Competition heats up in summer for motorsports teams

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The Center for Automotive Research (CAR) is home to six student project teams. The month of May marks the beginning of competition season, so the Motorsports Teamworks garage stays busy day and night as students put the finishing touches on their vehicles. 

Formula Buckeyes

Formula Buckeyes team with vehicle

The Formula Buckeyes brought home some hardware with an overall third place finish at the Formula SAE competition at the Michigan International Speedway in May. This is tied for the highest the team has ever placed at the main Formula SAE competition and the best since 2001. The University of Illinois placed first followed by Wroclaw University of Technology who placed second.

More than 100 collegiate teams from around the world competed in this four-day event which included design and business presentations, cost analysis, static tech as well as autocross, skidpad, acceleration, and endurance events. “We did not have a single event where we were higher than 5th place,” said team advisor and CAR Research Scientist Jeff Chrstos. “But the consistency across all the events got us to the top three.”

In addition, there are two other races in which the team hopes to compete — one in Pittsburgh and one in Ontario.

Ohio State EcoCAR

A team of students from The Ohio State University and Wilberforce University earned first place in Year One of the EcoCAR EV Challenge on May 25 in Orlando. 

OSU and Wilberforce students accepting award on stage

The four-year competition challenges students to engineer a next-generation battery electric vehicle that deploys connected and autonomous vehicle technologies to implement energy-efficient and customer-pleasing features, while meeting the decarbonization needs of the automotive industry. It is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors and MathWorks.

The partnership team of Ohio State and Wilberforce, one of the competition’s two HBCUs, showed consistency in excellence across all subteams throughout Year One, earning top three finishes for 12 pre-competition deliverables, 10 of which were first-place finishes.   

Ohio State student teams have been participating in Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions since 1990 and have placed in the top three in 14 of the last 15 years, including winning first place eight times. 

Baja Buckeyes

Baja Buckeyes team with vehicle

Baja Buckeyes design and build an off-road vehicle to race against other collegiate teams. After last year’s success, the team only has a few minor adjustments to make to their vehicle, including switching from a drive shaft to a chain drive system to reduce weight.  

This year, the team will be racing at Baja SAE in Portland, Oregon, in early June. The team is excited to finish the car early and perform well at competition. Business Lead Elyse Andel said, “We want to keep building off of the success we established in the last few years.” 

Buckeye AutoDrive

The 2023 Buckeye AutoDrive team surround their vehicle at the Center for Automotive Research at Ohio State.

The Buckeye AutoDrive team participates in the SAE AutoDrive Challenge, which requires the team to have a fully autonomous passenger vehicle that can navigate urban driving courses at the end of four years. The team is currently in year two, which means they are focusing on vehicle controls and further developing perception algorithms. The vehicle must meet SAE J3016™ Standard Level 4 automation.  

In early June, the team will travel to Mcity at the University of Michigan to conduct in-person testing on the vehicle. "While the goal for this year is to place as high as possible at the competition, we're also shooting to gather as much integration experience as we can," said Team Captain Javier Fernandez. "Things are starting to break now, and more things will probably break as we get closer to the competition, but getting this troubleshooting experience this early in our careers is simply invaluable."  

Buckeye Current

The Buckeye Current team has built an all-electric, all-custom motorcycle. They are currently in year two of a two-year development cycle. Last year, much of the work involved understanding design parameters, laying out plans and finalizing design work with simulation. Now, they are in their manufacturing phase, which involves laser cutting, plasma cutting and building an entire battery pack in house. 

This year, the Buckeye Current team will be land speed racing at both Speedweek and the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials (BMST), both in Bonneville, Utah. 

Speedweek, August 5-12, is a national competition where cars, trucks and motorcycles compete. This event does not have weighted classes, which means it’s harder for electric vehicles like Buckeye Current’s to get records. At Speedweek, the team can set records in the electric faired and electric unfaired categories.  

BMST, August 26-31, however, is an international competition where only motorcycles can compete. This competition is governed by weight class, which means the team is going for more records. They are looking at four total here.  

When Team Lead Laura Friedmann joined the team last year, it only had three people. Now, it’s a dedicated team of 28. “I love giving young students the opportunity to go through the entirety of the design process," she said. "Some of the younger students are already designing key components of the bike. I’m proud of how dedicated they are to the team.” 

Buckeye Current will hold their reveal day on June 10 at the Center for Automotive Research. 

Buckeye Solar Racing

The Buckeye Solar Racing team is only in their second year of business and working on building their first car. Last year, they focused on design. This year, now that they are an official student team at CAR and have the space, they are focusing on fabrication.  

Buckeye Solar Racing team with vehicle

The team has four sub-teams: business, structural, electrical and aerodynamic. As of right now, they’ve finished the chassis and bought a motor. Some projects they are currently working on are integrating the separate components onto the chassis, the driver canopy, wiring and programming the vehicle. 

The main event Solar Racing is preparing for this year is the Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) from June 27 to July 2 in Topeka, Kansas. This event has Grand Prix-style closed courses. Operations Director Samantha Turner said that this year the team is just trying to race. At FSGP, they will need to pass scrutineering — the evaluation of the car by race officials — to be able to race. If they don’t pass scrutineering, they will need to rush and make changes to the car the day of the race to hopefully compete.  

Turner, who is a senior, has been working on this project since her sophomore year. She said she is proud of the work the team has done within the last few years. “I’m excited that Solar Racing is finally an official organization and an official student team. This ensures that the team will be functioning longer after senior officer members like me graduate and pass the team off to a new generation of students.”  

modified version of article by CAR Writing Intern Cassie Forsha

Category: Students
Tag: mobility