UC San Diego’s Formula SAE Team Places 24th Overall at Competition

2015 Triton Racing Team

UC San Diego’s Formula SAE team, Triton Racing, placed 24^th overall out of 80 teams at the annual Formula SAE competition, held this year at Lincoln Airpark in Lincoln, Nebraska June 17 to 20. This is better than a UC San Diego team has ever done in competition.

The competition included a number of events. On Friday, the team competed in the Skid Pad, Acceleration and Autocross events.

“We had a mechanical failure on Thursday that set us back,” said Natalie Fenaroli, one of the car’s two drivers. “The right front hub sheered – or rather, the wheel came off.”

The part that broke wasn’t one that the team had on hand in their stash of spare parts since they had machined it themselves. Luckily, the students were able to network with other teams and in doing so, got in contact with Speedway Motors, a local company with a machine shop.

“Speedway Motors helped us design and manufacture a replacement part,” said Fenaroli. “In addition, a student from the University of Nebraska stayed up all night to help us complete the welding. We included stickers from both Speedway Motors and the University of Nebraska on the car for the following day’s competition.”

After putting the wheel back on, the team was prepared to compete in the Endurance event on Saturday.

“I completed something like seven laps before we changed drivers,” said Fenaroli. “I could smell metal burning, but the driver change happened so fast that I didn’t have time to warn the second driver.”

The result? The same wheel came off, preventing the team from finishing the Endurance leg of the competition. The team learned a lot, says Fenaroli, about design processes.

“Sloppy bearings caused extra forces that we didn't take into account,” said Fenaroli. “Basically the wheel could wiggle around, so next year we will invest in higher precision bearings.”

Overall, the team worked really well together, said Fenaroli.

Triton Racing placed 9^th in the Business Presentation and 2^nd in Efficiency, earning them a trophy for the first time.

Watch the wrap up video here:

For more on this year's car, click here.

Documentary

Since the 2015 race car is so unique, Triton Racing decided to film a documentary that follows the production of the car from start to finish. The documentary is being filmed by UC San Diego student Keita Funakawa. Stay tuned for news of it's release! In the meantime, check out this trailer: