, and had to patiently wait to see how the UTA and Maryland car would do.  Both of us went out and Stanley finished with a 52.7 and Erick with a 52.5.  We knew the finish was going to be close, but we had no idea that it would be that close!  After all the math was completed, Erick Kohler from UTA finished .001 seconds ahead of Nick Roberts from Kansas, and Mike Stanley from Maryland finished about .1 second behind those two.  

After finishing, Erick admitted that Kansas had the best car and, "I didn't beat him, the track beat him".  Next time I'm sure the Kansas guys will remember to bring co-drivers.  As for Maryland, a 3rd place finish isn't exactly what we wanted but was a great improvement from the following years 9th place finish.

 

Our success would not be possible with out all the help from the Washington DC Region SCCA, specifically The Garfields.  We would also like to thank Ian Baker for hauling our car around and all of our sponsors for making this possible.    

The team returned last week with a 4th place overall finish at the SAE West competition. 

We would like to thank our sponsors for their continued and invaluable support throughout the season, and we look forward to a continued relationship with these generous individuals and companies. Without you, these successes would not have been possible.

Significant achievements for Terps Racing at FSAE West were:

• 4th place overall
• Best adjusted time for the Endurance event
• 3rd place in Acceleration
• 4th place in the Autocross event

Official results and times can be found at the Formula SAE site: http://students.sae.org/competitions/formulaseries/results/

We are already working hard on the next iteration for 2010. More updates to come...

The course is availible to any technical/non-technical major, for mechanical engineering students the course will count towards your upper level senior electives, for all other non-ME majors it will count as an advanced core class (Testudo Link).  Due to the limted availabilty of the course, there is an application process.

All applicants must submit an application found under the JOIN link. Qualifying applicants will be contacted for an interview conducted by the team leaders.  Please have your resume's as well as a copy of your unofficial transcript ready for the interview process.

 

Here are some of the majors we are interested in, in order of their importance:

• Mechanical Engineering
• Aerospace Engineering
  
• Math & Physical Science
  
• Electrical Engineering
• Business & Managment

Here are some of the skill sets we are interested in, in order of their importance:

• Metal Working
  • Experience with:
    
    • CNC Lathe / Manual Lathe
    • Milling Machines
      
    • TIG/MIG Welding
• Design Work
  • Experience in:
    • Computer Aided Drafting (CAD)
      
    • ADAMS/Car
      
    • Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
      
    • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
      

 

 

We strongly encourage under-classmen to apply.

For further information about the program please contact Jess at jesrose@umd.edu.

Space has become very limited for the 2009/2010 ENME408 class. We still encourage you to apply online, as a few positions may open up for the spring semester.

Things are going well for the Terps as we are only 70 days away from our first competition at Virginia International Raceway!!  Please pardon our upkeep of the website because we are very busy in finishing the highly anticipated 2009 vehicle.  Please feel free to check our progress as we post build pictures on the site!

Interested in joining Terps Racing?  Do you have a passion and/or appreciation for motorsports?  The 2010 Team is in need of a few good engineers who are dedicated to the cause!

For further information please contact Team Manager Brian Baker via email at bbaker2@mail.umd.edu

 

Terps Racing has 6 spots available for Juniors in Mechanical Engineering (graduating Spring 2010) to start learning more about the program this Winter and continue their learning process into the Spring Semester. Speak with your advisor to learn more about the program and class (ENME 408). Juniors must be available to work and learn through the winter semester in order to gain consideration for entry in the class in the Spring 09'.

We are also holding an informational session Wednesday, November 12th @ 6:00 p.m. in the James M. Patterson Building Room 3201(JMP 3201) for all interested parties.

 

Platinum Sponsor Acknowledgement:

First and foremost Terps Racing would like to welcome 3 of its newest sponsors into the Bronze level of sponsorship; Delta Engineering, Chesapeake Pharmacy and Auto Effects. We would also like to recognize one of our outstanding long term supporters, Aberdeen Test Center at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. We would like to officially thank ATC for their years of continuous support in terms of technical support, instrumentation, as well as use of their more than capable testing facilities. Thank you and we hope this mutually beneficial relationship will continue for years to come.

Bronze Entries:

 

Terps Racing again in the media via President C. Dan Mote's Fall message video to the campus.  Check it out.

 

Presidents 2008 Fall Message

 

Terps Racing has registered for the 2009 FSAE Events. We will be making an appearance at both FSAE VIR at Virginia International Raceway, April 22-25; as well as FSAE West out in Fontana, California at the Auto Club Speedway, June 17-20;

Last year the terps did very well at both events taking an overall 6th Place at Virginia, and an overall 1st Place at California.

The Terps team wanted to attend the Michigan event as well, but with the competition taking place the same week as final exams, the team will not make it this year.

The Terps Racing team returned from the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals in Kansas last week with results from the competition as expected.

With the Auto-X course much more open than the FSAE courses the Terp team took great strides in preparing an aero package for the Championship winning '08 vehicle. Unfortunately due to time constraints as well as a buckled push rod in testing the aero package did not make it to competition. However the car was able to compete, the results show that the Terps car was the fastest vehicle w/o wings, but around 2-3 seconds slower than the cars with wings.

With the results from Topeka fresh in their minds, the team readied the vehicle for another Washington D.C. Solo-II Autocross weekend. The wings were mounted and the car was ready to roll. On average the F125 Shifter Kart class (which Terps Racing usually benchmarks their lap-time against) clocked an average of 73.11 seconds. The best raw time of the day was set by Terps Racing Sponsor Brian Garfield (...see some of his work here) with his time of 72.492. At previous events the FSAE car was around 1.5 to 2 seconds off of the best times of F125 Shifter Kart Class. This time the Terps were on top of their game with a best time set by driver Mike Stanley with a time of 73.898 seconds and driver Mike Cook hot on his tail with a time of 73.958!

Overall the wings were a HUGE success as far as preliminary testing goes. We will continue to research and conduct further testing for our 2009 aero package.

Keep checking the website for updates.

 

Terps Racing was kept very busy at the First Look Fair with visits from over 150 Terrapins including a personal visit from University President C.D. Mote! For those that missed us this year, we will be holding an informational session tomorrow which is open to anyone interested.

 

The session will be held Tomorrow; Tuesday, September 18th from 6:00 to 6:30 p.m.

The location:

Glenn L. Martin Hall (EGR)
Room # 1202

The sessional meeting will include the topics of:

• Formula SAE? / Baja SAE?
• The Competition
• How to Participate
• What's Expected of the Team
• The Future of Terps Racing...
  

Come visit and meet members of Terps Racing tomorrow at the Engineering Community Picnic! Get a chance to see what the program is about, see & ask questions about the vehicle and what its like to compete against other international teams! Don't forget Terps Racing is always looking to expand its membership and dedicated members are always welcomed. All level of students are encouraged to come out and have their resume's handy.

Engineering Community Picnic & Mini Career Fair

Wednesday, September 10, 2008
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Front Lawn of Glenn L. Martin Hall (EGR)

Also don't forget to look for the team again at the annual First Look Fair September 17^th & 18^th! Again if you are interested in joining either the FSAE team or working with the Baja SAE team, pease have your resume's ready!

First Look Fair 2008

Wednesday, September 17th / Thursday, September 18th
10:00 am - 3:00 pm
McKeldin Mall

 

Holly Morris and the Fox 5 news team was on the scene with live broadcast on the Robotronics team's win in San Diego along with their upcoming competition this Saturday. On the team was Terps Racing driver Mike Stanley leading the team into competition. Not to be outshined Terps Racing was there along with their supporters.  Thank you to all who were there supporting the team!  To see the video follow the link below and look under the video section under the category labeled "Sidebar".

Link: Terps Racing Plug

 

University of Maryland's FSAE team will be attending the SCCA Nationals competiton in Topeka, Kansas in mid july. Drivers Mike Cook and Mike Stanley will be driving the Championship 2008 car. A big thanks goes out to Gurit and Middle River Aircraft for sponsoring us and helping us design an aero package to be used at the upcoming event!

We have a new compilation video of FSAE West:

 

Terps Racing FSAE West 2008 HQ (Clean) from Terps Racing on Vimeo.

Maryland wins First place at FSAE West 2008 at California Speedway!

Results:

1st Overall
1st Acceleration
3rd Skidpad
4th AutoX
4th Endurance/Fuel Economy
6th Cost
9th Presentation
T-10th Design

Photos will be up fairly soon, so keep an eye on this page!

Saturday morning the guys packed up to head out to California.  Our race is at California Speedway, in Fontana, from the 25th to the 28th.  Be sure to look for the results at www.sae.org. 

 

 

Just got back from the Formula SAE East Competition. A quick run down of how we finished:

 

Acceleration: 1st

Skid Pad: 2nd

Sales Presentation: 2nd

Endurance: 4th

Design: 5th

Cost: 10th

AutoX: DNF

 

Overall: 6th!!!!

 

The car was incredibly fast and I think our dynamic scores show this. We had a problem with our steering rack in the first lap of autocross which made us miss the event entirely. Besides losing all points for that event, we also had to run the endurance race with the back of the field. Since the course was very long and there were few passing zones, we got stuck behind slower vehicles most of the time. While we either ran the fastest (or second fastest-we aren't quite sure) lap of the endurance race, our overall results were definitely hindered by the slower vehicles on track.

In the static events we improved significantly over last years results. We achieved second place in the sales event this year which was a huge improvement. I'd like to personally acknowledge Jeff Gamerman for his work on this. Our design event went very well too. We were told by certain judges that our presentation was the best they had ever seen. Unfortunately our vehicle was slightly over 500lbs, and there is an unwritten law that no vehicles over 500lbs can make it to the design finals. Nevertheless, it was still a very good effort.

 

Overall, the event was a great success. We know exactly what we need to improve to be successful in FSAE West in June. Hopefully with a lot of hard work we can win that event.

First, I would like to thank everyone for coming out to the 2008 FSAE roll out. I hope everyone had a good time. It really helped the team prepare for their presentation events. Now, I'd like to remind everyone that the Formula SAE East event held at Virginia International Raceway is rapidly approaching. For those that do not know, this is the first time a SAE event has been held in Virginia. Were excited to finally have an event close to our home town. The event takes place April 23-26. At the same time, the Rolex Grand Am series will be running at VIR too. Tickets can be bought for the Grand Am race which will also allow for FSAE viewing here: http://www.virclub.com/ We encourage everybody to come down to watch the formula cars run; it is certainly an exciting event. Our endurance race takes place at 9:30am Saturday the 26th. With such a small field of cars this year, I doubt it will take much longer than about 1.5-2 hours. In other news, we have updated the media section. Check out the new pictures of the car.

The Formula SAE and Baja students invite you to attend the rollout of their 2008 vehicles on Wednesday, April 9th.
Come check out these amazing cars and take in their design, manufacturing, and sales presentations as a dry-run for the competition, with a Q&A session to follow.

The format of the evening will be to assemble at 6:30 pm in the SAE Shop room 1229 in the J.M. Patterson building (building number 083- College Park campus, MD)1 and enjoy pizza and soft drinks while checking out this year’s Formula and Baja vehicles. Around 7:15 pm the teams will deliver their design presentation followed by questions from the judges (You!!).

Our first newsletter has been posted. Check it out in the Newsletters section.

Terps Racing has a new look on the web!

The website is under heavy construction. Please keep an eye out for more updates.