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Several mechanical engineering majors who comprise Leopard Racing, the College’s Formula SAE team, are gearing up for the next annual Formula SAE Competition April 23-26 in Alton, Va.
Seven seniors advised by Jeff Helm, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, are designing this year’s Formula One car, a small, four-wheeled open-roadster, for their senior capstone design project.
Seniors on the this year’s team are captain James Parsekian ’08 (Basking Ridge, N.J.), Jeff Deibel (Oxford, N.J.), Kyle Walsh (Underhill Center, Vt.), Brian Wolz (Knoxville, Md.), Dan DiMartino (North Haledon, N.J.), Dan Wernau (Holbrook, N.Y.), and Dave Yankovich (Richboro, Pa.). Other participants are Alex Baer ’10 (Dresher, Pa.), Chris Bliss ’09 (Natick, Mass.), MacKenzie Mor ’09 (Blue Hill, Maine), John Plumeri ’09 (Princeton Junction, N.J.), and Will Velkoff ’10 (Sayville, N.Y.).
The car is intended to be a prototype for a manufacturing firm looking to produce a limited run of four cars per day. The car’s design is left to the imagination and creativity of the students, however, the students must fulfill the design requirements determined by SAE.
“At competition, the team and car are judged in static and dynamic events, including cost analysis, design, and sales presentations, in addition to acceleration and endurance racing,” explains Parsekian. “With a new car in development since the fall of 2006, the team has great aspirations for improvement over past performances. Comparative goals include significant weight reduction, improved driver ergonomics, better handling, and more progressive steering.”
According to Parsekian, he and his fellow classmates are learning the techniques of 3-D modeling, CNC milling machine operation, precision welding, part procurement, and electronic systems implementation, among other things.
But Helm emphasizes that the students are also learning things that classrooms cannot teach. He says that tackling a problem this size, involving much more time and people than regular homework assignments and projects, requires more than just problem-solving skills. The students must exercise good communication as well as a large degree of “professional trust” with one another.
“[Professional trust means] trusting that the others are going to do their job and fulfill their portion of the project,” Helm explains. “Completing such a large, time-consuming project requires breaking it down into smaller projects for smaller groups to tackle at once. The students must trust one another to complete their smaller project correctly and on time.
“Put together everything that these students are learning,” he continues, “and you’ve got a true real-world experience. If you exclude the race, the course alone is still worth it. The race becomes the icing on the cake.”
Working with the team has already opened up some exciting post graduate opportunities for Parsekian.
“After graduation I plan to enter the workforce,” says Parsekian. “I am currently investigating a variety of positions, but the majority of them include opportunities for project management. Leading the Formula SAE team has offered me a management role I would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.”