The first weekend of December each year sees the staging of the Australasian region’s Formula SAE (FSAE-A) vehicle build and driving competition.
For those who haven’t read my previous article on FSAE – the FSAE competition is a worldwide event open to university engineering student teams who design, build and compete an open-wheel race car to a strict set of design rules called ‘Formula SAE’. (SAE standing for Society of Automotive Engineers).
Designed by the US chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers back in the 1980’s, it was intended as a way to expose budding engineers to the rigours of applying their theoretical studies to real-world projects … and the hands-on practicalities of translating a seemingly simple design into a working prototype.
As such, employers regularly seek out graduating members of FSAE teams as they have learnt first-hand the difficulties inherent in taking a design from the drawing board to reality.
The competition is also about a lot more than simple racing: there are multiple ‘static’ events where the designs and the vehicles themselves are scrutinised and evaluated, along with a series of mobile tests that include handling, braking and acceleration testing prior to an autocross event, finally culminating in the ‘endurance’ event that runs on the last day.
Like the automotive industry itself, FSAE has progressed a long way since it began. This year sees internal combustion engine entries decline to an all-time low of just four out of the thirty that will start this year. (Slightly down on previous years: it seems even Universities are not immune to the economic times).
Interestingly, at five entrants, the new category of autonomous vehicles now outnumbers the combustion category!
The overall ‘winner’ is the team who collects the most points from all the event categories – although the real winners are everyone who participates.
This year’s event will take place at Calder raceway (just north of Melbourne) from Thursday December 5th to Sunday 8th, spectators are welcome. Main dynamic events (autocross and endurance) occur over the weekend.
Further information about the event and SAE can be found at: https://www.saea.com.au/fsaea-2024
List of 2024 FSAE Australasian event entrants:
Bryce Gaton is an expert on electric vehicles and contributor for The Driven and Renew Economy. He has been working in the EV sector since 2008 and is currently working as EV electrical safety trainer/supervisor for the University of Melbourne. He also provides support for the EV Transition to business, government and the public through his EV Transition consultancy EVchoice.