The Development Stages of Rear Upright for Formula Car

Abstract

Formula SAE (FSAE) is a design competition organized each year by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The objective of the competition is to bring the best and brightest future engineers from each participating school to present a small scale race car. Although this sounds like a relatively simple concept, the actual execution is rather challenging and rewarding for the team. For almost three years Tennessee Tech University (TTU) has had a FSAE team. The first year was a planning year, so Tennessee Tech University has participated in the competition for the last two years. Both years have been extreme learning experiences since TTU was not prepared for the level of competition brought by participating schools. However TTU FSAE team is beginning to implement modern design tools such as FEA, Virtual Manufacturing, and Rapid Prototyping to help streamline the design efforts so that one day Golden Eagle FSAE will be one of the top competing teams. In this publication, authors will report on one Golden Eagle FSAE component (the rear upright) development stages and its accomplishments.