According to its Facebook group, they’re just a group of sexy people building a sexy car, but with the unveiling of its latest project, Carleton’s Raven’s Racing team is hoping to come in number one at the world’s largest collegiate competition.
Twenty-two fourth-year Carleton engineering students will unveil the RR10, the latest in a string of cars designed by Carleton students to be entered into the Formula SAE competition, before they head off to the race in May.
Project manager Stefano Ranalli, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student, said he has been involved with Formula SAE since his first year and has been volunteering since. This year will be his first year actually participating in the competition.
The basic premise of the competition is that students have to design and manufacture a car that they will then race on the Michigan International Speedway.
The majority of the work is done in-house, according to Ranalli.
“Manufacturing takes hours upon hours on top of just designing the car,” he added.
The project goes beyond just building a car that will be able to go fast enough to win the race. The idea is that students have to design and manufacture a prototype of a car that would hypothetically be sold to “non-professional weekend autocross racers,” according to the formula SAE website.
The project also involves marketing of the prototype and management of finances.
“Building the seat by hand has taken about 100 hours,” Ranalli said. “I spent most of reading week making the mold alone.”
Eric Ghoukasian, the aerodynamics and bodywork expert of the project and fourth-year aerospace engineering student, has also been involved with Formula SAE for several years now. Like Ranalli, he is his first year actually competing.
“With regards to competition, we’re aiming for the best, our hopes are high,” Ghouksian said. “We’re building a pretty good car.”
Ghoukasian said he and the team have been especially busy this year, due to budget cuts and fewer members of the team. Not to mention the fact that they have not only built one car ready to race, but have also designed a second hybrid vehicle in hopes that they can enter it in next year’s competition.
“We’re one of the few universities that is doing that,” he said. “We want to try to stay ahead of the game, we want to be the most innovative.”
Ranalli said he hopes to see the Raven’s Racing Team place at least within the top 15 of the 120 schools that compete.
Students will be working over the weekend to ensure the car is finished for its unveiling in the Galleria of the Unicentre at noon March 29, though at this point, they said they’re almost done.
“There are few projects where you actually get to design something and build something in one year, and see it come to fruition,” Ranalli said. “It proves our technical abilities.”