What have you missed?
Read the stories below to catch up on all the exciting news that used to be on the welcome page.
Missing: 1 ft3 of bolts
Yes, SAE has taken a novel approach to working in a shop. 4 out of 5 racers recommend working in a clean, well organized shop, and the 5th racer was confused, saying we should work in a dirty shop until we have finished cleaning it. Then we'd work in a clean shop after that. We've been having fun meeting each others on Saturdays to come in, learn about subtle differences in nuts, bolts, and other miscellaneous hardware, and learn about the practical applications of engineering. Saturday, February 13th we are having a meeting at 1:00 PM in ET-15. Don't forget to pick up a Valentine's Day special bouquet of bolts for the engineering guys and girls you're trying to impress! Free to all those who help!
AESB meet & greet:
1/27/2010 - I want to thank all of the people that attended the AESB event and came right to our site just as soon as they could just to fill out a survey! Now if any of you are good at web design . . . We can work something out.
North America Foundation Survey
DENSO has asked the Engineering students to take a brief (18 checkboxes maximum, and possibly 3 short answer questions) survey. This survey will evaluate and improve the foundation's effectiveness. It is a requirement of DENSO Foundation funding and will assist in providing further support to the college. We ask that you submit your answers by midnight Sunday, February 14th.
DENSO North America Foundation Survey
CSULB SAE and DENSO North America Foundation thank you in advance for your participation.
Spring meeting schedule
SAE is hosting a "get ready for the new semester" shop cleanup day this Saturday, January 29th. Anyone who wants to be considered to go to the competition in South Carolina should attend the cleanup day and plan on working hard and getting dirty. Consider it an audition for the team, or a return on the school's investment in sending six of us to South Carolina. Please email the secretary at secretary@csulbRacing.com to confirm your attendance and give your available work times. An email will go out no later than midnight Friday to all those who signed up to attend the cleanup specifying the exact hours the shop will be open to help participate in the cleanup.
Regular meetings will commence Tuesdays at 7:00 PM. Please note this is a slight time change, as we needed to accommodate some of our more senior member's schedules.
NSBE conference
11/21/2009 - The National Society of Black Engineers hosted their regional conference at CSULB this weekend. As part of the festivities, SAE brought out the Formula car, the Baja car, and the cutaway engine model.
Vice President Michael Basch, along with members Brett 
Hoffman, Rodney Wong, Tyler Patten, Mike Beadle, Thamer Hussein, Kevin Glick, Gabriel Martin, and Ryan Mifflin engaged all the new members, touting the benefits of joining SAE to the touring NSBE members from across the United States.
Homecoming 2009
11/14/2009 - CSULB celebrated its 50th anniversary this weekend, hosting their 50th annual homecoming. The theme was "60 years in the making" and SAE partnered with AESB (the Associated Engineering Student Body) to create a "time machine" to display pictures showcasing the college of engineering's legacy.
Along with setting up the time machine, SAE Vice President Michael Basch and members Brett Hoffman, Ryan Mifflin, .JPG)
Kevin Glick, and brought out a barbeque, both the formula and the Baja cars, and the cutaway model of the Subaru engine. Despite the poor planning of those in charge of the event, the small number of people that were able to find our display had a great time.
It wasn't just people that had a great time at the event, .JPG)
even the dogs were having a great time! Although he couldn't drive the car, one St. Bernard still couldn't resist jumping in the driver's seat to take it for a test drive. It's a good thing the engine doesn't purr like a kitten or we could have had a disaster on our hands.
It wasn't just the cars that interested the attendees, the cutaway engine,.JPG)
rotating at only 60 RPM, allowed people to see what is happening inside an engine. It caught the attention of a group of boys, and they spent quite a long time asking questions about the various engine pieces that were finally able to see without tearing apart their father's engine. It was heartwarming to see many fathers picking up their children to point out pieces of the car. The model is a great way to learn about the internals of an engine and watch it work at the same time. Along with the other displays, this type of display shows the dynamic side of engineering, keeping children of all ages engaged while allowing discussion of the attributes of an engine with people of all skill levels, from 3 year old girls to 70 year old grandfathers.
Ongoing meetings
SAE holds its meetings every Tuesday at 5:00 in ET-15. Click on the contact link on the side of the page for a map. We are currently working on designing a new Formula car, and have divided into two teams: an engine / driveline team and a chassis/suspension/body team. The teams meet on alternate weeks, but we encourage anyone interested to attend the meetings, no matter where your interest lies. The only way to be aa part of this fascinating team is to show up and see for yourself just how much fun it can be.
Second meeting a success!
10/12/09 - With an estimated 35 members attending our second meeting, we'll have plenty of ideas and help, making the project easier for everyone. At the last meeting we told everyone that we were going to separate into two teams: a "chassis/suspension" team and an "engine/driveline" team. After a number of emails from students, we are going to add a third team, the "muffler bearing/blinker fluid" team as a default team for members to be on.
Before our next meeting (Tuesday, October 27th at 5:00 in ET-15) we want every member to download a copy of the rules and read them, paying special attention to the section that pertains to their specific team. Look at the winning teams and try to reverse-engineer their cars. Why did they choose the suspension they did? Why did they pick a 600cc motor instead of a 450? What parts seem to cause teams a lot of problems? Can you decide on a better option?
We purposefully postponed our next meeting to give our members three weeks to do their homework. We don't expect anyone to pick the final driveline, but we do expect that members can name the advantages and disadvantages of certain types of suspension, or have a list of the winning teams and their driveline components, or some other proof that they want to be a part of the team. The only team that has room for people that aren't willing to donate an hour or two a week to the club is the "muffler bearing/blinker fluid" team. Those members can research which viscosity of elbow grease we should use.
If you can't attend the meetings, send me an email before the meeting, and I'll be sure to add your name to whichever team you want to be on.
Yamaha will be sponsoring a Formula Car!
Yamaha Motors, based in Cypress, CA, recently contacted CSULB to gauge our interest in starting up a Yamaha-Powered Formula car. Well of course we are interested, who wouldn't be? We select an engine, 
they give us engines as they go through their testing, and we successfully engineer and design a Formula SAE chassis that that meets the rules. That is where any of you reading this site come in. This project will be large undertaking, and we will need help. It doesn't matter if you can't turn a wrench or if you've successfully raced in the Baja 1000, we have a position for you.
We are having a meeting this Tuesday (September 29th) at 5:00 PM in the Baja Shop. All are invited to attend and try to snag some of the free pizza that will be available. We want to present what Formula SAE is, explain how we expect the teams to break down, have people ask questions, and then go home, look at what some of the other teams have created, and come back knowing that between CSULB and Yamaha we can achieve a first place finish in the 2011 FSAE competition!
SAE Welcomes Freshmen!
CSULB SAE has been actively participating in the SOAR events, putting the car on display at four of them. If you've seen the car in a fully-built state at one of the other events you understand just how many parts are missing off the car. We were going to hold a contest to see who could come up with all the missing parts, but there just isn't enough time at the events for the students to list all of the parts.
We are putting together some events to get everyone introduced to the team right now, keep your eyes glued to your mailboxes for further communication.
Two parts failures drop CSULB SAE from 15th to 60th place overall
6/15/2009 - After the team's great performance on Saturday we were 
looking forward to destroying the competition on Sunday. The weather was beautiful (although a little too hot) and all the mud had been wiped clean, leaving the car just as shiny as it was before its plunge into the mud bog. The rest of the teams had cleaned their cars, and you can see all of them by downloading the 7mb file from the Pictures page. The team was feeling great, buoyed by an 10th place finish in the acceleration event and a 15th place finish in the suspension and traction event. These excellent scores were tempered by mid-pack results for both the mud bog and the sled pull. The team was pretty happy with the mid-pack results because, as we state below, we hadn't even considered these events during our designing or testing periods.
Halfway through the first lap Murphy's law of racing reared its ugly head. The one tool we had debated bringing with us was a Tig welder. We had 
confidence in our chassis and thought that unlike last year there would be no need to weld parts onto the car. As it turns out there was no need to weld anything onto the car, but welding the input shaft on the transmission would have been beneficial. We had all four members ripping the rear end of the car apart in order to get the transmission taken apart, get the shaft out, and find a welder. After welding all hands were busy reassembling the car to get it back to the track.
Once back on the track Dave Pearce drove like a maniac, 
passing six cars at a time, flying across rock gardens other teams idled over, and generally proving that CSULB was one of the best schools on the track. To try to counter Dave's exuberant mood, one of the steering bolts sheared, but despite being stuck on the track for the final twenty minutes and covered in mud that snuck through the full-face helmet, Dave couldn't stop smiling.
For a full copy of the results, download them from our pictures website. Yeah, it's not the greatest place, but I wanted to provide the results so you can compare our scores to the other schools. CSULB is colored in Gold to make it easier to find amid 120 other schools.
All the preliminary events are finished
6/13/2009 - It was a long, muddy day but CSULB SAE students had a lot of fun. One of the events was a mud bog, to which Michael Basch gave two thumbs up. This event required two drives 
through a 2 foot deep, fifty foot long mud pit. Southern California is generally not known for having mud anywhere, so this was an event that the students could not prepare for. The sled pull (performed by Roger Rosas) was another event that CSULB had never practiced before, and we were able to drag an 800 pound sled nearly 25 feet before we came to a stop.
The team was able to finish up all of the events during the day, even taking an hour break to make some changes to the front tire alignment. These changes allowed Dave Pearce to perform flawlessly during the Suspension and Handling event. Although we took video of this event, the pictures from Barstow show a much greater utilization of the team's suspension design.
Tomorrow is going to be the final event of the competition, the four hour endurance race. Dave Pearce and Joe Solomon will be driving while Mike Basch and Roger Rosas perform pit duties. We'll get some video to the web site as soon as we recover from the four days of racing.
Tech is done
6/12/2009 - CSULB is proud of all these stickers. While many of the teams have the blue stickers, nobody else has the 
CSULB seal of approval!
Thursday we passed our engine inspection without any problems. The team set the engine RPM perfectly: The judges in charge of setting engine specs said that no other team had the engine set so perfectly that the judges didn't have to adjust it at all. The Briggs & Stratton logo sticker went on the car Thursday.
Friday we missed passing through tech the first time through; not because the car was out of spec, but because we did some material equivalency calculations in US units instead of SI units. A quick bit of calculations and referencing material properties on the web, and we re-submitted the paperwork. The judge inspecting us couldn't believe that was the only thing that held us from passing. A quick review of the paperwork, and we earned the "Passed Tech" sticker.
We went back to the trailer, aired up the tires, jacked up the rear of the car, and warmed up the brakes for a little bit. When we saw a bit of heat discoloration we knew they were warm enough for an impressive showing during the braking test. After a brief miscommunication between the judges and the team, we proceeded to breeze through the brake test, stopping so quickly we had plumes of smoke coming from the tires. That earned us the "SAE Baja Wisconsin" sticker courtesy of SAE and a steak dinner courtesy of CSULB.
Competition starts soon!
6/5/2009 - A few final safety checks, a few final paperwork checks, and a few more skid marks in the faculty parking lot, and the 
CSULB SAE team is ready to leave! Joe Solomon is very pleased with the performance of the car, giving it two thumbs up. Dave isn't very happy, he's stuck carrying the rules checklist and CVT tuning worksheets. Acceleration times were brought down by more than 1.5 seconds over 150 feet, ensuring that CSULB starts (and finishes) at the front of the race.
After this testing, the trailer was loaded, and Mike Fritz began the long drive to Burlington, Wisconsin where the competition will be held June 11-14th. Following Murphy's law of racing, the team packed the entire 42" rollaway full of tools. The reasoning: If we need it, we won't have it, and if we have it, we won't need it. The team brought every tool we own, ensuring that we won't need any of them.
Barstow (Again) 5/8/09
We got back from Barstow, the car handles even better than before. We found an even rougher course, tuned the CVT for extra speed, and cleared longer jumps.
Keep an eye out for pictures (and videos) coming soon, but it is finals time right now, and I don't really know flash, so it might take a while. If you know how to do photo galleries, don't hesitate to email us using the contact link.
Here's a picture to whet your appetite for upcoming pictures: Dave Pearce clearing a set of doubles. Check out the picture below to get a feel for how far we were jumping the car.
Dave Pearce attempted the doubles again after swapping a different belt in the CVT. You can see the definite lack of speed; he couldn't even clear the doubles. You can see Joe Solomon standing by the jump in case anything went wrong.
Barstow, CA 4/3/2009
To perform adequate durability testing, a track with jumps like these was raced for five hours. Each lap took about 2 minutes, so our car jumped like this more than 100 times. There was absolutely no damage to any portion of the car during the testing.
Testing has begun
Sunday, March 22nd saw the first off-highway testing of CSULB Racing's 2009 car. The research and planning by Dave Pearce and Joe Solomon is evident when looking at the car: driving it proves that the right choices were made. You can see Dave's huge smile when he sat in the car for the first time. If he looks a little tired that is understandable, we finished building the car five minutes before midnight on Friday, March 20th.
The car weighs significantly less than previous years. While small gains were realized through lighter shocks and wheels, the primary gain was from the smaller chassis with a much more efficient design. The lower weight significantly increases the power-to-weight ratio, which allows for a 
significant increase in both acceleration and top-end speed. The lower weight did not cause a decrease in the handling of the vehicle: the efficient chassis feels stiffer than its predecessors, allowing the suspension to cycle as designed.
Because the car has been finished three months before the competition, the members are anticipating a number of additional testing days. These additional testing days will allow the team to optimize the suspension and CVT for the varying conditions encountered during the race. The well engineered frame allows for complete CVT removal, adjustment, and reinstallation in less than five minutes.
There are always additional items to be attended to that are only 
discovered during testing. The brake lines appear to require shortening and/or rerouting, the turning radius can be tightened a little more, and the seat may require a little more padding. While these issues didn't provide any problems during testing, it is the attention to the tiniest details like these that show why the 2009 CSULB SAE team will be the best team yet!
The weather was a little cold in Barstow this weekend. Temperatures were in the low 40's with a 30 MPH wind gusting to 45 MPH. The excitement was the only thing around to keep members warm.
Final Assembly is ongoing
We're on schedule to go test the car this weekend: a few bolts need to get drilled for safety wire, but Roger is hard at 
work on that. Once that is finished, the car will be on the ground, awaiting the clear coated titanium body panels and some touch-up paint. The pictures here on the web site are a few days old, why don't you come to the shop and see for yourself just how well the car is coming together. If you help out now, when you come to the desert you'll get to drive longer!
Email a club
SAE is always happy to help ENGR 102 students get extra credit. We do ask for a little help though. If you've actually come to the web site, email us at ExtraCredit@csulbRacing.com so that we'll know you at least made it to our home page. You can still CC your teacher in the message this way. But please read the page "I want to join" first, it will answer a lot of your questions and save me from sending the same generic email time and time again.
Painting is finished!
The chassis is now gloss black. There are a few drips, but a few drips painted the car, so what can you expect? Rattlecans, trees, wind, and an inexperienced painter are not ideal conditions. We're engineers, not painters. If anybody has a powder coating business and would like to donate their services, please contact us! We'd be happy to work out a sponsorship package with you. Not only will your company get a tax write off (consult your tax advisor for details) but you will be will be helping a local school.
Please note our fancy paint booth in the pictures below. The frame is upside down because we paint the bottom to make sure it is well protected, then flip it right side up and check for missed areas. A coat of primer, a coat of gloss black, and then a heavier coat of gloss black along the main frame members and those not covered by padding or panels.
The shop doesn't normally look this clean. With a little bit of caffeine we were able to clean the shop in record time. Go to the Downloads page to get the video of us cleaning.
Extra brain cells?
Do you love the smell of spray paint? Do you have too many brain cells and are looking for a way to relieve the overcrowding? Come to ET-15 this week while we're painting, we'll help you get rid of them. The only thing left to prime are the uprights and the frame. After that two coats of gloss black (graciously donated by Chuck Martiny at Smith Paint in Signal Hill, CA) and we'll start reassembly. Stay tuned for the time-lapse video of the assembly process. Want to be in the video? Show up now so you know how to put the car back together.
The Voting is over. Picture #4 will be published in the 2009 SAE program
Here is the blurb that will accompany the picture in the 2009 SAE program.
The students of California State University Long Beach have previously enjoyed faculty support for SAE Aero Design, Formula SAE, and SAE Baja. Recently CSULB SAE has been plagued by a vicious cycle of poor performance and lackluster interest by both students and faculty. After the final disappointing performance in Canada, members David Pearce, Michael Basch, and Joe Solomon wanted to restore CSULB SAE to its previous glory. Every idea was questioned and subjected to harsh evaluation. Every crucial piece was subjected to FEA before the design was finalized. Only after the entire design was finalized was any production started, and all tolerances were held to the hundredth of an inch or tighter. Not only was the car finished three months ahead of schedule, but it was finished while recruiting and training enough members to maintain SAE for another four years. These new members have proven instrumental in successfully building the current car, and will soon create a Formula SAE racer that matches the standards set by the 2009 SAE Baja car. With new cars and a new team, CSULB SAE will show that even the impossible is likely at California State University Long Beach. GO BEACH!
Vote Now! Deadline February 22nd 4:00 pm
We must pic (ha!) a picture for the SAE Baja newsletter. We can't get all of the team together long enough for a picture, so it must be of the car by itself. Which picture should we use? Send an email to voting@csulbRacing.com to decide which picture to use. Make sure to Rank the pictures (i.e. 3, 5, 1, 2, 4) to help break a tie. All entries must be received by Sunday February 22nd at 4:00 pm.
Rather than vote now, why don't you come to the shop and help? We'd like to get the car disassembled and finish welded before the pictures! If you come in now, you can get your picture included in the program! Make sure to wear a black t-shirt and blue jeans.
#1 Joe Komenda, Showing off his better side. |
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#2 The car sitting on the cement outside the shop, chassis clearly visible and measurements could almost be taken. |
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#3 The car on the lawn, with the tubes catching the light. The frame geometry isn't easily copied from this angle. |
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#4 -- The Winning Photo! Overhead view. Good view of the car overall, but the lawn looks dry. |
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#5 Car sitting outside the shop in the ivy. Chassis shadow clearly visible in background. |
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The car is on the ground!
Sunday February 15, 2009 - There are those who said we couldn't build a car and expect it to fit exactly like the model. Others said we wouldn't be able to shave 20% of the weight off the previous year's car. More importantly, there are a few people that knew it could be done. SAE would like to formally thank the members whose blood, sweat, and free time helped make this possible! 
Our Purpose:
We are a group of engineering students who understand that there is more to be learned than what can be taught in the classroom. We desire in-depth practical knowledge: how can we calculate yield strength of unknown metals? What is an appropriate safety factor? Just how dirty can we get in a weekend?
Dirty? What do we really do?
Take a look around our web site. You'll see the rich history that CSULB SAE consists of. View pictures of the legendary yellow car that outperformed more than one hundred other teams to place second in 2001. Take a look at our pictures and biographies; get a feel for who we are. Look through our rule-book to see how many requirement we have to meet. If you are still looking around the web site. by then, either fill out an application to join us, or send an email for a personal tour of the shop. If you are feeling particularly generous and wish to sponsor us, use our contact form, or email us directly for personalized attention.