Formula SAE SPEED Team

Powertrain

The powertrain is the heart and soul of the vehicle. Without it, we could not even consider it an automobile. This is why we take the utmost care in designing and manufacturing all the systems and components that go into the powertrain.

Our responsibilities include designing the intake, exhaust, and gas tank. Additionally, we tune our motor and set up our wiring for the ECU for optimum horsepower and torque. This year we are utilizing a CBR 600rr four-cylinder motor for our engine. Our motor is tuned on a chassis dyno setup.

Electronics

Our electronics team is responsible for designing and manufacturing the wiring harness for our car. We fall under the powertrain umbrella because of how intertwined the two are.

Our team uses a MoTeC Dash and Electronics Control Unit (ECU). This year we will be transitioning from the M130 ECU to the M150. This will allow us to increase the number of sensors we use for data collection. 

Designed and fabricated in-house, in the Clarkson Machine Shop, the Clarkson Formula Knights uses pushrod actuated, uneven double wishbone suspension with progressive ride rates in the front and rear of the car.

The team starts our designs from scratch. Countless hours are spent designing and iterating upon the suspension system using kinematic software to study vehicle motion. The goal of this hard work is to create a competitive, driver-friendly race car.

We prioritize designing for fabrication to allow team members to get hands-on experience in the fabrication process, using different CNC and manual machining techniques, welding, and fixturing to turn the design into reality. This hands-on experience gives us exceptional amounts of pride for the high-quality parts we get to make.

• Wilwood Gp200 calipers
• Four-wheel disk brakes
• Fedhill hard brake line
• Custom cast iron rotors
• Dual Tilton master cylinders with bias adjustment  

The chassis is the bracket that allows each of our subteams to integrate their ideas and designs as one. Every subteam depends on the chassis, making it a very important part of our car.

Designed by the chassis subteam, the car has an all-steel space frame chassis which is cut, bent, and notched by VR3 Engineering. It is then assembled and welded together by team members in our shop before being painted.

Chassis fixturing utilizes our optical table. Utilizing this tool allows us to accurately locate components and their mounting, helping us create an accurate system

The ergonomics subteam is responsible for making the interface between the driver and the car as seamless as possible to ensure that the driver is as comfortable as possible.

We are in charge of designing and manufacturing the steering wheel, paddle shifter mechanisms, dash, seat, headrest, pedal faces, foot cups, and anything else that the driver may interact with. We use almost every tool that we have access to in our machine shop, and also use a lot of our own equipment to do more niche work, like carbon fiber layups and infusion.

Detailed Specs:

• CFRP Seat
• CFR Onyx steering wheel
• Quick detachable splined steering hub
• Aluminum adjustable pedal box with inclined master cylinders
• Integrated composite dashboard
• Motec display

The goal of the drivetrain sub-team is to develop a system of interacting parts that deliver power from the engine to the wheel as efficiently as possible. Achieving this means working closely with powertrain, chassis, suspension, and brake sub-teams to create a well-integrated system.

We use CAD, FEA, and other programs to engineer an optimized drivetrain system to achieve this goal. Developing a drivetrain system means having a thorough knowledge of power transfer, gear ratios, differentials, axles, pneumatic systems, and the interaction of these parts.