We're Back!
This week was our first week back since break. Over the holidays we managed to nearly finish welding our chassis. Due to some last-minute design changes that happened in November, we weren’t able to send out the files to VR3 Engineering until almost Thanksgiving. Talk about last-minute “Oh s***!”
Despite this setback, we’ve kept the other systems going. Things like electrical, brakes, and engine weren’t affected by the design changes. We already had the back half of the chassis done, so the engine stayed where it is. Electrical is just routing wire. Brakes are mainly affected by weight and CG of the car.
We’ve had decent turnout recently. A lot of the new guys have been really stepping it up to get things done. Our business team just submitted their business logic case. Max Evans and Blake Lewend have been hard at it, making sure everything they’re doing lines up with how they’ll present the car in May. Sil Schoonman, Frederick Meyers, Patrick Brandon, Rome Peraza, Steven Stanfield, Daniel Morishita-Horner, Alex Conrad, and a few others have been slaving away in the machine shop, cranking out parts for suspension and jigs.
Speaking of cranking out parts, this past week we got our chassis out of the jigs! It's definitely a lot later than last year due to the last minute change, but we got it put together pretty quick once we got the parts in. If you can guess the weight I'll give you... A smiley emoji, I guess... I don't have much to give... It is lighter than last year's, so there are improvements being made!
With the Formula South Invitational coming up, things are starting to get more intense. We need to have a running car in two weeks… It’s going to be one hell of a push to get that done. Even though the event is at the end of February, we still need to test the car and try to get some tuning done so we don’t show up dead on arrival. The next few weeks will be interesting for sure.
I myself have been up to my usual tricks with pictures. I recently did another upload to our Flickr, covering from the end of November to this past week. I got some really good ones when we went testing before Christmas. Mat Burgos, our Engine Lead, was driving OR-16 with a new radiator setup. The goal of this was to see if that radiator would work on OR-17, with the hopes of losing some weight and repacking the car. Unfortunately, I had to leave for my other job before we finished, but I believe the radiator worked quite well. No overheating issues in the middle of the day.
We’ll start a more regular testing schedule soon to get some of the new people some seat time and keep OR-16 alive. So look forward to more night pictures, maybe some Facebook Live, and even a Snapchat takeover!
