A Description of Formula SAE
Preface:
When a few university professors got together 20 years ago to start a very informal SAE student design competition then known as Mini Indy, I doubt that any of them expected their efforts would change the world of motor racing and the lives of thousands of young men and women. Today this program, renamed Formula SAE ®, has become the world championship for college engineering students, and the training program for race car engineers and designers around the world. Teams from as far away as Korea, Japan and Mexico travel to the suburbs of Detroit each May for the big event. Satellite events have begun in the United Kingdom and Australia. Each year as many as 4,000 students are members of Formula SAE teams at universities around the world. Nearly 2,000 make the trip to the competition itself. The impact of this program on these student engineers is significant - even life-changing. Because of their experience, many will be hired into fast track jobs in the auto industry. Others will catch the dream and go to work for the top racing teams in CART, Formula 1, IRL and other racing series. Nearly all will look back on Formula SAE as the most challenging and rewarding of their college experiences. How strongly does Formula SAE touch those involved in it? Ask Alan Gruner, team captain of the Michigan State team in 1995, and now a systems analyst with an e-business company in California. Alan was so affected by his Formula SAE experience that he sat down and wrote the equivalent of an English term paper on getting started in Formula SAE, then posted his work on the web as a resource for all those future engineers who accept the challenge to get involved. As a result of his Formula SAE experience, he has also become an avid autocrosser. With Alan 's permission, we offer his suggestions from the SAE Motorsports Engineering website. To make this an even more useful resource, we 're encouraging others who have gone through the Formula SAE experience to add to Alan
When a few university professors got together 20 years ago to start a very informal SAE student design competition then known as Mini Indy, I doubt that any of them expected their efforts would change the world of motor racing and the lives of thousands of young men and women. Today this program, renamed Formula SAE ®, has become the world championship for college engineering students, and the training program for race car engineers and designers around the world. Teams from as far away as Korea, Japan and Mexico travel to the suburbs of Detroit each May for the big event. Satellite events have begun in the United Kingdom and Australia. Each year as many as 4,000 students are members of Formula SAE teams at universities around the world. Nearly 2,000 make the trip to the competition itself. The impact of this program on these student engineers is significant - even life-changing. Because of their experience, many will be hired into fast track jobs in the auto industry. Others will catch the dream and go to work for the top racing teams in CART, Formula 1, IRL and other racing series. Nearly all will look back on Formula SAE as the most challenging and rewarding of their college experiences. How strongly does Formula SAE touch those involved in it? Ask Alan Gruner, team captain of the Michigan State team in 1995, and now a systems analyst with an e-business company in California. Alan was so affected by his Formula SAE experience that he sat down and wrote the equivalent of an English term paper on getting started in Formula SAE, then posted his work on the web as a resource for all those future engineers who accept the challenge to get involved. As a result of his Formula SAE experience, he has also become an avid autocrosser. With Alan 's permission, we offer his suggestions from the SAE Motorsports Engineering website. To make this an even more useful resource, we 're encouraging others who have gone through the Formula SAE experience to add to Alan