The first Lehigh FSAE car competed in the 1994 running of the Formula competition, but the team had begun work 2 years earlier in 1992. The car was built in donated shop space in Doylestown, Pennnsylvania, and was consructed from aluminum tubing which was supplemented by steel roll-over sturctures. It featured a carburated 600cc engine, a pull-rod suspension, and a fiberglass body with carbon fiber reinforcements. At the event in Pontiac, the team was running as high as tenth place when a broken water line temporarily delayed the car in the 30 mile endurance event. The water line was eventulally repaired and the car soldiered on to finish. For their efforts, the team was rewarded with a nomination for Rookie of the Year, and when the points were tallied they had finished a respectable 28th out of 78 entries.
The second Lehigh Formula SAE entry was designed using the experience gleaned from a careful examination of the packaging and design of the first car. Issues that were addressed included weight and the distribution of that weight. Consequently, the two largest masses, the driver and the engine, are placed in very close proximity to each other. The chassis was an aluminum honeycomb composite structure, with integral steel roll-over stuctures and an integral bulkhead which also acted as the housing for the steering rack. The honeycomb panels are riveted and bonded together using structural rivets and adhesives.
The goals of reducing the weight of the car, the ease of maintenance, and overall packaging have been achieved with the second Formula SAE vehicle. The second car featured unequal length suspension geometry, pushrod actuated double-adjustable dampers, and front and rear anti-roll bars. The most challenging aspect of the design was perhaps the incorporation of a Bosch fuel injection system to the 600 cc engine, which was originally carburated. The wiring of the computer and the requisit engine management sensors provided perhaps the most persistent challenge, and eventually brought on the failure of the car in Pontiac.
The third Lehigh Formula SAE entry was designed and fabricated in exactly one semester. After two and one half years of locating sponsorship money and equipment necessary for fabrication, the team decided that it's current design was too small for the larger drivers. The design was scrapped and the team started from scratch in January of '99. The result was an extremely roomy car that even the largest of drivers can pilot. The car features adjustable camber by shims located on the uprights, and Electromotive TEC-II fuel injection computer (8 cylinder unit to prevent spark loss at higher RPM), custom dashboard with integrated AutoMeter products, 4130 Chromoly space frame, and fiberglass bodywork. The car has a pushrod suspension at all four corners, which all utilize double adjustable Penske Racing Shocks and Hyperco springs.
Although the car was actually finished in the parking lot of the Silverdome the night before the competition began, the team was able to enter the car in all events. The car passed tech inspection with almost no problems, although an extension had to be added to the firewall for added safety in case of fuel injection system failure. The tilt test was passed on the first try. Brake and noise took several attempts. The first few attempts were due to the driver (Marc Mazza) not locking the brakes to the official's liking. The last few attempts where to pass noise (the car registered 98.3 dB several times; the limit is 98 dB). The team experienced a couple of noise DNF's during the acceleration event. The first driver, Tony Zecca, rocketed off the line and finished with an impressive time, but was disqualified due to a noise violation. Tony short shifted his second run and passed noise, but with a significantly slower time. The second driver was Chris O'Leary, who also earned a DNF for his first run (also due to noise). Chris short shifted his second run and managed to get Lehigh's fastest allowable run of the day.
The next event, the skidpad, was driven by both Brian Klinetob and Chris Furman. Brian's runs were both successful, but fuel pickup problems that hampered the car when the tank was not more than 2/3's full kept him from getting a top time. Chris Furman's runs where also successful, and the fuel problems were fixed temporarily. Chris took and extra loop at the end of the event, but still finished with respectable times. The autocross event was run by both Chris O'Leary and Mike "Tobes" Toborg. All four runs went without incident.
Unfortunately, a lack of seat time
prevented Lehigh's drivers from finishing in top
positions. The first session endurance event was
cancelled due to rain, so the the team had only
one attempt to prove their car as a top design.
Andy Mouratis took the first ten laps of the event
and managed to pass and be passed several times.
The car was obviously faster than much of the field,
but lack of seat time proved to be a huge enemy,
as Andy spun off course several times. Russ Highton
took over to finish the final ten laps. Unfortunately,
after approximately three laps, the car began to
run out of fuel. The gas pickup problem had resurfaced
and Lehigh's worst fears had come true. The incredibly
robust design had run out of gas! Later investigation
showed that in addition to the pickup problem, the
fuel injection was running much to rich. These two
problems stacked up and prevented Lehigh from finishing
the endurance event. Unfortunatly, if there had
been two endurance runs as planned, the team could
probably have found the problem in the morning session
and fixed it for the afternoon session, allowing
them to successfully finish the event.
The 2001 Lehigh Formula SAE car, constructed under team captain Marc Mazza, featured neumerous innovations and improvements, including pneumatic paddle shifters, custom machined differential carrier, carbon fiber air duct and a powerful Yamaha R6 engine. Penske racing shocks once again provided damping, and a Haltech ECU was supplied for fuel management. It also came out roughly 100 pounds lighter than the '99 car! At the competition, despite operating under serious time pressure, the team managed to overcome potentially crippling engine difficulties and got the car running in time for the dynamic events. Because the car was completed behind schedule, drivers had very little seat time before competing. Nevertheless, the car performed well in most events. The highlight of the event an outstanding 20th place in the autoross by Freshman Jeff Glassman. The car also placed 34th in design. Unfortunately, fuel delivery problems once again prevented the car from completing the autocross. The team ultimately placed 42nd out of 126 schools,
The first Lehigh FSAE car competed in the 1994 running of the Formula competition, but the team had begun work 2 years earlier in 1992. The car was built in donated shop space in Doylestown, Pennnsylvania, and was consructed from aluminum tubing which was supplemented by steel roll-over sturctures. It featured a carburated 600cc engine, a pull-rod suspension, and a fiberglass body with carbon fiber reinforcements. At the event in Pontiac, the team was running as high as tenth place when a broken water line temporarily delayed the car in the 30 mile endurance event. The water line was eventulally repaired and the car soldiered on to finish. For their efforts, the team was rewarded with a nomination for Rookie of the Year, and when the points were tallied they had finished a respectable 28th out of 78 entries.
The 2004 Lehigh FSAE team captained by Tal Cohen, was the lightest car ever seen at competition. It weighted in at a scant 301 pounds with fuel and coolant. The next lightest competitor at competition was the Penn State car weighing in at a porky 380 pounds. To create such a lightweight car the Yamaha R6 engine used by so many teams was dropped in favor of a Yamaha 426, a single cylinder torque monster. This engine was chosen for its incredible low end torque output as well as its lightweight, partially magnesium construction. Lehigh was the first American team to run a 426, but now that we have pioneered it, many teams will surely follow suit in the coming year.
The car also featured many water-jetted components. Using a waterjet allows for excess weight to be removed from pieces very rapidly and accurately, using a beam of water only 11 thousandths of an inch thick as the cutting “blade”. The 2004 car generated a huge amount interest at competition, unfortunately the car suffered a crippling driveline failure in the 6th turn of the endurance race.
The 2005 Lehigh car was the team's first foray into the world of carbon monocoques, thanks largely in part to Vermont Composites. With a donation of enough prepreg for a space shuttle, the X35 was born. Going light again in the weight class, the 2005 car featured a live swing arm for the second year. Learning from the trials of the 2004 car, the swing arm had a much simpler design with vertices aligning with the drive pinion. During competition the car completed all of the static event and looked poised to be the first Lehigh car to finish all of the dynamic events ever, however in the 5th lap of the endurance race a rear wheel lug sheared off, and the car dropped a corner. While the car didn't finish the endurance event, the team was excited about the growth experienced and is looking forward to the 2006 car.
In 2006, Lehigh FSAE agian designed and completed a full monocoque car. Using a unique manufacturing cycle, internally referred to as "cut and fold", the chassis was able to be VARTM infused and cured at room temperature as a single plate. This process removed the costly and large autoclave from the composite manufacturing process and impressed the judges at the competition. Keeping with the compostie design, the car featured a full carbon suspension, carbon bulkheads, steering wheel, and innovative anti-roll strips. The money maker came from the design and integration of carbon flexture a-arms, removing both wieght and stiction from the inboard mounts. Once at competition, the car impressed many judges and looked poised to make a strong run in the dynamic events, however the team had trouble passing the noise test and missed almost all of the dynamic events. Making it in time for autocross and the endurance event the car performed amazingly and made it past the half-way mark of the endurance event when the maligned muffler becmae disconnected from the header. The car was pulled off the course, even though many thought it should be allowed to continue. The success of the 2006 car, including awards in composite and innovation has the team in high spirits for the 2007 car.