Click to view
larger image

Cornell University’s Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) racecar team won its fourth world championship in five years at the 2005 competition, adding to the eight first-place trophies the team has already secured since entering the competition in 1987. The team raced its student-designed and student-fabricated vehicle at the Pontiac Silverdome in Mich. last May.

Formula SAE challenges students from across the country and around the world to design, build and compete with small formula-style racecars. The challenge promotes teamwork and dedication among college students, while also providing invaluable engineering experience.

The Cornell University team uses a systems-engineering-based approach to create a vehicle from scratch each year. While working on the steering system, the team began searching for durable, lightweight and easy-to-replace bearings. The students chose igubal® plastic bearings from igus®, which are self-lubricating and maintenance-free. The donated spherical bearings were used to compensate for alignment errors and to enable close tolerances with certain steering components.

Evgeni Khasbury, a Cornell Fomula SAE team member, said, “The igus spherical bearings were durable and easy to maintain, making them a very appealing product.”

At the competition, points were awarded in cost, presentation, design, acceleration, skid pad, autocross and endurance-fuel economy categories. Cornell scored 906 points out of a possible 1,000, finishing 38 points above its closest competitor.

The 2006 Formula SAE event is scheduled for May 17-18, with Cornell University among the list of registered competitors for the twentieth consecutive year. To learn more about the Cornell University Formula SAE team, go to fsae.mae.cornell.edu. To learn more about Formula SAE and other SAE events, visit students.sae.org/competitions.