FSAEon the move
In a day and age when safety if of the utmost importance in every aspect of life - sports, travel, home etc. - there are still events like the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) that consider safety a second priority to winning.
This event is participated in by University of Illinois' students - for most as a senior project - in the UIUC chapter of the FSAE organization.
FSAE is a basic student design and fabrication process that involves building small formula-style race cars, under specific car restrictions, from the ground up. The challenge is for to students is to test their "knowledge, creativity, and imagination," while building the car, states the official SAE webpage (www.sae.org).
Thevin Sattayatam, a current leading member of the Formula SAE Team, and senior at the university, explained that the process of building the formula car is more about optimizing its performance, then it is about the safety of the driver.
"As with all engineering disciplines, or any discipline for that matter, if the benefits out weight the risks, then you proceed with the plan," he declared.
Sattayatam first gained his interest and knowledge in cars when he acquired a 1987 Toyota Supra from his older brother. "The thing broke down once a month," he exclaimed while telling the story, "it was getting too expensive so I had to learn to fix it myself."
SAE recruits every year at Quad-Day, when all the clubs from the university congregate to attract new members, "that's how I got involved," Sattayatam said.
During the design process of the formula car, one of the main goals that helps create better performance of the car all around, is to create and keep the chasse - or basic frame of the car - as stiff as possible. "We only design just enough space for the driver to fit," he explained.
The chasse is based upon multiple suspension points, the stiffer the chasse of the car is, the fewer stress areas and variables occur the frame. "Within the car, the suspension points are basically in the pattern of a square. But the car is a rectangle" Sattayatam continued.
Because of the placement of the strongest suspension points on the frame, the drivers legs are left unprotected, for the most part, by the structure of the car. "In the worst case scenario," Sattayatam commented, "if the driver were to hit a wall at full speed, he'd lose his legs. The drivers just need to have some common sense when driving."
This however, is not an abnormal sentiment from anyone within the world wide FSAE organization. It hasn't been until the last four years that SAE itself has been incorporating or even considering safety regulations on the cars.
Sattayatam said that the - now 200 page - rule book is amended every year only because of problems and things that went wrong the year previous. Safety, so far, has always come as a secondary concern in the construction of our cars.
The events are always held in wide open venues however, so the possibility of crashing into stationary objects is greatly decreased.
Construction of the newest FSAE car is now underway, with a little more than a month till completion. Sattayatam stated that safety still hasn't really been a large concern of theirs, "we're more concerned with getting the car finished, ready for testing. and performing optimally. then we are about the comforts of the driver."