FSAE Recap

[Christine Grice]

First off I would like to say Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! to all of my workers. Without you being so willing to help this event would not have run this smoothly.

And thank you to all of my Radio people from the autocross and endurance. You guys made my life so much easier by taking charge of two workers and doing your thing. Having 8 cone worker stations split between two radio channels during the endurance made life on the radios so much easier this year (Lisa Severy's idea!) Thank You!!!

Bill Schenker was a tremendous help as my assistant making sure that there were two of us keeping an eye on the workers and sorting out problems.

Rick Brown ran timing and George Schilling ran grid. Once I gave these two their workers they set off to do their thing and did it so well that I never had to venture into their territory to fix problems.

All of my workers made SCCA, Cal Club, and Solo look very experienced and efficient at running these events. Thank You!


Now, on to the next part:

Stories!!!!!

I was not able to be everywhere at all times so I am sure I missed some good stuff and I am sure there are some people like Steve Ekstrand who were there on one day but could not make it to the other that would like to know what happened. So go ahead and tell!!!!!

[Christine Grice]

I heard from Ian last night that our Cal Poly guys won the endurance event, won the skid-pad event and placed 5th overall.

If it hadn't been for that pesky fuel injector they would have done very well in the autocross and acceleration also.

Great job guys!!

[Mako Koiwai]

You mean these guys ...

[Mako Koiwai]

Where ever you looked, there was Christine! Driving the shuttle cart, organizing the workers, getting lunch delivered to us migrant course workers, rescuing "dead" race cars, and working the trailer ...

[Mako Koiwai]

Batch processing the photos and will upload them to an album later today. It was cool to see how much fun everyone was having despite it being a bit warm. Christine rotated the workers in and out so everyone got breaks in our tent. Plenty of ice water. Schenker and Renee (talking to each other again) were also everywhere, literally, putting out fires ... with help from such CSCC stalwarts as Tom T, Bob B, Ian S and wife, Brian Robertson, etc, etc. (Can't access that photo yet.)

[Mako Koiwai]

Lots of pretty cars:


Working girls:


Happy just to finish:


College girls:


Gal Engineers:


Honda Sponsorship:


Fancy Aero on the dyno (typically 65 to 80 whp, 500 lb cars, ):

[Aaron Goldsmith]

Good stuff from over on the fsae forum:

I took notes during the first endurance run (the fast group before lunch), but didn't take notes for the rest- had to go catch a flight home.

Missouri S&T kicks off the endurance event by scaring small children with those large wings
Cincinnati on track
South Dakota Mines & Tech on track
U Washington on track
Cal Poly Pomona on track, moved way up in the run order from autox results
Maryland on track
Pomona going for broke, trying to catch Missouri S&T
Cincinnati passes Maryland
SDMT stalls on track, back alive, UW closes gap
Maryland passed Cincinnati, Maryland does D1 drift around corner
UW passes SDMT
Pomona & Missouri S&T keeping same pace
SDMT stalls again, back alive
Cincinnati gets a little sloppy trying to catch Maryland
Missouri S&T has header wrap flapping in the breeze
Cincinnati locks inside rear as they bounce into braking zone
Missouri S&T & Pomona gap still the same, both cars fast
SDMT stalls again, call the wrecker, yellow flag
Missouri S&T punts cone, soccer style, after driver change
Maryland changes drivers
Maryland & Missouri S&T are the only cars on track, rest are changing drivers
For some reason, Missouri wasn't flagged in for a driver change until after 12 laps, only leaving 8 laps for the second driver
Kansas State enters track, promptly spins and kills cone
UW back out w/ 2nd driver
K State not as quick as first group
CPP back out w/ 2nd driver
Cincinnati has lots of chatter under braking
UW passes K State
MST “extra” header wrap is now gone
Cincinnati catches K State, passes them
UW stalls, Maryland does evasive maneuver to overtake
Yellow flag, UW car dead next to track
CPP catches K State, passes
K State hits cone
Oklahoma gives you a car on track
CPP finishes enduro, as does Missouri University of Scientology
Michigan State on track
Vultures circling, UW carcass pulled off track by The Grice Reaper
Oklahoma gives you a vibrating front wing
Clemson on track
Mich State makes a wish to pass Clemson, wish granted
K State 2nd driver on track
Western Washington U on track
Clemson passes Mich State
Oregon State on track, providing music to the ears via crisp downshifts
It is rumored that Oregon State has driver downshift training program
K State owns cone, 2 second penalty p3ns K State
Vehicle Research Institue at the Western Washington University gains on Clemson
Mich State backfires
Oklahoma gives you a driver change
Western Wash powerslides a corner
Mich State off pace a little
WWU in for driver change
CSUN on track with ringer
Oregon State stalled on track
Mich State appears to be stuck in one gear
Call the coroner, Oregon state is deceased
Mich State way off pace
WWU back out with 2nd driver
UT San Antonio on track
Clemson not shifting
CSUN's ringers pay for their rides
Oklahoma gives you an overtaking of Mich State (who is still stuck in one gear)
Oklahoma gives you an overtaking of UTSA
Oklahoma gives you a punted cone, and is caught by Mich State
Mich hits cone
Mich passes Oklahoma, with no shifter, showing that single speeds really are better
Oklahoma gives you a completed enduro
Toledo on track
Western Wash slows for yellow flag
Chalmers on track
WWU gaining on Toledo, catches, hits Toledo, passes. OWNED!
Rubbin' is Racin', don't stop in front of the passing zone
WWU catches UTSA, don't piss off these pacific northwest people
WWU finishes, after a time penalty/black flag for hitting Toledo
Cal Berkley on track
Chalmers lets Clemson by, without being flagged proving that rubbin' isn't racin' in Sweden
Toledo carries inside front around most corners
2nd CSUN ringer doesn't pay as much for his rides
Chalmers passes FEI
Cal stalls, restarts
Cal flies through kink sideways, clips grass & cone
Chalmers passes Cal
FEI engine sounds off
UTSA picks up the pace
Cal impressively fast through kink, may be the fastest car through that section
CSUN hits cone
Toledo carries inside front again
Chalmers off pace
U Delaware on track, sets mood by hitting a cone
Toledo getting sloppy
Cal goes in for driver change, DOA; later to find out a seat belt malfunction caused their DNF
Chalmers engine is missing (misfiring, not that they can't find it)
UTSA stopped on track
Toledo abusing their tires
UD hits cone
Montreal on track
UD spins, hits cone, into the fairway, almost gets stuck
U New Mexico on track
Aprilia engine lasts for two laps so far
Finish rate very high so far
Toledo passes UNM
Chalmers stopped for a second
UNM stalls
RPI on track
Dartmouth on track
Aprilia engine lasts for 6 laps so far
Chalmers passes UD
RPI driver not being smooth
Idaho on track
UT Austin on track
RPI has been meat balled, which is supposed to be as bad as tea bagged
RPI back out
Idaho hits cone
UD stalls, restarted
RPI passes Dartmouth
UD stalls again, makes happy dolphin noises
Manitoba on track
Aprilia not sounding so great anymore
The Grice Reaper shows up, scares UD back to life exuberantly, springs back to life screaming “Not my time!!” with engine shaking furiously
UD's time may have come
Quote from The Grice Reaper: “I've been chasing that guy all over the course”
The Grice Reaper calls in reinforcements
UD time of death: 11:05am PDT
RPI's intake is still punishing eardrums
Manitoba passes by Idaho
Idaho pulls a gap bigger than a truck of russet potatoes
RPI finishes
Idaho throwing the car 'round like a sack 'o taters
Idaho dragging cone
Manitoba quicker, lets off a little steam (literally)
Idaho passes UTSA
Manitoba lifts inside front, eh?
I think Montreal finished- the only team able to show up with an Aprilia engine finishes enduro
Manitoba fastest car on course, also only car on course
Manitoba finishes enduro cleanly, end of first endurance session

Body count from first session:
SDMT
UW
Oregon State
UTSA
Cal
UD

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mtg, June 29, 2008 12:31 AM


--------------------------
Matt Giaraffa
Missouri S&T (UMR) FSAE 2001 - 2005

[Aaron Goldsmith]

Final Overall Results (Unofficial)

10. Kansas State
9. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst
8. Cincinnati
7. Toledo
6. Western Washington
5. Cal Poly Pomona
4. Michigan State
3. Oklahoma
2. Missouri S&T
1. Maryland


James Waltman
VRI at WWU Alumn
FSAE ‘01 to ‘05
http://dot.etec.wwu.edu/fsae/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ian Stewart]

AWSOME pics Mako

Yup the Worker's of Christine = Well Oiled Machine!!

It seemed as if all was covered and no one was overwhelmed

Guess 3rd time’s a charm..

Nice Job everyone!!

2 radio channels for cone counts and more stations on course was a HUGE improvement

Bob B. and Zack staging the cars and managing pregrid was crucial to keeping the event moving.

George and the driver change crew working with the Tech crew and coordinating with Rick, F&C and Bob B to keep the right # of cars on course kept things running smooth when we hit the mid pack attrition zone

Rick stepping up big time to head the manual timing team making sure that cars were tracked, timed and provided the checker…

The SAE scoring crew commented on how thorough and efficient Lisa, Ryan, Maggie, and Wendy were at recording auditing and reducing the log and penalty data.

The log notes and cones sheets gave us all we needed to support the final results and make the protest discussions objective and factual.

Renee made the call to break for lunch and I think that should be planned for in the future.

No Radio issues

Plenty of water and shade under the tent

And a solo practice too…

For the students perspective and a play by play go to:

http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8256 ... 375541/p/3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe next year we offer some drivers training for those “red” cars }:)

[Mako Koiwai]

All photos up now:

http://public.fotki.com/makofoto/2008-- ... s/fsae-ca/

[Will Kalman]

If anyone hasn't read the notes thouroughly, they're worth it!

[Ian Stewart]

Yes,

I almost forgot Bob, The Tow King, Jardine and the "Grice Reaper"!!

[John Fendel]

As the AutoX director, I want to say "Well done" to all those who helped make the autocross event a success. Thank you Christine for keeping the workers organized and rotating in for some shade and rest time. Thanks to the timing amd announcing crew for the mostly witty comments and accurate time keeping. Thanks to all the course workers, without who, the event could not have run as smoothly. All of you made my job a lot easier. A big Thanks again.
John

[Steve Ekstrand]

Friday was such a great day, I was sad not being there Saturday.

Christine added some great organizational skills to the mix this year. Everything on Friday sure seemed to run well. Looked like lots of little improvements throughout the event.

Amazing to see Cal Poly Pomona in 5th after the 40+ finish in Acceleration and ~22nd in Autocross due to mechanical difficulties. The crew must have really gotten it together for the other contests. Well done!

Backslaps and kudo's to all the leaders, chiefs, and volunteers. FSAE West is really getting good. If you're not involved, you're missing an important happening in your own backyard.

[Aaron Goldsmith]

so, did anyone take pics of the actual final results? I heard CPP won the endurance by 30 seconds, second hand.

[Steve Ekstrand]

What were the problems CPP was experiencing in the Accel and Autox? With mulligans there it sounds like they could have won the competition.

BTW-The tents were a lot better than I recalled from 2007. Nice to retreat to some shade. Plus a more professional look. Same with all the signage I don't remember from before.

Could anything be done to improve the spectating options?

[Christine Grice]

What were the problems CPP was experiencing in the Accel and Autox? With mulligans there it sounds like they could have won the competition.

BTW-The tents were a lot better than I recalled from 2007. Nice to retreat to some shade. Plus a more professional look. Same with all the signage I don't remember from before.

Could anything be done to improve the spectating options?

There will definatly be a list created of suggestions for next year so if you have them please share with the class.

The CPP guys had a bad injector. It was actually bad for the skidpad too but it doesn't affect the outcome as much as acceleration and autocross. As soon as they figured out the problem and fixed it they asked the event officials if they could run with the faster cars during the endurance based on thier skidpad times instead of their broken car autocross times. A fabulous idea obviously.

The tents were a result of suggestions from last year. Not sure about the signs but probably the same.

Which spectating areas are you talking about Steve? Skidpad and acceleration or Autocross? I know for the autocross/endurance that someone asked for bleachers on the other side of the fence and that request was declined (I have no idea why, a speedway thing???)

The spectating area for the skidpad was better this year and the acceleration spectating was probably just a little worse but having the autocross course already set up when we finished the morning events was a huge help.

[Christine Grice]

Washington State was having fun while pushing their car back to the paddock:

[Vincent Chang]

Had a great time Friday and Saturday thanks to Christine's leadership skills.

Eventhough they didn't win, the S. American cheering section and the straggling Chinese entries were the most memorable (outside of the requisite fire). :gpower:

[Vincent Komara]

I really enjoyed working the event as well. One of the stories I took away from this years competition happened Friday morning. I worked the skidpad grid with Joi. In the closing minutes teams were rushing to get times for both drivers. I here Joi say "I can't believe he's going to drop trou." I turn around and see one of the teams making a driver change and apparently they only had one drivers suit to share and by the way the drivers where dressed underneath changing on grid was not part of the original plan. All I could think of was who was the poor soul with second stint in the enduro.

[Renee Angel]

Thank you to EVERYONE for making this the BEST FSAE-West event. A lot of time went in to coordinating this event - starting in October 2007; however, once I decided on the Chiefs - everything fell in to place. You all made my job easier and the whole weekend was flawless - well, unti "Fireball" Schenker spotted the fire - j/k Bill.

Great job by the Cal Club F & C Team - you guys rock & definitely presented yourself well. Makes all of us proud.

The decision for a 45 minute lunch break was not mine alone - but I feel it was a good idea, especially since the F&C people got no relief.

Congrats to Cal Poly - you guys made us all proud. You did an excellent job and next year look forward to the number 1 position.

Thank you to all the Chiefs - once again you performed flawlessly.

Hope to see everyone at next year's FSAE-West.

Renee
Dynamic Operations Director

[Anthony Dezan]

While course working on friday I was lucky enough to injure myself right before lunch.

I was in a golf cart that was taking cones to the autocross area from the skidpad. I was perched on the right rear corner of the golf cart with another volunteer sitting on the left. The driver took a turn and I lost my grip. I then had an intimate meeting with California Speedway asphault. After rolling a couple of times I came to rest on my back with road rash on my head, knuckles, wrist and knee. Though the pain from these was trumped by my dislocated right shoulder.

After a quick ride in an ambulance to Arrowhead Regional and some morphine I was admitted to the Emergency room and within a couple of hours had my shoulder back in its appropriate place.

Im just sad i didnt get to work the endurance on Saturday.

The moral of the story is to only ride in the golf cart seats, not off the side.

I hope next year is as good as last year's! Figuring i really didnt get to see the event this year.

Congrats to everyone who participated.

[Steve Ekstrand]

Article in Time Magazine this week about the dramatic increases in Golf Cart injuries as they get used more and more off of golf courses.

I won't go into all the stupid stunts I've been involved with in golf carts.... Nor my buddy rolling one 400 feet down a hole at Industry Hills. But respect the lowly EZ-GO.

[Ashley Armstrong]

Article in Time Magazine this week about the dramatic increases in Golf Cart injuries as they get used more and more off of golf courses.

I won't go into all the stupid stunts I've been involved with in golf carts.... Nor my buddy rolling one 400 feet down a hole at Industry Hills. But respect the lowly EZ-GO.

Lloyd and I once rolled an EZ-GO... it was messy... and embarrassing

[Tom Tanquary]

Lloyd and I once rolled an EZ-GO

said the girl with a beer in her hand....... ;)