Mods
Besides the engine, break calipers, master cylinders, ECU, tires, rear differential internals, safety equipment and some other odds and inns this car was made by Engineering students at the University of Kentucky and has been constantly improves upon in the last 3 years.
Build story
This is an FSAE car and we as a team, Formula Kentucky, compete in the Formula SAE international competition. Last spring we placed 68/108. The car itself is like I said a student designed and fabricated car. We design the parts and components using engineering techniques and once that is done we have to assemble it ourselves. The car weights somewhere around 550 lbs, no driver, and makes around 65-70 horse power. The team is divided into subsystems. I am part of the chassis subsystem. It is a 1020 mild steel space frame chassis made in house. The engine is a Honda 600 CBR RR which we have wrote our own tune for and it produces 65-70 horse power. The suspension is a custom push rod suspension, that subsystem leader knows way more than me. Electronics uses engine monitoring through a Haltech ECU. Aerodynamics makes the body work for the car out of carbon fiber or for the upcoming car stressed aluminum panels for rigidity. There also is a business team to help manage money so we don't accidentally spend it all we don't have a lot. On a slightly more personal note I have never had a project or worked on cars besides changing the occasional O2 sensor or changing oil. Becoming part of this racing team has not only increased my knowledge of how cars work but my fabrication skills have grown. I have gone from no shills to being able to tig weld decently proficient. I have been able to make and do things I thought were never possible as an engineering student. I have traveled to competition, actually driven the car on course and it has been a blast. For a kid who just "likes cars" to be given all these opportunities to learn how to design and build a car has been one of the coolest experiences of my life. Even if the car has issues we still work through them with sleepless nights and overcome them, most of the time, and for a bunch of college kids shoved to an old building on the corner of camps we are doing amazing things in our tiny shop. (If you can fit you can drive it. It is very small, it fits in the bed of a Tacoma)