NovaRacing Delivers Strong Performance at Michigan International Speedway
Since 2008, the members of NovaRacing鈥斈烫侵辈 University鈥檚 Formula SAE team鈥攈ave been traveling to Brooklyn, Michigan, each May for the Formula SAE competition at Michigan International Speedway. Over several days, the car that the team spends a year conceiving, designing, fabricating and testing competes against more than 100 others from colleges and universities around the world. In 2019鈥攚ith a car dedicated to the memory of the late Dean Gary A. Gabriele who served as the team鈥檚 advisor鈥擭ovaRacing once again performed admirably, placing 20th overall out of nearly 140 teams.
SAE International鈥檚 Formula competition provides students with the real-world challenges of systems engineering, design and problem solving, along with the teaming challenges of collaboration and cooperation. Each year, teams are required to start at square one (previous years鈥 cars cannot be reused), working under the assumption that a manufacturing firm has engaged them to produce a prototype racecar for evaluation as a production item. The challenge is to design and fabricate a car that best meets the client鈥檚 goals and intents as described on the SAE website:
At the Michigan event, cars are judged in a series of static events: design, cost and presentation, and dynamic events: acceleration, autocross, skid-pad and endurance. Each event has specified minimum acceptable performance levels that are reflected in the scoring equations. This year, NovaRacing鈥檚 results were as follows:
- 5th place in acceleration
- 10th in sales presentation
- 15th in endurance
- 28th in fuel efficiency
- 28th in cost
- 42nd in autocross
- 45th (tie) in design
- 50th in skid-pad
In placing 20th overall, Dr. Gerard 鈥淛erry鈥 Jones, Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research and advisor to the NovaRacing team, noted, 鈥淭his was a very good performance considering the tight schedule and not much track testing for the car before the race.鈥
Incoming team captain Christopher Auslander 鈥20 CpE said: 鈥淲e learned a lot from this year鈥檚 car, VU11, including the importance of proper management and planning and just how important a cohesive team can be. The members of our team were and are very dedicated and committed to making a great car, even through difficult design challenges.鈥 Noting the excitement around VU12, he added, 鈥淥ur goal for next year is to improve our car鈥檚 performance by adding a new aerodynamic package. This will help our drivers with handling, control and speed around corners. We are also looking to improve our general engineering design process with improved documentation practices.鈥
Rex Hamilton, a member of the Engineering Advisory Board who joined the team in Michigan, pointed out a number of inequities among the competing teams that included time off from school to build their cars, government funding for international competitors and more advanced technology. He said, 鈥溎烫侵辈 did amazingly well against these odds.鈥 His son Louis 鈥20 ME, one of NovaRacing鈥檚 drivers, had a particularly rewarding experience. In addition to placing 15th in his endurance drive, Louis so impressed a representative from Tesla that he was interviewed and offered a job on the spot.
Representing every engineering discipline, as well as students from the 奶糖直播 School of Business, members of the NovaRacing team included: captain James Morgan 鈥19 ME, incoming team captain Chris Auslander 鈥20 CpE, Michael Blaney 鈥21 ME, James Britt 鈥20 CpE, Aarya Deb 鈥21 ME, Peter Dethlefs 鈥19 EE, Andrew Feiner 鈥19 ChE, John Flynn 鈥19 ME, Harrison Freon 鈥19 ME, Louis Hamilton 鈥20 ME, Nicholas Kallan 鈥19 VSB, Sindi Kulla 鈥22 VSB, Bridget LaSala 鈥21 CE, Christina Maffattone 鈥21 ME, Devin McCartney 鈥20 CE, James Morgan 鈥19 ME, Trevor Murray 鈥21 EE, Steven Nigro 鈥21 ME, Justin Pellis 鈥20 ChE, Samantha Sandler 鈥20 ME, Carina Silvermoon 鈥19 CLAS, Nick Villano 鈥21 ME and Carleton Ward 鈥20 ME.
Auslander notes that NovaRacing is looking for engineers who are hoping to apply their skills to a real engineering project, as well as business students who can help grow the team鈥檚 publicity and connection with sponsors. To learn more, contact him at causlan1@villanova.edu.