Getting Ready for The Long Haul
Now that we’re back from spring break, everyone has officially switched into “Michigan is here” mode. As of this posting, we have about seven weeks before we leave for Adrian, MI. That’s not much time at all. Let’s take a look and see exactly how our schedule is laid out from now until then.
T-minus one week: Fitzgibbon Grand Opening March 25th
T-minus two weeks: Filming and testing at Palm Beach International Raceway April 3rd
T-minus five weeks: FSAE Day at FCA in Naples April 22nd
T-minus six weeks: Finals!
T-minus seven weeks: Depart for Michigan
Yea… That’s not much free time left at all. Luckily, the car will be running very soon so we can get testing done, but that’s still a lot of work that has to be done. It’ll be fun, though, and I’m looking forward to it.
Recent updates at the shop since my last rambling post include rolling chassis, wiring almost done, new members joined, and so much more. I’ll start with the rolling chassis part.
When we got back from Kennesaw (that very Sunday) we put the car on the ground for the first time. It’s the latest it’s been on the ground since I’ve been a part of the team, but before you focus on that too much, let me throw out some quick facts. OR-16 was rolling really early last year, but it was on OR-15 parts. Same thing happened with OR-15. Now, when we got OR-16 up and running, it was also on OR-15 parts. So the OR-16 car competed at Kennesaw for the first time as a Frankensteined OR-15/16 mix. The only 16 part about it was the chassis and front suspension.
Contrast those two cars to 17, we’re actually kind of on track. The electrical system for 17 will be done this week; suspension is already on (we were rolling a few weeks ago); seat and bodywork is almost done; all we have left are some tabs and doing the final touches on just about everything. Once OR-17 is built, we’ll have about a month where we can conduct testing. We’ll be using that month to our advantage; we’ll be out every night we can, doing driver training, testing, tuning, breaking, and fixing.
Once the car is up and running, we’ll be going to Palm Beach International Raceway to film the business presentation video while also doing some testing. I’ll be directing most of that day, so I’ll be passing out when I get home. Flying quadcopters, directing cameras, organizing people… It’s going to be a fun day.
Then we’ll have Chrysler after that. FCA was kind enough to invite us back for the third year in a row. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to take pictures of the event, but I will most likely be going. FCA will have their own photographer to take pictures, so once we get those, we’ll upload them. It won’t be until after Michigan, though. The events the car will be performing in are skid pad, acceleration, and autocross. While it’s not a competition, it’s still cool to see where everyone else is in the testing phase of their cars. Since it’s so much later than last year, we should all be just about done with our cars.
That’s about it for this post. There will be more coming soon, especially once the car is up and running. Thanks for reading, and I’ll catch you on the next posting.
