Vanderbilt club designs, creates and races cars every year
The challenge that the Vanderbilt Motorsports team faces on an annual basis is a rather unique one, especially in the world of collegiate athletics.
It would be difficult to imagine the football team having to weave its own pigskins, produce its own goalposts and manufacture its own pads and uniforms. But, that is exactly what the Motorsports team has to do.
Members fabricate the vehicle they race from scratch each year by using the machine shop tools in Featheringill Hall. The team prides itself on being financially self-sufficient each year and remains so by selling numerous sponsorships.
“We have to raise all the money ourselves, and the more money we raise, the better,” said junior Lindsay Matthews. “Our budget this year is about $23,000, and we usually break even.”
Using techniques and methods learned in their classes, a small, dedicated group spends countless hours revising the design of the vehicle for weeks on end, until the perfect plan comes together on paper.
The hardest part comes, however, in turning the blueprints into a working reality, and this grueling and time-consuming process takes place each year. Dozens of racing and engineering enthusiasts put forth great effort into the fabrication and assembly of the vehicle, which often involves making and re-making a component countless times out of raw materials in order to fit within the design specifications and competition requirements.
The Formula SAE competition is sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, and the club competes in the American Collegiate Design competition annually. Showcasing engineering know-how and their technical racing skills, hundreds of teams have started-up all across the country in this face-growing competition. Both design proficiency and racing merit are rewarded by the SAE judges, with performance metrics making up a large portion of the scoring as well.
“The competition is threefold,” said captain Walter Thorn. “First is design and fabrication of the vehicle. Second is the business aspect, where you have to submit a cost analysis of the business, as if you were going to produce these prototypes. Basically, that’s a sales pitch to somebody who might invest in your company. Third is the actual racing and performance competition.”
The racing and performance events include a 250-foot acceleration test from a standing start, a lateral acceleration test on a figure-eight skid pad, an autocross event and an endurance and fuel economy test. The post-production testing of the vehicle is also an important phase for the team to perfect, as it hopes to get as much time in testing and refining the vehicle as possible.
Phil Davis, who operates the mechanical engineering program’s machine shop, is another committed member of the team who helps the program get going each year.
“Phil is the technical adviser for the program,” Thorn said. “He teaches us by taking our ideas and actually turning them into something that we can put together. He’s got all the know-how on how things get made.”
“Phil makes this his life, and he runs the program,” Matthews, a mechanical engineering major, said.
Dr. Eric Barth of the mechanical engineering faculty, is another adviser to the program. “He’s there for the administrative end of things,” Thorn said. “He helps us deal with the university and other issues that come up.”
Since their founding in 1999, the Formula SAE team has found its way past any number of obstacles. Putting a car on the track and racing it around is hardly the procedure the team must go through on a yearly basis, seeing as putting the car together is usually the most difficult and stressful part. But the team remains upbeat and excited about the development of the program.
“The club is growing,” Matthews said. “It sure is a lot of work to put the car together, but it’s a lot of fun, and we’re getting better at it each year.”
