Our 2012 FSAE-A winning team with M12 Monash Motorsport Win FSAE-Australasia! MMS are proud to have achieved its fourth consecutive FSAE-A victory. Hello from Monash Motorsport! In the couple of months that have passed by since our last newsletter, we have been very busy. The team finished off an amazing year by winning overall at the FSAE- Australasia competition held in Werribee, Victoria in December. The team competed against teams from across Australia, New Zealand and Japan to achieve our fourth successive title at the event. This continued run of success resulted in Monash Motorsport being ranked 2 nd in the world for Formula Student combustion of over 500 universities. In this newsletter you will read about the FSAE-A competition, our trip to FSAE-West at Barbagallo Raceway, our recent and upcoming events, our new car design and a sponsorship insight for two of our new sponsors.
FSAE-A Overview A proud moment for the team and our sponsors. The team was lucky to spend the week before the competition hosting the University of Auckland and Edith Cowan University at our workshop. This was a great way to get to see the other cars in closer detail, share ideas and knowledge and make friendships. This week also included testing at Oakleigh Go Kart track for a number of the teams racing at the competition, with eventual electric winners Swinburne University, Our Powertrain team hard at work the morning of the endurance event Sophia University from Japan and Melbourne University joining us at the track. The team performed one of its best static results ever, getting on the podium for cost and business presentation before winning the engineering design event. Monash Motorsport also won the inaugural Bosch award for data acquisition systems. Dynamic events were full of drama, with the car struggling to start from colder temperatures, resulting in a single run in both acceleration and skid-pad. This did not affect our 2013 Chief Engineer Drew Trathern, setting a world record for the skid-pad event. After winning the autocross event, the decision was made to make an engine change the morning of endurance. The team was up early and set to work for over 4 hours repairing the car, managing to get in line for the first endurance run with only minutes to spare. Unfortunately there were still small problems with the car and failed to finish the first run. After more repairs, the car was sent out for the second and last run of endurance. With some tense moments where the car struggled to start back up during endurance, our drivers of Chris and Travis set quick and efficient laps to secure first place in the endurance/efficiency event and the overall victory for FSAE-A. We are very privileged to have sponsors and supporters that put time and money into our project and it was a proud moment to repay them by winning the event. We scored the most points we have ever done at competition and this was due to the level of commitment and dedication of everyone in the team and the supporters.
The whole team worked fantastically well together all weekend despite the tension caused by the thought of not completing the competition. After a long but rewarding 2012 it was a relief to see the 2012 car do as well as we knew it could. Chris Heath, Driver
FSAE-West A fantastic trip and learning experience In the middle of February Monash Motorsport travelled over to Perth to compete in an unofficial competition, to promote Formula SAE. The team joined Edith Cowan University, University of Western Australia, Curtin University and Swinburne University at Barbagallo Raceway to participate in the four dynamic events; skid pad, acceleration, autocross and endurance. Monash managed a very respectful 2nd in the autocross and endurance events, whilst winning the skid pad event. The team was able to use FSAE-A west to trial out several new concepts. Such as their new pneumatic drag reduction system, powered by SMC, this design was able to be thoroughly tested so that it can now be refined for Monash Motorsport's 2013 model. The event was also used to promote the educational benefits, for preparing young engineers for real world work. The competition was shown to several Western Australian schools, so that the students would be able to better understand the challenges of engineering and some of the possible pathways able to be taken through their engineering degree.
Monash Motorsport at the F1! A great opportunity to thank everyone involved with the team. Monash Motorsport will be on track at the 2013 F1 Australian Grand Prix! As a reward for overall of FSAE-A, along with Swinburne University the Electric winners of FSAE-A, M12 will be doing a demonstration run on the Thursday of the grand prix weekend. This is a huge opportunity for the team to present the car to the public and show what young engineering students can do. The team also gets a stall at the V8 Village for the entire weekend to showcase the car. FSAE was kind enough to donate tickets to the grand prix to our team, which we have been shared out through team members, family, friends, sponsors and fans.
Australian International Airshow M10 is put on display for the public. The team was lucky to be invited to the Australian International Airshow held at Avalon for the trade show running there the entire week. M10 was repaired, re-stickered with our current sponsors and polished up for presentation whilst M12 was returning home from FSAE West. The event was a fantastic opportunity to network with potential sponsors and to spend time with our current sponsors who were also there: Marand, Cambridge Technologies and Electromold. Monash University Orientation Week Our 2003 car was out convincing students to join the team. The same week as the Airshow, Orientation Week was on at Monash University, so our 2003 car was brought out to get new fans and potential new team members. Monash s new students were very impressed and excited that it was possible to design and build a racing car whilst still studying at university.
Monash Motorsport Technical Update M13 Final Design is coming soon... The team has spent the warm Australian summer designing this year s car, the M13. On February 28 M13 s design was presented to Monash Motorsport Alumni, who gave in depth feedback and were very impressed with the direction the team has taken this year. Our powertrain team has calculated that with a Forced Induction System attached to our KTM engine the car will be able to score more points at competition. They have also been working closely with the Aero team, who are designing a more aggressive aerodynamics package due to having more power with the turbo and implementing a pneumatic Drag Reduction System (DRS), similar to that is used on Formula 1 cars, allowing faster acceleration on the straights. Our chassis team has been focused on making the car lighter and stronger, as well as quick manufacture to ensure the team is driving the car 4 months before the 2013 FSAE-A competition. Suspension has been busy redesigning their entire setup with the decision to run smaller 10 inch wheels, a package that will result in a lighter suspension assembly. Our design freeze is 17th of March, after which we will be posting rendered pictures of M13 to our website.
Monash Motorsport s new DRS system is powered by a pneumatic system with help from SMC. SMC are a world leader in pneumatics and their range includes over 600,000 variations. Monash Motorsport decided to use pneumatics to allow a faster flap opening and closing time, the latter an important factor for the car s handling. SMC also supplied materials for a pneumatic shifter. The team is very thankful for their support. MMS s M13 will be running bearings this year from SKF. SKF sent a representative down to our office and workshop to do an in-depth lecture on how to use their online bearing selection program and give us data about their bearings. The team will be using their bearings in M13 s hubs, driveline and steering. Monash Motorsport looks forward to a great relationship with SKF. Monash Motorsport would like to thank all our sponsors and supporters who donate and help the team. We look forward to a rewarding and successful 2013!