Finals week has just ended for Michigan State, which marks the beginning of the most exciting process for our team: design finalization and fabrication!

Yesterday and today we assembled a rough mockup of our chassis and butt bucket based on our current frame designs. The primary purpose was to determine how well our designs conform to Dan and Scott, our drivers.

Based on the mockup, we were able to determine that we needed to reduce the width of our butt bucket significantly, as well as decrease the depth of the butt bucket for visibility purposes. Additionally, we were able to obtain measurements for use in designing our roll cage to meet the ASC 2014 regulations as well as minimize frontal area.

Early construction

 

More construction

 

Where soccer conditioning comes in handy…

 

We can’t see out of the car based on our current designs

 

Optimal distance for foot location

 

Optimal foot location and angle

 

Measuring distance from helmet to roll cage bars (must be >50 mm according to ASC regs)
Simulating the array for visibility testing