Oregon State (Global Formula Racing) Does It Again!

WARRENDALE, Pa., May 14, 2012 - If Formula SAE Michigan was a continuous hockey game, Oregon State University would have itself a “hat-trick” winning the Champion Title three consecutive years. Global Formula Racing (GFR), an international team collaboration consisting of students from Oregon State University and Duale Hochschule Baden-Wurttemberg-Ravensburg of Germany, clinched the honor when they were named 1st Place Finishers at Saturday night’s award ceremony.

Oregon State University (GFR) succeeded in obtaining 1st Place in three of the most highly sought after awards including Engineering Design, Ford Endurance, and the SAE Spirit of Excellence. Along with those first place finishes, Oregon State captured 3 more awards.

This international collaboration originally started with the students designing certain aspects of one another’s vehicles but after several years the collaboration moved to a whole new level in 2012 with the two universities working together as one to design and build an entire car to enter both the U.S. and E.U. competitions; something they continue to this day.

Formula SAE Michigan’s competition returned to Michigan International Speedway (MIS) for its fifth year at the venue. MIS offers a great experience to all who participate; located in Brooklyn, Michigan the venue offers team paddocks on asphalt with built-in electric hook-ups, NASCAR garages and suites for all static judging and new this year a newly repaved surface where dynamics operate on the back side of the oval.

There were 120 teams registered for the competition however only 106 brought working vehicles. SAE International registered teams representing colleges and universities from Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom, Unites States and Venezuela.

Technical Inspection saw all 106 cars in Scrutineering and eventually gave stickers to all cars as they passed; however not all 106 passed through fuel/tilt and brake/noise.

After a full day of design judging; the judges invited 10 teams to participate in Design Finals. Those teams were:
Car # 1, Oregon State University
Car #14, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Car #3, Universitat Stuttgart
Car #11, Ecole De Technologie Superieure
Car #2, Technical University of Munich
Car #4, Graz University of Technology
Car #5, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Car #94, Rochester Institute of Technology
Car #118, Metropolia University of Applied Science
Car #49, Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen

Taking first place in Cost receiving the SAE Cost Award was Car #25 University of Toronto with the lowest cost of $9,214.

Receiving first place honors in the SAE Presentation event was Car #94 Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Participating in the Presentation Highlights presenting to the public along with first place finisher RIT were second and third place finishers; Car #14 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Car #3 Universitat Stuttgart.

For those cars that passed all three steps of technical inspection on Thursday, teams took to the track on Friday morning completing their Acceleration and Skid Pad runs. With temperatures of 73 degrees and no rain (unusual for Michigan), Car #6 University of Michigan Ann Arbor added some heat with a first place finish in Acceleration with the fastest time of 4.112 seconds. Adding to the heat wave was Car #109 Oxford Brookes from England with the fastest time of 5.302 seconds in Skid Pad.

In the afternoon teams completed their runs for the SAE Autocross; crossing the starting line were 90 cars. Finishing in  first place with a clean run and fastest time of 51.607 seconds was Car #14 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology who was only a close .09 seconds faster than second place finishers Car #1 Oregon State University. Clinching third place was Car #45 Missouri University of Science and Technology with 51.967 seconds.

Teams who completed the event and placed were assigned a position in the Ford Endurance run order. Ninety-one cars took the green flag with each driver completing 10 laps; 46 cars finished the event however two teams finished over the maximum time allowed only receiving points for finishing all 20 laps.

To increase the excitement level leading up to the Award Ceremony sponsored by General Motors, SAE International continued with the inverted run order running cars from slowest to fastest; a decision made in 2011. Lessons learned from the previous year, lead to a group of highly dedicated volunteers to work extra hours on redesigning the course to allow it to be more open, longer, and have six cars on track. Also they worked closely with SCCA course designers to adopt the SCCA style of using fewer cones on the track.

Placing first in this year’s Ford Endurance was Car #1 Oregon State University with a total time of 1067.060 seconds over 20 laps; an adjusted time score for having hit 2 cones. Coming in second with an adjusted time of 1124.613 due to 7 cones and 1 off course was Car #14 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. And in third place Car #6 University of Michigan Ann Arbor with a clean run time of 1131.329.

Winners recognized at the Friday and Saturday Awards Ceremonies Sponsored by General Motors:
SAE Spirit of Excellence
Top 10 overall finishers; Top three finishers receive $3000, $2000, $1000
1st Place              Oregon State University
2nd Place             Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
3rd Place              Universitat Stuttgart
4th Place              Technical University of Munich
5th Place              University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
6th Place              Graz University of Technology
7th Place              Metropolia University of Applied Science
8th Place              Ecole De Technologie Superieure
9th Place              Friendrich Alexander University of Erlangen
10th Place           University of Wisconsin-Madison

Ford Endurance Award
Top three finishers in Endurance Event - $1500, $1000, $500
1st Place              Oregon State University
2nd Place             Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
3rd Place              University of Michigan – Ann Arbor

Ford Fuel Economy
Top three finishers in the Fuel Economy event - $1500, $1000, $500
1st Place              University of Wisconsin-Madison
2nd Place             US Air Force Academy
3rd Place              US Naval Academy

SAE Autocross Award
Top three finishers in the Autocross Event – award provided by Hoosier Tires; 8, 6, 4
1st Place              Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
2nd Place             Oregon State University
3rd Place              Missouri University of Science and Technology

SAE Acceleration Award
Top 3 finishers in the Acceleration Event
1st Place              University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
2nd Place             Graz University of Technology
3rd Place              Michigan State University

SAE Skid Pad Award       
Top three finishers in the Skid Pad Event
1st Place              Oxford Brookes University
2nd Place             Oregon State University
3rd Place              Missouri University of Science and Technology

FEV Powertrain Development Award
This award recognizes overall excellence in powertrain development - $2000, $1000, $500
1st Place              Oregon State University
2nd Place             Universitat Stuttgart
3rd Place              Ecole De Technologies Superieure

SAE Design Award
Top three finishers in the Design Event – award provided by Goodyear Tires. One day of testing.
1st Place              Oregon State University
2nd Place             Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
3rd Place              Universitat Stuttgart

SAE Presentation Award
Top three finishers in the Presentation Event
1st Place              Rochester Institute of Technology
2nd Place             Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
3rd Place              Universitat Stuttgart

SAE Cost Award
Top three finishers in the Cost Event
1st Place              University of Toronto
2nd Place             Kookmin University
3rd Place              University of Michigan – Dearborn

Autodesk/ASBE Body Design Award
This award recognizes top two body designs; one each for Monocoque and Body on Frame - $1000, $1000
Winner – Graz University of Technology
Winner – Metropolia University of Applied Science

Altair Engineering’s William R. Adam Engineering Award
This award recognizes the development of new and innovative design concepts for FSAE racing competition. - $1000, $500
1st Place              Metropolia University of Applied Science
2nd Place             Southern Illinois University – Carbondale

The Fourth Annual Formula SAE Push bar Competition
Winner – Clemson University

Rookie Recognition
Best Finish for a First Year Team
Winner – University of St. Thomas

Formula SAE Recognition of Accomplishment
Teams that successfully score in all events and do not finish in the Top 10
University of Akron
US Naval Academy
Universidad Simon Bolivar
US Air Force Academy
Rose Hulman Institute of Technology
University of Florida
Lakehead University
University of St Thomas
National University of Singapore
Oakland University
Brown University
San Jose State University
University of New Hampshire
University of Michigan-Dearborn
Carnegie Mellon University
Rutgers University
North Carolina State University – Raleigh
University of Toledo
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
Southern Polytechnic State University
Clemson University
Universite Laval
McGill University
University of Windsor
Mississippi State University
Duke University
Universite Du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres
Villanova University
University of Missouri
University of Pittsburgh

To view all final score results from the Formula SAE Michigan event; you can download the additional file attached to this article. You can also visit http://students.sae.org/competitions/formulaseries/results/

The SAE Collegiate Design Series Staff would like to thank everyone who helped make this event a great success. To all the volunteers and sponsors, thank you for all your hard work and contributions! To all the students, thank you for your enduring interest in the Formula SAE competitions. For more information on this article, event results or 2013 volunteering opportunities please contact Kaley Zundel at kzundel@sae.org.

Special Thanks to our 2012 Formula SAE Michigan Sponsors:

Event Partner:
Ford, Endurance and Fuel Economy Sponsor

Platinum Partner:
Autodesk, Paddocks Sponsor

Gold Partner:
FEV, Award Sponsor
General Motors Company, Award Ceremony Sponsor
Honda, Welcome Ceremony Sponsor
MSC Software, Industry Reception Sponsor

Silver Partner:
Altair Engineering
Continental
Magna Powertrain
PTC
SpaceX
Yazaki

Bronze Partner:
Polaris

Collegiate Design Series T-Shirt Sponsor:
SolidWorks

Friends of Formula:
ANSYS
ComSource
Goodyear
Hoosier
Lincoln Welding
Kaz Technologies
Sunoco