Formula SAE Internal Combustion Racecar

--- Background ---

The goal of the UC Irvine Internal Combustion Formula SAE (FSAE-IC) Team is to research, design, build, and test a formula-style car to win the 2019 FSAE Lincoln competition. FSAE Lincoln is an annual competition that hosts 80 teams, all consisting of students, from across the globe and they compete against each other in a series of dynamic and static events. Teams are scored based on their performance, with the top teams earning scores of 850+ points. This will be the fifth consecutive year that UCI has developed an internal-combustion car for this competition.

Last year’s car, Phantom, was by far the fastest car the FSAE-IC team has ever produced. The car featured a plethora of improvements over the previous year's car. The most notable improvement being the addition of a high-downforce aerodynamics package, the first in the team’s history. The team finished 4th in the Acceleration event, 13th in Autocross, and 17th in Skidpad at competition. However, Phantom was not able to finish the Endurance event because the driver hit a cone, breaking the front wing and causing the officials to stop our car. Significant gains were also made in the Design and Presentation events. Overall, the Phantom team finished 38th out of 67 competitors.

--- Subsystem Goals ---

Chassis

Reduce chassis weight by 20 lbs
Lower center of gravity by 0.5 inches
Increase cockpit size so all team members can fit in car

Suspension

Reduce weight of suspension from 100 lbs to 85 lbs
Reduce compliance in all suspension components
Improve skidpad lateral acceleration from 1.27 G to 1.45 G

Human Interface

Redesign seat to increase comfort and eliminate pressure points
Improve shifting consistency by using paddle shifters

Powertrain

Design an intake system that produces equal mass flow within 2% to each cylinder
Tune engine powerband to minimize lap times in lap simulations
Implement a cooling system that can run at 200 °F or lower while driving for 35 minutes
Custom wet sump oiling to reduce engine height to lower CG and increase room for intake
Produce a sub 4 second 75 m acceleration time

Aerodynamics