High-Speed Theory and Practice: Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Imagine the ultimate synthesis of science and sport—a collaborative team-based engineering experience that pushes the envelope of future-forward design in a thrilling spectacle of function and form, vision and velocity.

It has happened every spring since 2006 at the Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. A singular competitive event called Formula Hybrid + Electric, an annual competition that allows students to design and build the vehicle they race in.

Among the participants this year was LTU’s Formula Electric Team. The team includes mechanical, robotics, electrical, and computer engineering students—all participating in this interdisciplinary project for their senior capstone—as well as a group of dedicated volunteers from among the ranks of LTU’s current and former students. Together, the volunteers and students were charged with the task of observing and implementing all safety protocols and measures, then designing, financing, fabricating, and assembling a fully rule-compliant vehicle. Their competitors come from twenty schools across the nation, including Northeastern, Princeton, Yale, and MIT.

The stakes each year are more than bragging rights. Aside from the tremendous professional opportunity the event offers participants and the prestige it brings to the winning schools, this exercise in extreme engineering also provides a foundation for future collaboration and partnerships of ingenuity and innovation required for sustainable long-term solutions to the world’s energy challenges.

The Formula Electric Team is housed under the A. Leon Linton Department of Mechanical, Robotics and Industrial Engineering as a part of Blue Devil Motorsports. The students work hard to raise funds and secure sponsorships and the department financially supports the team when additional funds are needed. Team Captain Andrew Bartman recalls the excitement of participating in this year’s event. “Getting 20 college students to travel to New Hampshire, secure lodging, stay fed, and stick to a schedule where all hands are on deck at the speedway at the correct times was hectic, but we really pulled together as a team.” He elaborates. “My role on the team was captain, but I also designed and fabricated the suspension and steering systems for the vehicle. At competition, most of my attention was drawn towards managing the team schedule and keeping tabs on the who, what, and where to get the car through technical inspections and on the track. I also presented our project management report, which receives a large portion of points for the competition. I’m really grateful that my Vehicle Dynamics Lead, Jacob Kidd, and the rest of the Vehicle Dynamics subsystem stepped up to handle a lot of the suspension and steering-related tasks like tightening tie rods, changing alignments, maintaining tire pressures, safety wiring everything, etc. It’s really a testament to how well our Vehicle Dynamics team worked together all year. By the time competition came around, we were a well-oiled machine.”

That well-oiled machine was proficient enough for a 3rd place finish in the electric category, tying with Worcester Polytechnic Institute behind Carnegie Mellon and first place University of Toronto. The team’s hard work paid off in spectacular fashion, a result in which the College of Engineering and the University collectively have taken great pride.

Beyond the thrill of victory, Professor Hamid Vejdani, associate professor in the Mechanical, Robotics, and Industrial Engineering Department, articulates the clear benefits for the students involved in the competition. “By being part of the Formula Electric team, the students work in a relatively large but, more importantly, multidisciplinary team. Students widen their network, learn from each other, learn about other majors, and acquire broader skills. Mechanical engineering students get the chance to see firsthand the difficulties of the electrical part of the project and think about what they can do on the mechanical side to help or solve those problems. Electrical engineering students learn about mechanical design and fabrication, the effects of a real-world mechanical mechanism, and how they can help. Moreover, they learn about welding, CNC machining, painting, composites and molding, PCB fabrication, software implementation, and Dyno experiments, to name a few. They also learn about writing technical reports and communicating those to their peers or supervisors.”

This year’s success bodes well for the future of the Blue Devil Motorsports team. Next year will bring an emphasis on improving the acceleration of the vehicle by reducing weight, improving the aerodynamics effect, improving the drivetrain design, and optimizing the power-torque-speed distribution in software.

Captain Bartman appreciates the support he and the team received. “They give us a tremendous platform to start from, with the facilities available, the fabrication lab, the extremely knowledgeable advisors, and the knowledge we’ve learned from our classes. But at a certain point, they draw a line and give us a taste of the real world. They let the students learn from experience.”

Experience—where the rubber meets the road.

by Joe Bedard