From Engineering Exposition
Louisville SAE is a student organization that designs, builds, and races cars! Each year, our teams take what they have learned in class and apply it to a real world competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in designing either an off-road and/or on-road racing machine. Coming off of Louisville SAE’s most successful season to date with two 6th place finishes, we are looking to further our accomplishment in the coming year.
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Formula SAE
The on-road team of Louisville SAE if Formula SAE (FSAE). These cars are built as weekend autocross competition cars. With typical race speeds being 60mph these car are made for acceleration and handling. The competition consists of design judging, timed dynamic events that test various aspects of the car and finishes with a 30 minute timed endurance race.
Baja SAE
The off-road side of Louisville SAE is Baja. These cars are designed to handle mud, jumps, water, and during the competition, other cars! Limited to a 10 horsepower Briggs and Stratton Engine, the design of our drivetrain and keeping the car as light as possible, is essential in order to achieve top speeds of nearly 40 mph. Our competition consists of design judging multiple test of the vehicles performance ending with a wheel-to-wheel 4 hour long endurance race against up to 120 other cars at a time.
Open Shop Tour
During E-expo Louisville SAE will their shop open for visits. Come by and visit the multiple demonstrations and take a look at some of our present, past, and future cars.
Speed vs. Torque
Having the fastest car on the track does not necessarily mean having the car with the highest top speed. In Baja, our cars need to accelerate quickly, climb hills, and be fast through straights. Much like a mountain bike, we need to shift to a lower gear to get up hills and shift to the highest gear to go fast on flat ground. Instead of having a set number of gears though, we theoretically have an infinite amount. Our cars use a Continuously Variable Transmission to adjust the gear ratios during the race for speed or torque.
At E-Expo, we will demonstrate the significance of torque and its relation to speed, as well as show you how a CVT works to give us an infinite gear ratio.
Egress Race
Because we race wheel – to – wheel against 120 other vehicles, SAE has enforced several strict safety rules in order to keep the drivers safe while on the track. One of those rules is that the drive must be able to get out of the car in 4 seconds or less in case of fire or some other emergency. Sounds easy right? Well we’re giving you a chance to pass this “simple” test. Hop in our cars and compete against other students at E-Expo for the fastest egress time.
Glass Engine
Ever wonder what the inside of a car engine looks like? We have the solution. Come by and take a look at our glass engine that allows you to see everything from the crankshaft turning to the combustions of the fuel.
