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The Southern Californian Local Network (SoCal LN) is always looking for new and different ways to reach out to Young Professionals and other than the PATW competition there has been limited success in recruiting YPs in an environment where there is a misperception that membership of the IET is of limited benefit to those living in the US.  In an effort to change this and with having an economically “conservative” year when compared with recent years we decided to make a donation to the UCSD Triton Racing Team, who compete in the Formula SAE student racing series.  This is engineering design competition for undergraduate and graduate students organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International, also known as Formula Student in the UK, Austria and Germany.

 


A recent YP recruit to the SoCal LN and YP (South) representative on the LN committee, Garren Salibian, is a UCSD Alumni and former Triton Racing Member and Chief Engineer in his senior year; so when we brought up the subject of supporting a student/YP initiative Garren was not slow to bring up his old team.  Having made a donation and coinciding with the CCA meeting to be held in San Diego we thought it would be a great time to have a visit to the team and find out more about the team and Formula SAE. 

 


The combined SoCal LN and CCA Committee members were given a highly interesting introduction to a number of team members and the general rules controlling the competition by 2016-2017 President Daniel Morris.  In the main, the construction of the race car is from scratch with the team members fabricating most of the chassis and bodywork themselves; naturally, engines are normally obtained via more normal sources, restricted to 710cc 4-stroke motorcycle engines tend to be popular choices, although 2 teams have chosen to build their own from scratch – Western Washington University’s 554cc V8 in 2001 and the University of Auckland with a V-twin.102dea67cb617fa4ca9c4fe013f81a0b-huge-1---rear-of-car.jpg

Triton racing have chosen to stick to the tried and tested route of using a 600cc motorcycle engine using a Yamaha engine; most people, myself included, would have expected them to use the race proven Yamaha R6 engine, but as was enthusiastically explained by the head of powertrain, Greg Ferreiro, while that engine has been tuned with a narrow power-band high in the rev range, the air restrictor that is mandated for all engines tends to favour an engine with a broader spread of power and they use the older FZ-R engine, as in previous years. 

 


Unlike engine performance, there is no limit on the weight of the vehicle or the financial investment that the team may use, so as well as innovative engineering efforts teams are also open to all kinds of fund-raising efforts, similar to professional racing teams and depending on the amount donated gives the sponsor advertising space on the race car, if a set minimum is donated.  The lack of financial limit does allow some teams to introduce more “exotic” materials than the standard and the use of composite materials grows to more than just seat tubs and aerodynamic components.  Triton racing sticks to the more traditional aluminum alloys when it comes to structural components; however, one area where they do depart from the norm is in their choice of rear suspension.  The suspension is unrestricted, except safety restrictions and most teams utilize all-round independent suspension, most popular being double-wishbone setups, whereas Triton racing uses a De Dion rear axle setup.  In spite of being criticized for their choice by design judges, they have stuck with the setup as it negates camber changes on axle loading or unloading (rebound), thus obtaining good traction from wider racing tires and tends to reduce wheel hop under acceleration, compared to independent suspension.

 


The visit coincided with a symposium held by the formula SAE organisation and presentation by one of the SAE design judges to a number of teams in the Western Region, so the garage proved to be busier than would be expected on a Saturday afternoon, but the members of Triton Racing were gracious and enthusiastic hosts and we look forward to a productive relationship with them.
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