TMS SUPPORTS VILLANOVA FORMULA SAE TEAM
TMS Titanium selected Villanova Formula SAE as the lucky team to sponsor in the recent Formula SAE Competition, which challenges student teams to design, build, and race a formula-style race car. This year the sponsored car, VU07, finished 18th overall out of 120 teams at the 2015 Formula SAE Michigan event. Some of the team’s other accomplishments from the competition include: 7th in the Acceleration event, 7th in the Cost event, 8th in the Fuel Economy event, and 18th in the Design presentation. The final overall standing represents the team’s best finish to date, and they insist it would not have been possible without TMS' support.
“All of our suspension members were made from TMS Titanium, and the other teams at the competition were very impressed. They were definitely our most complimented feature. We would like to thank TMS for helping us achieve our goals through the benefits of sponsorship and more specifically, titanium,” said Alison Boyd, Sponsorship Director of the Villanova Formula SAE Team”
While the races tend to be the more exciting part of the competition, the engineering and design aspects are the real purpose. For this reason, SAE limits the teams to a 600cc engine, and mandates that all air must pass through a 20mm diameter restrictor. These restrictions limit the amount of power the car is able to produce, and forces the teams to make their cars faster in other more creative ways, such as reducing weight. Switching the suspension members from steel to titanium allowed the team to decrease the overall weight of the car, while maintaining it's structural integrity. This year the car weighed in at 405 pounds without driver, which was one of the lightest cars (with 4 cylinder engines and steel frames) at the competition.
While the Villanova Formula SAE Team has made huge strides in their suspension design with the switch to titanium, they are still working on other ways to improve design and decrease weight. For the remainder of the year they hope to use titanium to create the anti-roll bars, which would drop more weight, reduce bending, and improve their anti-roll movement. Additionally, using titanium bolts throughout the car would further decrease the weight while maintaining the durability. Having a titanium resource opens up many new doors for the team and offers them endless possibilities for improvement.
The Villanova Formula SAE Team is very excited to use the momentum from VU07’s success to begin their work on the 2016 model, VU08. This summer they plan to test VU07 extensively while beginning the R&D phase for the new vehicle. There are numerous areas of improvement and with TMS’ help, the team already has many new ideas that will ensure even greater success for 2016.
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