UBCO Motorsports October Newsletters

UBCO Motorsports Newsletter October Newsletter

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Welcome to the Team!

Testing, Testing, One Two Three… Alright I Think It Works!

Its interesting times we’re in, oil prices in the toilet, a Canadian Liberal government for the first time in forever, and a new trending dance move every month that just gets weirder and weirder with each iteration. Luckily, the UBCO Motorsports team has survived harlems’, twerking, and nei nei’s, and has still managed to make an amazing amount of progress from the beginning of the 2015/16 school year. We started off with an amazing donation of $25,000 from the Swiftsure Foundation, a team of dedicated students, and the backing of our Facility. We have progressed to the point where we have dedicated space on campus, a large portion of our budget sponsored, a frame being built, a high performance race engine en-route, and a full-blown race dash delivered. All of this before midterms are even over!

We Have Workspace!

The biggest struggle that we have battled with over the last 3 years has been finding a space close to campus to work on. But alas, finally we have settled in one of the most convenient spaces possible right beside the EME! Better yet, this is beside the scrap bin where we have managed to piece together a workbench that doubles as a tire holder from a sheet fridge, and a 4-drawer filing cabinet that used to have a broken lock. It’s really quite amazing what can be done with a hammer, duct-tape, and a grinder.

We will continue to furnish our space with luxuries such as walls, workbenches, and a questionable calendar that a sketchy elementary school student was selling door to door after nobody bought his coupon book. Many potential sponsors have been approached and the space will be built before its cold enough to freeze your tongue to the chassis.

Spencer Bostock TIGing away

Chassis

After being meticulously designed and tested by last years Chassis team on Solidworks, our finalized design was sent to friendly folks over at Cartesian Tube Profiling based out of Onterrible… I mean Ontario, who specializes in creating extremely accurate frame members. They cut all the bits and pieces we need and have sent them over to us, arriving in a parcel that would of gotten the most spoilt kid in the world during Christmas excited. From there, Excel Metal Fabrication based out of Kelowna put us together a jig and then the real fun began! Our Technical Director Spencer Bostock along with assistance from our Chassis Lead Nico Volpe began the painstaking process of piecing the entire jigsaw together, piece by piece, until everything was absolutely perfect.

Recently, the team has received a spectacular donation of an AIM MXL data acquisition system from an anonymous sponsor (so I’m just going to stay its me). This system not only shows the basic things like RPM and speed, but also has the ability to measure and track parameters such as suspension travel, wheel temperature gradients, and the fear a driver has when taking a corner at extremely high speeds in the units of milliliters of urine per lap. By this system, we have the ability to tune the suspension to its peak performance for different environmental conditions.

Hard at work in the new home

PAF Fund

Running a car isn’t cheap, running a race team is even less cheap, and designing, building, and racing a custom built formula car… well the word ludicrous comes to mind. Luckily, the School of Engineering has stepped in to help us with an incredibly generous donation of $12,000 from the Professional Activity Fund to help craft the first successful FSAE car ever.

Look at it, just look at it!