Been looking for a more exciting RSO to join? Have you seen us at recruiting events and been looking to get more information on our team? Well, you've come to the right place.

We are always looking for more driven students to join our team. We don't care if you have one semester or five years left until you graduate. If you are interested in learning about cars or are looking for experience on the administrative side of things, we can use your help.

We are particularly looking for people to help out with maintaining sponsor relations and recruiting more sponsors, as our sponsors are the lifeblood of our car. Without them, we could hardly accomplish any of the things we do. We are also seeking individuals to help out on our marketing and cost presentations for next year's SAE competitions.

We are also looking for individuals to join and help our team with manufacturing, testing, and design work. Don't know how to machine or weld? Don't worry, we'll teach you.

For more information on what we do and what we can do for you check out our Recruiting Pamphlet. For a printable version, click here.

If you'd like to join our Facebook group, click here.

For questions regarding recruitment, please email the team at wmuformularacing@gmail.com

Due to our decision not to attend this year's Formula SAE Michigan competition (please see our last news post), we are also postponing our year's Formula SAE unveiling event until later in the summer.  Details on this event will be released later once a date has been chosen.

Upcoming Events:
Our second annual car show orignially scheduled for Saturday, June 19th from 9am-4pm at WMU's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences has been postponed to later in the summer due to the anticipated draw of a car show held in nearby Galesburg on the same day. Watch for an updated car show date to be released in the coming weeks.  Check out the car show's website for more information as it is released.

As always, check out our photo albums for continued visual updates and watch our calendar for upcoming events.

Dear donors, friends, and family,

It is with regret that we wish to inform you that Western Michigan University’s Formula SAE team will not be competing this year at the Formula SAE Michigan competition held at Michigan International Speedway.  Due to the numerous manufacturing and testing delays the team has experienced, we cannot be as competitive as we would like to represent our school and our supporters in the correct light.  We have therefore decided that it would be wise to forgo competing at this year’s competition and instead, carry over the 2010 vehicle to next year’s competition.  This decision by the leadership was not made lightly, but we feel that it is in the best interest of the current vehicle and the success of the program into the future.

Having said this, we do still plan to have the vehicle finished later this summer for testing and to compete in Sports Car Club of America events.  We will then have several months to test, evaluate, and optimize existing designs before the 2011 Formula SAE Michigan competition.  This time will also be used to perfect our designs and various presentations.  In this way, we will return stronger to competition next year and continue to improve our ranking, as has been the case with each of our past years at competition.

We would like to emphasize that this decision was not a result of a lack of funding or support, as all of you have been very generous with your gifts this year.  Also, all of this year’s donors will be represented on this vehicle both when it competes over the summer and at next year’s competition.  Any change in donation tiers for next year will not affect your location on our donation tiers, and thus relative donor logo sizes will not change.

Thank you for your continuing support,

Jeff Terry, President
Geoff VanGemert, Formula SAE Project Manager
Chris Hartman, Secretary & Webmaster

Here's a bit of what has been going around our chapter and our team.

SAE Chapter news:
We would like to offer a congratulations to Jeff Terry, Zach Tuyls, and Sarah Gerbig of our chapter who went to this year's World Congress and won 2nd place and a $750 cash prize for our chapter with their presentation "Together we race toward common goals".  Also, congratulations to Duke University who took 1st place, knocking us from our position of defending champion from the past two years, and to Lawrence Tech who took 3rd place!

In addtion to this, we have been awarded this year's SAE / Honeywell Outstanding Collegiate Branch Award for tier three collegiate branches (based on chapter size).

We also had some fun helping to run the mouse trap vehicle and egg-o-naut events at the Science Olympiad event held here on March 20th.  Keep up the good work, students!

Formula SAE news:
We would like to thank the following sponsors for their recent material and labor donations: Huntsman Advanced Materials of East Lansing, MI; Molded Plastics Inc. of Holt, MI; Lewis Tool & Engineering LLC of Three Rivers, MI; Protospec of Benton Harbor, MI ; Skater Powerboats of Douglas, MI ; Biomet of Warsaw, IN; Brembo of Plymouth, MI; Chip Systems International of Scotts, MI; Impact Label Corporation of Kalamazoo, MI; New Concept Products of Schoolcraft, MI; NSK of Ann Arbor, MI; and SC Enterprises of Vicksburg, MI.  We would also like to thank Brian Doorlag, Nathan Urban, Fluid Process Equipment of Kalamazoo, MI, Regloplas Corporation of St. Joseph, MI, the Western Michigan Section of SAE, the Friends of Chris Hartman, Friends of Jeff Terry, Friends of Jeremiah, and Friends of Luke Burley for their monetary donations to our project.  Thank you sponsors! Without you, this project wouldn't be possible. We will update our sponsor page in the next few days to reflect the sponsors of this year's car.

Other than this, we have continued progress on all our designs with a great deal of our parts having been finish manufactured or at least started manufacturing, as you can get some notion of from our 2010 Manufacturing and 2010 Concept Rendering photo albums.  We have also updated our Videos page with a number of new videos and a new format, so check it out.  We are on track to make it to this year's competition, but we still have a great deal of work ahead of us.

Look for an upcoming update on when we will be hosting this year's Formula SAE unveiling event.

Upcoming Events:
Our second annual car show has been scheduled for Saturday, June 19th from 9am-4pm at WMU's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Check out the car show's website for more information as it is released.

As always, check out our photo albums for continued visual updates and watch our calendar for upcoming events.

As you may imagine, a lot of things have happened since our last progress update. Please see the summary below for a little bit of what we've been doing.

Formula SAE news:
Sarah Gerbig has stepped down from the role of project manager in order to focus on her studies and to work part time for Rockwell Automation who will be hiring her upon graduation.  Geoff Van Gemert has taken over the role of project manager.

The drivetrain team has also seen a change in leadership, with Dirk Hayford leaving the team to better focus on his studies. Chris Briolat has taken Dirk's place at the helm.  Drivetrain team is now working to finish designs of the differential mounts, axles, and new outboard constant-velocity joints.

We would like to thank Go Power Systems for their massive discount on an engine dynamometer that we received in November. We would also like to thank the Hammond Foundation for their assisstance in purchasing the dynamometer. Since then, we have created new mounts on our dynamometer stand and we have completed setting it up in the engine lab.

The engine team has also finished the rebuilding of the 2010 engine. The engine team is now working to complete benchmarking of the 2009 engine on the new dynamometer for use with turning the 2010 engine. The team has also benchmarked the 2009 muffler for use in the design of the 2010 muffler. Designs for the pneumatic shifter, oil pan, fuel, intake, and exhaust systems are also progressing.

The frame team has continued construction and recently finished the welding of the frame.  Suspension tabs will be tacked on and welded during the next week (Thank you to Cutting Edge Laser Technology for their help in manufacturing the tabs). The foam floor panels will also be installed and wrapped with carbon fiber in the next week or two thanks to donations from Skater Power Boats and Gurit. The body design is also going through its final design iterations to be sent to Molded Plastics in the near future.

The suspension team has finished all designs except for the anti-roll bar and steering. The control arm jigs were manufactured this weekend and the control arms themselves will be manufactured this weekend. The spub designs along with material went out to Protospec last week and should return to us this Friday. Protospec will now be manufacturing our front uprights, rear uprights, and rockers as well. We have also received all of our suspension and drivetrain bearings for free from NSK.

Recent Events:

We would like to thank those who came out to support us at our bd's Mongolian Barbeque fundraiser. We were able to bring in almost $250 in the one evening. Because of the event's success, we are planning to do another similar fundraiser later this spring, so keep an eye out for more information.

Upcoming events:

Our second annual car show has been scheduled for Saturday, June 19th from 9am-4pm at WMU's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Check out the car show's website for more information as it is released.

 

As always, check out our photo albums for continued visual updates and watch our calendar for upcoming events.

At the beginning of September, we sent two current members and one alumnus to Lincoln, NE to compete in the 2009 SCCA Solo Nationals series. Our female driver, Sarah Gerbig, clinched first place in the FSAE Ladies class, while our two male drivers competing in the FSAE class, Mike Nienhuis and alumnus Jon Gesek, took 9th and 10th place, respectively. A few photos from the event may be seen here.

Thank you to those people who came out to support us at our First Annual Car Show. We consider the show to have been a success and hope to see it grow next year. A few photos from the event may be seen here.

Our Golf Scramble fundraiser in October was postponed due to lack of preregistrations and inclement weather on the day of the event. We will be rescheduling the event for sometime in the spring or summer of next year.

The designs for the various systems of the 2010 vehicle are well underway and ahead of last year's schedule, giving us additional time for tuning and testing in the spring. Key deadlines for this year's car include: rolling chassis by the end of Christmas break, driving chassis in February, competition-ready car on April 4th, and Formula SAE Michigan Competition May 12th-15th.

The final designs for the 2010 frame went out to Cartesian Tubing on September 21st and the fully profiled tubing was received back on September 30th. Thanks for the great turn around time! Construction of the 2010 frame is well underway, watch our 2010 Manufacturing photo album for updates on our construction progress. A new body design is also in the works for this year to try to promote more down force on the car. The engine for the 2010 vehicle is in the process of being rebuilt/reassembled with the help of a team friend, who came in this past weekend to give us some tips. The suspension components requiring CNC machining work are being finalized and will be sent out later this month. Designs for the drivetrain are underway and include a new, lighter hub design with the constant-velocity joints integrated into the hub along with smaller engine and drivetrain sprockets to further lighten the design.

Check out our new 2010 Design and 2010 Manufacturing photo albums.

This past weekend, we traveled to Toledo, OH for the Northwest Ohio Region's Event #7. It was a good weekend with three new drivers competing and posting quality times with two out of the four drivers earning trophies in their classes. We were also able to pit our car against cars from Kettering University and Oakland University.

This coming week, two of our current members and one alumnus will be traveling to Lincoln, Nebraska to compete in the 2009 SCCA Solo National Championships. We will be competing in both the Formula SAE and Formula SAE Ladies classes. Wish us luck!

Our golf scramble fundraiser has been confirmed for Saturday, October 3rd at Praries Golf Club in Kalamazoo. We will be having a shotgun start at 8AM. Individual golfers may register for $70. Foursomes may register for $250. Golf carts and a light lunch will be provided. Click here for more information on the event, including registration information and a map.

Our first annual car show has been confirmed for 10AM - 4PM on Saturday, September 19th. It will be held in the parking lot just south of the University Bookstore on Western Michigan University's main campus. This event is open to the public with general admission of $2 ($1 with WMU student ID) and cars may be registered for display for $5. Click here for more information on the event.

We hope to see you at one or both of these events!

This past weekend, we traveled to Peru, IN for the Great Lakes Divisional Championship Race. It was a very successful weekend with both of our drivers becoming Divisional Champions in the FSAE and FSAE Ladies classes, respectively.

Our first annual car show has been confirmed for 10AM - 4PM on September 19th. It will be held in the parking lot just south of the University Bookstore on Western Michigan University's main campus. This event is open to the public with general admission of $2 ($1 with WMU student ID) and cars may be registered for display for $5. Click here for more information on the event.

Our first annual golf scramble fundraiser is still in the works for late September or early October. Event time and location has not yet been confirmed and will be forthcoming.

We hope to see you at one or both of these events!

You may have noticed a change in the website, we've been working to bring additional content to the website. We now have a new menu and we will be expanding our number of pages and bringing you new content soon, so continue to check back for new pages and content as they are released. Please note that if you have added any of our pages as favorites in the past, you may have to update some of your links.

On another note, we will not be attending the GLDiv Series #4: Concrete Plans Event held by the Detroit SCCA in Oscoda this weekend. Enjoy the event if you're going! Sorry we won't see you there this time. We hope to see you out there for the event at Oscoda in August.

We are currently planning to hold our first annual car show around mid-September. We are also planning a golf scramble fundraiser in late September or early October. Event times and locations have not yet been confirmed and will be forthcoming. Check out the calendar for more details on both of these events as they become available. We hope you'll be able to make it out to one or both of these.