FSAE West 2010
Day One - Wednesday:
Today we got up bright and early to get a good paddock spot to set up. Fortunately the team got in line early and avoided most of the slow registration process. Several members were then sent to tech to secure an ideal third position in line. When it came time for tech inspection, the car was rolled in and the fun began. After spending quite a while in inspection, the judges decided that our car was race worthy and we were granted our first out of three tech stickers on our first attempt. The afternoon brought the wind, and the day ended at a warm 78 degrees.
Day Two - Thursday:
Building on the success of the previous day, we were able to get in line for fuel early, setting us for great spots in the upcomimg inspections. We passed noise and brake test early in the morning, allowing us a full afternoon of practice.
Meanwhile, the team participated in design, business presentation, and cost events. Both business presentation and cost events went well, impressing the judges. However, we did not do as well in the design preliminaries, and we did not make it to design semifinals. The entire team was disappointed at the design results, but we resolved to do even better at the dynamic events. We ended the day taking a Formula SAE event photo with all the other teams.
Day Three - Friday:
The third day started off strong with an early arrival to the paddock and fuel line. After the disappointing second day, the team regrouped and resolved to do very well in today's dynamic events. The car started off the day competing in skidpad, performing strongly and finishing 11th. The performance in the next event, acceleration, was even more impressive; the car finished the event with a time of 4.043 seconds, good enough for a second place finish and behind Oregon State's time by only 0.01 seconds. The team finished the day's dynamic events with the autocross event, placing a strong 6th. On the static event side, the team came in 3rd place for business presentation. The team ended the day checking every part of the car in anticipation for tomorrow's endurance event. With these results and all the preparations, tomorrow's endurance looks to be very promising.