Formulae SAE: Engineering Skills Development

This assignment examines the significance of Formulae SAE competitions for aspiring automotive engineers. It emphasizes how these events provide a platform for developing crucial engineering skills, fostering innovation, and encouraging the application of theoretical knowledge to real-world challenges. The focus is on how participating in Formulae SAE can lead to improvements in fuel efficiency, safety, and pollution reduction in future vehicles. The potential for creating marketable assets from the racing car designs, which can be sold to automobile companies, is also highlighted as a significant benefit.

9/25/2017
Student Name
Formulae SAE Design and Development Management

Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review........................................................................................................................................2
Management concept...............................................................................................................................2
Review of the More Technical Aspects of the Project.............................................................................3
Project Methodology and Plan.....................................................................................................................3
Formulae SAE team management...........................................................................................................3
Sponsorship management........................................................................................................................3
Funding for the Formulae SAE team.......................................................................................................4
Risk management....................................................................................................................................4
Fundraising for the Formulae SAE team.................................................................................................5
Time management for Formulae SAE team.............................................................................................5
Cost element for the team........................................................................................................................5
Proposed Component Development Objective............................................................................................6
References...................................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
Formulae SAE is a Competition which involves automobile design students and is aimed at
identifying important automotive engineering technologies and approaches which can be used to
enhance their learning and boost innovation. The competition was stated in 1980 after motor
racing was found to be an unsustainable industry. This meant that racing teams had to constantly
work to monitor and manage their teams to secure external funding so as to ensure they remain
in operation (Brown, 2011). This has resulted in motorsports teams and enthusiasts turning their
attention towards advertisement from sponsors as their primary source of income. With funding
fully dependant on sponsorships from external sources, teams must focus on managing their
funds carefully so as to ensure they harness the maximum output from every dollar invested on
the vehicle. Motor Racing is a sport which involves high risk and danger and one of the main
reasons it attracts spectators. Every year, motorsports events experience serious injuries and
deaths due to the high risk involved (Majerus, 2007, p. 27). The report shall focus on developing
an effective management plane for the development of a Formulae SAE team. The report shall
analyses important approaches which teams and team members must follow and manage so as to
ensure their racing vehicles design is completed within the stipulated time frame and budget.
Literature Review
Management concept
The management concept related to this proposal is the design and utilization of a safer Formulae
SAE vehicle which delivers a high performance vehicle designs. The newly developed
components can be later offered for sale to well establish vehicle manufactures. This acts as a
practical activity to encourage automobile engineering students to boost their ingenuity and
innovation related to problems automobiles manufactures may be currently experiencing. The
new designs may be developed and help spot students focus towards developing designs after
which they can move their attention towards searching for funding to help develop their designs.
Once completed the designs shall be practically put to the test on the race track where the
designs shall be analysed and details statistics collected to determine the designs success and
how much improvement is has made to current designs in the market. The exercise shall
introduce a new, better and safer design which shall improve performance of Formulae SAE

vehicle and which can later be used by commercial automobile manufactures to improve design
and performance (Livesey1, 2012).
Review of the More Technical Aspects of the Project
A Formulae SAE sports vehicle will require to be designed from scratch and teams will need to
be devised department wise to focuses on different elements of the vehicles. Each will require
identifying a specific area of expertise and improvement of a particular component being used or
introduced to the vehicle (Puskar, 2013). The project is aimed at introducing new Formulae SAE
components which will help improve safety and performance when tested on Formulae SAE
vehicles and data collected which can be used to further improve the designs for commercial use
by automobile manufactures. It’s important that the commercial aspect linked to the designs is
always maintained since these designs and ideas would act as the engineer’s trump card while
presenting their knowledge and capabilities to employers in future. Most automobile companies
will review the engineer’s ability and ability to look ahead while designing new components
while still focusing on the commercial and financial aspects linked to the project. Developing
components which do not offer financial viability is likely not to attract any potential employer’s
interest and the designs do not offer any financial gains in for the business.
Project Methodology and Plan
Formulae SAE team management
Formulae SAE teams are aimed at encouraging automobile engineering students to introduce,
propose and design new elements and features which can be introduced to the Formulae SAE
vehicles and make them perform better, safer and effective. Formulae SAE has been a preferred
choice for automobile engineering students due to it being an adrenaline filled sport which
carried high risk but at the same time, it has been classified as an unsustainable industry
(Brown1, 2011). This is due to motorsports relaying primarily on sponsorship as the primary
source of funding making it important to manage all expenses carefully so as to ensure funding
harnesses the highest returned on investment.
Sponsorship management
Formulae SAE is heavily dependent on sponsorship from automobile companies and businesses
in general who advertise the brand name on the vehicle to be viewed by spectators during the

race. This makes advertising of the vehicles components and important aspect linked to
approaching advertises who will buy the vacant space to display their brand name. This makes
different sections of the vehicle attract different sponsorship rates making it important to classify
the different components so as to identify the advertisement value to be expected from each
component. Leading race vehicles designs are also likely to attract more media and viewer
attention thus attracting more and higher sponsorship in interest which automatically generates
more sponsorship and financial support (Irwin, Sutton, & McCarthy, 2008).
Funding for the Formulae SAE team
The Formulae SAE team funding depends heavily on sponsorship meaning teams needs to make
the initial investment towards the project after which they can approach sponsors to buy
advertisements space. This makes it important to finalize a design before sponsors can be
approached with sponsorship details of different vehicle components and parts of the vehicle can
be offered for advertisement in exchange for financial support and assistant to build the vehicle.
(Schlachter & Weber, 2005). Each component of the vehicle design must also be patented to help
protect the design from being used by other teams and designers who may identify an
opportunity to develop a new and more effective design from the team’s ideas. This makes it
important that the design is registered to help protect the design throughout the design,
development and refining process.
Risk management
Formulae SAE racing is a risky venture making it important for the team to develop effective
designs which minimize the risk of serious accidents breaches in the code of conduct set by the
Formulae SAE governing council. This is especially important with high-risk competent such as
the battery, engine, exhaust system , Fuel tank and line which could lead to serious fires,
accidents, and death if not designed properly. This has made it important for the design to be
carefully evaluated before implementation and thoroughly tested under controlled environments
to measure the fuel tank projected safety level as opposed to its actual safety level (Henry,
Angus, Jenkins, & Aylett, 2007). The design must take all aspects in to consideration to reduce
the risk of accidents occurring which can be prevented through proper design evolutions
procedures for the Formulae SAE racing vehicles.

Fundraising for the Formulae SAE team
With the design completed, successfully tested and data collected for analysis, the team can use
this information to approach vehicle companies for fundraising and supply sponsorship (Sargeant
& Shang, 2017). There are many businesses and entrepreneurs looking to offer sponsorship
towards viable projects but it’s important that all information and data be carefully analysed and
a professional presentation prepared. While the prototype would be developed for Formulae SAE
motor caring vehicles the proposed components should be viable for use on private cars and
commercial vehicles. The design would utilize the fundamental designs and internal materials to
help improve current vehicle design and improvement of performance. With a patented design
which has been tested successfully the developer will easily be able to secure funding for further
development of the vehicle components and parts under protection of patent laws to avoid design
theft and mass production but unauthorised developers. It’s critical to design, test, and patents
the design and idea prevent competitions from taking up the idea and mass producing the
product.
Time management for Formulae SAE team
The Formulae SAE is developed and managed by college students which results in the teams
having time constraints related to them managing their daily educational curriculum and
development and management of the Formulae SAE team. This is one of the reasons team must
be broken in to departments each focusing on a different component of the vehicle design. Each
department will be responsible for designing and raising funds for the components and also
offering surplus funds to department of the team which may be facing financial budget deficit.
Distributing the responsibility’s allows for more participants to reach out for funding and likely
to secure more funding as opposed to teams who dedicate the responsibility to a single
individuals of group to secure funding (Wilson, 2015). This would free team members to focus
on other areas and components which will help speed up design and development. Each group
will introduce their focus area to potential sponsors and highlight the benefits which will help
boost the ability to collect more information
Cost element for the team
Designs must also take into consideration the entire team’s budget without placing to must train
on the overall budget (Smith, Jaggar, & Love, 2016). To ensure maximum budget efficiency the

prototypes, will require to be modified from an existing commercially manufactured components
which are easily available for an affordable rate. The components would then be carefully
reengineered by adding the new features which are projected to improve performance and
efficiency. This would help cut the component development cost thus leaving adequate funds for
all components of the vehicle, development and testing process. This amount would also include
testing, analysis; reporting and patenting the design to deliver components to be used on the
vehicle design. While Formulae SAE has been classified as unsuitable over the long-term
perspective, serious automobile engineers use this opportunity to develop new component
designs which are safeguarded and can be solved to commercial vehicle manufactures for use on
their vehicles designs. This is the main objective associated involving and limiting college
students to Formulae SAE automobile design and development as it helps many identify areas
they excel in and how they can use that knowledge to build products which can be sold to
industries which are registering success.
Proposed Component Development Objective
The objective of redesigning and developing new component would be to improve vehicle safety
and performance and the new design can then be offered for sale to well established vehicle
manufacturing companies. The designs, experience and contributions will also help develop
individual’s contributor’s performance on the project which will help boost their career prospects
by demonstrating their capability. The design once completed will also act as an important asset
for the team which can be sold to potential automobile companies once completed and tested
successfully. This will help enhance automobile user safety and also help the team recover the
investments made towards developing the Formulae SAE racing car.
Conclusion
The main goal of young automobile engineers participating in the Formulae SAE competition if
to assist them to develop innovative engineering skills which can be improve their focus towards
improving current automobile designs which can be used in future vehicles. This important as it
allows the young engineers investigate the current designs and identify engineering problems the
designs may be facing. This will then instigate each one to developing a new design solution to
overcome the problem which has been identified. This is the main element linked to successful

engineering where young automobile engineers must remain open towards contributing to
improve future designs. Fuel efficacy, safety and pollution are all aspects which young
automobile engineers need to focus on to develop designs in future which address the identified
problems. With more automobile engineers being graduated from college and university, major
automobile brands will hire only he very best engineers who exhibit the best innovating and
infinitive ideas and focus towards improving automobile design. This start from a young age and
state thus making the Formulae SAE racing car project an important stepping stone every
engineer must consider displaying their capabilities at an early age.

References
Brown, M. (2011). Racecar: Searching for the Limit in Formula SAE. Matt Brown.
Brown1, M. (2011). Racecar: Searching for the Limit in Formula SAE. Matt Brown,.
Campbell, F. C. (2012). Fatigue and Fracture: Understanding the Basics. Ohio: ASM International.
Council, N. R. (1995). Live Fire Testing of the F-22. National Academies Press.
Henry, N., Angus, T., Jenkins, M., & Aylett, C. (2007). Motorsport Going Global: The Challenges Facing the
World's Motorsport Industry. Hampshire: Springer.
Irwin, R. L., Sutton, W. A., & McCarthy, L. M. (2008). Sport Promotion and Sales Management. Human
Kinetics.
Kaufman, J. G. (2008). Properties of Aluminum Alloys: Fatigue Data and the Effects of Temperature,
Product Form, and Processing. Ohio: ASM International.
Livesey, A. (2012). Advanced Motorsport Engineering. New York: Routledge.
Livesey1, A. (2012). Basic Motorsport Engineering. Oxford: Routledge.
Majerus, J. N. (2007). Winning More Safely in Motor Sports: The Workbook. RVI-.
Puskar, J. R. (2013). Fuel and Combustion Systems Safety: What you don't know can kill you! John Wiley
& Sons.
Sargeant, A., & Shang, J. (2017). Fundraising Principles and Practice. John Wiley & Sons.
Schlachter, G. A., & Weber, R. D. (2005). College Student's Guide to Merit and Other No-need Funding.
Reference Service Press.
Smith, J., Jaggar, D. M., & Love, P. (2016). Building Cost Planning for the Design Team. Routledge.
Wilson, R. (2015). Mastering Project Time Management, Cost Control, and Quality Management: Proven
Methods for Controlling the Three Elements that Define Project Deliverables. FT Press.