WMU’s formula racing team Racing ahead

By Jon Stonehouse
Western Herald

(Photo courtesy Geoff VanGemert, WMU Formula Racing ) SAE President, Sarah Gerbig, lays down carbon fiber for the body of an ‘08 race car.

Instead of sweating bullets in the classroom during final exam week, Sarah Gerbig will be racing at Virginia International Speedway. But for the Western Michigan University senior, it’s not all shake and bake.

After taking exams a week early and driving hours to Virginia, Gerbig and her team of 15 will arrive at the track before 7 a.m. for an initial technical inspection of their formula racecar. The inspection is based on a specifications rulebook, more than 100 pages long. In fact, finals may seem like the smallest hurdle for the WMU formula racing team this semester as they face a grueling April packed with competitions.

The next four weeks will be intense for the WMU registered student organization. They are still scrambling to install an engine in their vehicle and prepare for race events and presentations, including a sales presentation to a mock executive firm on the manufacturability and marketability of their car.

Approximately 50 teams from schools across the nation will be competing at the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Virginia competition in racing events that judge a car’s acceleration, endurance, fuel economy, noise reduction and lap time.

“It’s the most I’ve seen rival schools interact,” said Jeff Terry, project manager for the team.

Terry said that while the teams were competitive with one another, they carried extra parts, even spare engines, and swapped during the race if need be. Such collaboration is what helped the WMU team last year, as they were plagued with axle problems.

What plagues the WMU Formula Racing team lies deeper than axles and has more to do with its history as an organization on campus.

(Photo courtesy Sports Car Club of America) Jeremiah McClintock, a mechanical engineer major at WMU, races his car in the autocross event at Formula Michigan 2008 at the Michigan International Speedway.

“The history of SAE at WMU has been extremely inconsistent,” Terry said.

In January, Gerbig was nationally recognized by the national SAE organization for her leadership in SAE activities on campus at a seminar in Orlando, Fla. She was recognized among other students from schools including the University of Michigan, Ohio State University and University of Alabama. Claudia Fajardo, a mechanical engineering professor at WMU, said she nominated Gerbig for the honor for furthering a strong SAE presence on WMU’s campus and eliminating past SAE inconsistencies on campus.

“[It] is something we haven’t had in a couple years,” Fajardo said, referring to past SAE disparities.

A couple years may be an understatement. The team said last year was the first time the team competed and finished well since the 1980s. From historical records and accounts the group has obtained, the first known WMU formula racing team formed in the late ’80s with a high fifth place finish.

The group believes there may have been a team in the mid ’90s but cannot be sure. In 2003 a team was formed and went to compete at the Michigan competition but engine troubles kept them from participating.

Finally, in 2006, a more organized team passed inspections, but only competed in one event. Then in the following year, the team paid the necessary registration fees, but was unable to produce a decent car before competition.

Last year, the team was able to participate in every event, which Fajardo noted was an accomplishment and a turn in the right direction.

While the university does not have a formal automotive program, Fajardo said her department offers courses with a strong automotive component, adding that SAE competitions were also key in preparing students for employment in the industry.

“As students, it’s important not only to learn but apply what they’ve learned to companies,” Fajardo said. “When students go to interview with these companies, typically the companies want to know, ‘what are the students doing above and beyond going to the class room?’”

While the team was able to participate in every event last year, it also gave them direction on what to improve for competition in April. Last year the team had the second heaviest car in the competition at approximately 500 lbs., which restricted further advancement in events such as the design semifinals.

This year the team has managed to save seven pounds in weight per wheel and have added other significant changes to the design and construction of the car, including the removal of unneeded gears and the redesign of the suspension and axles on the rear end.

“It’s the best we’ve done in 20 years,” Gerbig said, president of the WMU SAE chapter.

Gerbig credited their success to the strong support and ties between the academic department and the team.

While other formula racing teams at schools across the nation are given access to their cars for as few as eight hours a day, the WMU chapter is given 24 hour access to lab facilities by the department.

One other advantage for the team may be in their driver. Behind the wheel this April WMU will have JT McClintock, two-time national Sports Car Club of America champion in Formula 125 Racing.

But not every member of the WMU formula racing team has much experience in racing or engineering.  The team says it is a multi-disciplinary project as they have solicited to business, marketing and physics majors to aid in the presentation part of the competitions.

Currently they have a student majoring in physical education wrenching on the car.

While they have an eclectic mix of members, the formula racing team is wary of their organization’s future, as most of the group will graduate next year.  In an effort to provide a solid foundation for the team, they have recruited extensively to new students and are developing outreach programs to demonstrate the benefits of membership, some of which include internships with top engineering employers.

“It’s crucial to get students involved in their freshman and sophomore year; otherwise the program has to be restarted every year,” Gerbig said. “I’ve heard of auto companies who only want students with formula racing experience.”

One former member of the race team was hired for a fulltime position with NASA as others have landed internships with Ford Motor Co., Eaton Industries and Boeing Co. Gerbig recently interned with Rolls-Royce. In an outreach effort, the team will hold an unveiling ceremony of their finished car May 8 at the WMU Parkview campus before their competition at the Michigan International Speedway.

“It’s definitely pretty intense but fun at the same time,” Gerbig said. “They’ve [SAE team] dedicated their lives to the project for the last year so everyone wants to do well.”

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Mar 31 2009. Filed under Breaking, Campus, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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