DAYTONA BEACH — Since the school year started, a group of Embry-Riddle students have designed, constructed, tweaked and tested a high-tech racing machine that will be entered in an international competition next month.
ERAU Motorsports, which has grown in scope and skill over the last four years, will participate in the Society of Automotive Engineers’ 120-team Formula competition at Michigan International Speedway from May 9-12.
A majority of the team, which is a mixture of undergrads and graduate students, are studying mechanical engineering.
David Spitzer, who is a staff research engineer for ERAU’s Center for Motorsports Engineering, leads the Formula SAE effort, which starts with computer-aided design and ends with this annual competition.
Each year, ERAU Motorsports starts from scratch with its Formula SAE entry.
“Our first car was ER-01 and that car was a failure by any measure,” Spitzer said with a laugh. “We tested it a little bit in the parking lot here and the wheel bearings failed, the half-shaft broke and we ended up going to competition only to study the competition.
“We wanted to meet the people, to see what everyone else was doing and help us wrap our minds around what this challenge really was. From that point to now is a real source of pride.”
The ER-04 looks like the super baby of a Le Mans Prototype and IndyCar Series car.
It features a rear wheel 4-cylinder Honda engine, which creates about 100 horsepower, and has monitoring systems for engine, brakes, chassis and environment around the tiny racing machine.
This mighty-mite even employs a laser system to measure chassis load vs. “tire squish.”
“This version of the car is data-driven as we use more sensors to make good decisions,” Spitzer said. “In the past, there was a healthy dose of engineering along with a little bit of ‘this is what the other guys are doing.’
“We have been pushing hard to build in more rigor to those decisions. We have all the sensors on ER-04 that would be on a Prototype car.”
As this journey to Brooklyn, Michigan, continues, Spitzer said the team has been to several world-class technical centers, such as the Kennedy Space Center and the Ohlins shaker rig in North Carolina. Ohlins develops suspension parts for nearly every vehicle made in the world.
“We are trying to bring more and more professionalism to the program,” Spitzer said. “What is gratifying for me is that these experiences are very influential for them.”
Maxwell Kline, 22, is the only member original member of ERAU Motorsports Club. The senior is the team leader and president of the club, and is in charge of all wiring for ER-04.
“Nobody really likes that job,” Kline said with a chuckle.
But that pain is washed away when he gets into the cockpit as one of the team’s drivers.
“It’s an experience like no other,” he said. “It is absolutely incredible.”
There are four driving events. Kline does the autocross and a 30-minute endurance race.
Autocross is a timed competition in which drivers navigate one at a time through a defined course, which includes sharp turns, short straightaways and slalom areas.
“We get two runs through the course,” Kline said. “You got to bring it, whatever you got. Those are your only chances.”
The students bring their classroom knowledge to their tiny shop on the south side of ERAU’s sprawling campus.
Kyle Morris, 22, is responsible for the car’s suspension. He joined the program a year ago and when he graduates will head straight to Honda’s Research & Development Center in Ohio.
“We do this for pride and fun,” Morris said. “When the school closes and the sun goes down, we will still be here working. Most of the work we do is between 5 p.m. and 5 a.m.
“This is a true race shop. We have a group of guys who are passionate about the same thing. It is really fun when you get a bunch of guys with similar mindsets to do this.”
The ER-04 will be constantly tested until the competition, but the team is extremely confident with this year’s effort.
“By the time we get to competition, we have the full confidence that this thing will do what we want it to do,” Morris said. “We are going to test ER-04 every weekend until we load it on the trailer and take it up to Michigan.”
“For the pace we showed last year, the amount of improvement on this car and the amount of weight we have dropped and the increase in reliability, we feel very confident,” Kline said. “Our goal is a top-30 finish, but most of us are looking better than that.”