My Recent Trip To The Lake

[gogmorgo]

My MJ was out with a broken axle shaft, so didn't make the trip, but I had a blast anyway. Because Saskatchewan, because winter... Because Racecar. :yes:
This is what I do in my spare time. Mostly we work on building the cars, and don't get out driving them much, especially in the winter, since smooth surfaces aren't all that easy to come by.

I should add that I'm a member of my University's Formula SAE team, Huskie Motorsports. We're a not-for-profit student group, mostly engineering students, but we do have a few from other disciplines. Every year, we design, mostly from scratch, and build a racecar, to FSAE specs, and compete against other teams from around the world. We'll be heading to Lincoln, Nebraska for the competition there in June this year.

[neohic]

Awesome! :rock on:

[freakjeep93]

what do these have for drive trains? sounds like a blast!

[Comanche County]

That's so cool, reminds me of the ice races in Georgetown, CO. http://ourgangiceracing.com/

[gogmorgo]

The rules leave much to the individual teams, but our car has a Honda f4i motorcycle engine, 600cc, and uses the stock transmission, chain driving a torsen diff (center diff from an A4 quattro). I think the rear axle halves were oem from a Yammy Grizzly, but they've been chopped and extended for our wheelbase. I'm in actually in our shop, er... corner of the tractor lab, right now (quiet place to study when no work's happening), with the cars not 30 feet away, and would take a few pictures, except I don't have a camera on me... This year, we've got some newer Honda 600cc engines, RR blocks, IIRC, and we've got custom made axle shafts which hopefully won't twist apart as much as the re-re-welded ones we've been using.

The car running around in the the video is S8, last year's car, and the one in the background of a few shots is the death-proof S1, the first car the team built, back in 97. S8 weighs around 480lbs, and puts down around 70 hp breathing through our required 20mm restrictor. 0-60mph is somewhere around 4 seconds, but with the 4:1 rear end ratio, there's not much more after that. Theoretical top speed is somewhere around 100mph, but we've never verified it. The car's really intended more for acceleration and maneuverability around seriously tight autocross courses than flat-out speed.

http://www.facebook....skiemotorsports build pictures of this year's car (S9) although not too many of the drivetrain yet. Right now, the engine is bolted into the chassis, and that's about it. If you scroll down far enough, there are some of S8's build.