Tuesday, January 27, 2009

North American International Auto Show



The team just wrapped it's 4th time exhibiting at the North American International Auto Show; one of the largest and most prestigious showings of automotive design in the world. For the last two weeks, team members have road-tripped down to Cobo Hall in Detroit to show off the last three iterations of MSU's Formula SAE cars.

This year, we were proud to center our display around the team's Go Clean environmental campaign. Contrary to many of the questions that we received during the NAIAS simply surrounding biofuels, to Go Clean is about far more than just running cleaner fuels. To us - 'greening up' the automobile is about doing everything that we can to remove our team, our manufacturing, and of course the final product - Car 12 - from the environmental impact equation. Have a look at the Go Clean website and learn more!

The team would like to extend an extra special thanks to all of the companies who made our 2009 NAIAS possible. Without the help from all of the generous people at the North American International Auto Show, especially the dedicated Director of Exhibit Compliance, Marilyn Doebler, our NAIAS displays would never come to fruition. The team would also like to thank Eric Flynn and Paul Kokesh of EPJ Logistics and Tonic, for all of their help to sponsor and transport our display items. Additionally, we would like to thank Mike French of The George P. Johnson Company, Dan Reske and Colleen Weir of Motor City Electric Company, Ed Guile of ASAP Printing, William Van Cleve of Foto 1 Imaging, and especially the Tanari Family, Bobby Whiting and Chris Michelin of Convention and Show Services. It is because of all of these individuals and companies that our display in Michigan Hall was made possible.

If you didn't have a chance to see it in person, take a look at the pictures below for a tour!

















Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Most Dedicated Team Members: November & December

Due to the the two holiday breaks and final exam week playing havoc with our schedule, we got a bit behind in awarding the most dedicated team member award for November. As school just resumed, post winter break, we decided to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone and award both team members' awards tonight.

For November, the Most Dedicated Team Member accolade went to Josh Frontiera. Josh spent many hours handling and staffing outreach events for the team as well as playing an active role in manufacturing Car 12 all month long. Due to his commitment and abilities to put the team ahead of many things in his life, it was easy to see that he deserved this special recognition. Congrats Josh!



The month of December is marked by a strong push in manufacturing - something that is necessary to keep the progress of the car going and take advantage of the lack of schoolwork during MSU's winter break. Because of this, we knew that December's Most Dedicated Team Member was most likely going to be someone who literally lived at the shop over break. We were pleasantly not surprised when that person was Adrienne Burger. Adrienne spent almost more hours at the shop over break than there were in the break itself! The team is truly indebted to Adrienne and those who follow in her footsteps. She serves as an excellent ambassador to all who want to be successful in the realm of Formula SAE. Congrats Adrienne, you have definitely earned this recognition!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Uni: Part IV

Construction of Car 12's chassis molds has begun with the first layer of pre-preg carbon fiber tooling, donated generously by the nice folks at Cytec Engineered Materials. Many thanks to Bill England for his help in getting us the material to make Car 12's molds possible.

Go Green. Go White. Go Fast.

Adam


Chief Engineer Andy Rogers and Aero Team Leader lay the Cytec tooling carbon fiber to make Car 12's chassis molds



Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Car 12 manufacturing

Manufacturing for Car 12 has been going on for quite some time now, concurrent with the ending of the Design phase. As the spring semester ramps up, I thought it would be a good idea to highlight some of the hard work that team members have been doing at the shop.

Adam


Associate Team Member Brian Smith works on one of the manual mills


Cockpit Team Leader Hillary Gregory works on the mold for Car 12's seat insert


Associate Team Member Adrienne Burger and Cockpit Team Leader Hillary Gregory work on vaccuum bagging one of Car 12's many composite components


Associate Team Member Andrew Mozer turns down a steel piece on the LeBlonde lathe

Monday, January 12, 2009

Uni: Part III

Progress on Car 12's monocoque chassis continues. Here you can see the plugs in their finished state, ready to be used for production of the molds.

Enjoy!

Adam