Earlier in May 2024, I saw a live stream of Formula SAE competition at Michigan International Speedway. I was somewhat inspired to make some concept or project to set up based on seeing these college formula cars. Additionally, I thought about a second concept similar to Baja SAE, but that is for another time. Allow me to share with you my concept.
Collegiate motorsports is not a concept that has been visited much in virtual racing. There have been two primary examples. "Live for Speed" is a game that features the MRT5, a formula race car inspired by a car developed by McGill University in Canada. There are also a handful of mods featuring a Formula Student car developed by the University of Carlos III Madrid, the MAD Formula Team.
There are no real wheel-to-wheel racing series involving colleges and universities. What comes very close, however, is the Purdue Grand Prix. The Purdue Grand Prix is a go-kart race held on a go-kart track meant to raise scholarship funds for graduating students at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. If you get to see any videos on the Purdue Grand Prix, take a look. It gives you an idea of colleges taking on the challenge of motorsports.
As nearly anyone would know, motorsports are expensive and surely dangerous. No one wants to see their prized racing machines become a heap of scrap metal after a crash or some other unfortunate incident. Thankfully my idea is a fantasy deal whereas this is more a spec car rather than colleges building them up from scratch. Also, getting into any sort of racing series usually does not require a college degree. It is not like American football or basketball where you need a certain amount of time in college prior to joining professional leagues. Part of the beauty of fantasy involves imagining things that defy logic and are sometimes too good to be true.
In reality, however, these collegiate motorsports competitions are held by mostly engineering students at college and universities; and the competitions themselves do not usually involve wheel-to-wheel racing. The goal of these colleges and universities is to build a formula car for a fictional company. This becomes a journey of about a year and a half to build, develop, present, and actually race these machines in a number of different events. Students of these programs usually go on to receive Engineering degrees and work mostly in the automobile industry.
This idea basically is about taking the college sports style route and work flow and adapting it to motorsports. So to get started in explaining this project, let me talk about the car.
^ from: (my X/Twitter) - This is a rough draft of a formula race car I developed based on what colleges make.
For me personally, this is my best-ever attempt at 3D modeling a formula race car. This concept car is an interpretation of a formula-type race car that a university or college would develop. I did not know what to name it, so I named it as the "College Car Concept." Such cars have a restriction of having engines no greater than 710cc displacement. A lot of these cars are mostly powered by supersport/middleweight motorcycle engines. Such engines have roughly 600cc displacement. A few others use a 450cc dirt motorcycle engine. Once, Western Washington University developed a 554cc V8 engine for their Formula SAE car in 2001. It is one of the wildest FSAE cars ever developed.
I decided to get wild with this idea. How wild? Try these cars being fitted with superbike engines! So this concept could possibly have superbike performance. Normally, one of these Formula cars will usually race on tracks like go-kart tracks. A car with a superbike engine would be too much for some go-kart tracks. This would defeat the purpose of these superbike-powered cars on a go-kart track or most autocross courses. This would be a superbike-powered car racing on longer and more proper courses if this car was powered by a superbike engine. Now if you need some examples, I have seen videos of superbike-powered race cars take on hillclimb events in Europe, so that is a bit of perspective.
There are actually a lot of options for the player in regards to the college car:
CHASSIS AND ROLL CAGE: While the car featured is a winged car, lower-powered versions can have no aerodynamic enhancements to it. The options would be having no wings and then being to choose a winged car. Usually, it is up to the colleges themselves to develop a car to either take advantage of aerodynamics or not. It all depends on if you want your car to generate downforce or not.
ENGINE: The college car could be fitted with a host of engines. I figured the "starter" or "beginner" spec would be a measly 125cc engine, like with a go-kart faster than rental karts. Another option is a 250cc engine that superkarts have. There are also 250cc dirt bike engines. If you fancy a dirt bike engine, you could choose either a 250cc dirt bike engine or a 450cc dirt bike engine. The primary class of engine is a 600cc engine, such as with supersport/middleweight motorcycles. If I could think of a unique flow to it, the superlative class of the College Concept Car is a 1000cc superbike-type engine.
Besides motorcycle or kart engines, I kind of thought of possibly engines by Japanese kei cars. I thought of an Inline-3 or Inline-4 engine for this car. However, I think they would be a bit too big for my College Car Concept.
TIRES: Hoosier Tires supplements the tires for Formula SAE cars. The tires are proper racing-spec tires. These tires developed by Hoosier are 16 inches in diameter. I initially thought of high-performance street tires for my College Concept Car. They probably wouldn't grip as well as competition tires, but it might keep some costs down. I would be thinking any number of tire makers who make racing tires would provide more options to the player. Such tires can cost between $200 USD to $300 USD for each tire. So take the price of one tire and multiply it by four for a complete set.
SUSPENSION AND HANDLING: I am not certain how collegiate formula cars are controlled suspension-wise. I think active suspension and/or semi-active suspension are allowed. Other than that, I haven't thought about suspension settings much.
Because these formula cars race mostly on kart tracks and on autocross, the cars are set for snappy steering and kart-like handling. These formula cars, though, have better grip than racing karts with the bigger tires.
TRANSMISSION: The transmission is likely set up more towards taking on shorter courses. Therefore, cars would be set up with short gears for acceleration.
This gives you some insight on the specs of this car.
Now let me explain the concept a bit more. But first...
I was thinking of a concept in which a specially-designed, turn-key, customer race car that various colleges can use. The idea is of college students still in college enjoy some racing and racing for their beloved schools. So the idea here was to make a game concept or simulation concept of colleges racing against each other. While I do know a lot of my own American colleges and universities, I also thought of American schools vs. non-American schools.
For inspiration, I looked up the kart classes of Automobilista 1. This game has six classes of karting- rental kart, race-spec rental karts, 125cc direct karts, 125cc bodywork karts, 125cc shifter karts, and superkarts (250cc). The superkarts are powerful enough to run on full-length circuits. The other kart styles, however, are more akin to what a lot of these college formula cars could race on. Some of these college formula cars are even raced on kart circuits for testing and hot laps.
So anyone looking for a more authentic-type experience with this level of formula cars can have them on proper go-kart tracks. They would be too slow for a lot of bigger size tracks. I am thinking even superbike-engine college formula cars may still not be enough for a lot of full-length tracks. However, don't get too excited about something like college formula cars racing on tracks like Spa-Francorchamps, Circuit de la Sarthe (24 Hours of Le Mans course), the Nürburgring 24-hour course, or the Snaefell Mountain Circuit (Isle of Man TT).
Now you have an idea about this college formula car I have thought of. If I continue to develop it better, I may offer something like this for sale if/when it is complete. Or I may just pass this along for free and take some donations for anyone who really appreciates my work.
I am glad you could join me for my breakdown of this concept I thought of. You are always welcome to share your thoughts about my material. My only suggestion is to use proper comments and not spam or hate. Subscribe/Follow my blog(s) in any capacity if you love my work. Share my blog post(s) with others if you enjoy my work. Support me further by connecting with me on social media; and if you are inclined, feel free to donate to me (donations are voluntary but would be appreciated). Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.
read more...
About the Label: Breakdowns
Blog posts under the label of "Breakdowns" involves an explanation of individual projects to help you understand certain works of mine. As many elements of it as possible are brought into greater detail. Breakdown posts can include stories, artwork, audio, and more.College Car Concept: The Car
Collegiate motorsports is not a concept that has been visited much in virtual racing. There have been two primary examples. "Live for Speed" is a game that features the MRT5, a formula race car inspired by a car developed by McGill University in Canada. There are also a handful of mods featuring a Formula Student car developed by the University of Carlos III Madrid, the MAD Formula Team.
There are no real wheel-to-wheel racing series involving colleges and universities. What comes very close, however, is the Purdue Grand Prix. The Purdue Grand Prix is a go-kart race held on a go-kart track meant to raise scholarship funds for graduating students at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. If you get to see any videos on the Purdue Grand Prix, take a look. It gives you an idea of colleges taking on the challenge of motorsports.
As nearly anyone would know, motorsports are expensive and surely dangerous. No one wants to see their prized racing machines become a heap of scrap metal after a crash or some other unfortunate incident. Thankfully my idea is a fantasy deal whereas this is more a spec car rather than colleges building them up from scratch. Also, getting into any sort of racing series usually does not require a college degree. It is not like American football or basketball where you need a certain amount of time in college prior to joining professional leagues. Part of the beauty of fantasy involves imagining things that defy logic and are sometimes too good to be true.
In reality, however, these collegiate motorsports competitions are held by mostly engineering students at college and universities; and the competitions themselves do not usually involve wheel-to-wheel racing. The goal of these colleges and universities is to build a formula car for a fictional company. This becomes a journey of about a year and a half to build, develop, present, and actually race these machines in a number of different events. Students of these programs usually go on to receive Engineering degrees and work mostly in the automobile industry.
This idea basically is about taking the college sports style route and work flow and adapting it to motorsports. So to get started in explaining this project, let me talk about the car.
The Competition Car.
Here is a breakdown of what I created as a rough draft. This is a rough draft or concept of what I developed:
^ from: (my X/Twitter) - This is a rough draft of a formula race car I developed based on what colleges make.
For me personally, this is my best-ever attempt at 3D modeling a formula race car. This concept car is an interpretation of a formula-type race car that a university or college would develop. I did not know what to name it, so I named it as the "College Car Concept." Such cars have a restriction of having engines no greater than 710cc displacement. A lot of these cars are mostly powered by supersport/middleweight motorcycle engines. Such engines have roughly 600cc displacement. A few others use a 450cc dirt motorcycle engine. Once, Western Washington University developed a 554cc V8 engine for their Formula SAE car in 2001. It is one of the wildest FSAE cars ever developed.
I decided to get wild with this idea. How wild? Try these cars being fitted with superbike engines! So this concept could possibly have superbike performance. Normally, one of these Formula cars will usually race on tracks like go-kart tracks. A car with a superbike engine would be too much for some go-kart tracks. This would defeat the purpose of these superbike-powered cars on a go-kart track or most autocross courses. This would be a superbike-powered car racing on longer and more proper courses if this car was powered by a superbike engine. Now if you need some examples, I have seen videos of superbike-powered race cars take on hillclimb events in Europe, so that is a bit of perspective.
The Competition Car Specifications.
I have no idea about the rules and regulations of Formula SAE or Formula Student. In fact, there is supposedly a rule book in Formula SAE with over 100 pages. This car was built as a loose interpretation of modern formula cars by colleges and universities.There are actually a lot of options for the player in regards to the college car:
CHASSIS AND ROLL CAGE: While the car featured is a winged car, lower-powered versions can have no aerodynamic enhancements to it. The options would be having no wings and then being to choose a winged car. Usually, it is up to the colleges themselves to develop a car to either take advantage of aerodynamics or not. It all depends on if you want your car to generate downforce or not.
ENGINE: The college car could be fitted with a host of engines. I figured the "starter" or "beginner" spec would be a measly 125cc engine, like with a go-kart faster than rental karts. Another option is a 250cc engine that superkarts have. There are also 250cc dirt bike engines. If you fancy a dirt bike engine, you could choose either a 250cc dirt bike engine or a 450cc dirt bike engine. The primary class of engine is a 600cc engine, such as with supersport/middleweight motorcycles. If I could think of a unique flow to it, the superlative class of the College Concept Car is a 1000cc superbike-type engine.
Besides motorcycle or kart engines, I kind of thought of possibly engines by Japanese kei cars. I thought of an Inline-3 or Inline-4 engine for this car. However, I think they would be a bit too big for my College Car Concept.
TIRES: Hoosier Tires supplements the tires for Formula SAE cars. The tires are proper racing-spec tires. These tires developed by Hoosier are 16 inches in diameter. I initially thought of high-performance street tires for my College Concept Car. They probably wouldn't grip as well as competition tires, but it might keep some costs down. I would be thinking any number of tire makers who make racing tires would provide more options to the player. Such tires can cost between $200 USD to $300 USD for each tire. So take the price of one tire and multiply it by four for a complete set.
SUSPENSION AND HANDLING: I am not certain how collegiate formula cars are controlled suspension-wise. I think active suspension and/or semi-active suspension are allowed. Other than that, I haven't thought about suspension settings much.
Because these formula cars race mostly on kart tracks and on autocross, the cars are set for snappy steering and kart-like handling. These formula cars, though, have better grip than racing karts with the bigger tires.
TRANSMISSION: The transmission is likely set up more towards taking on shorter courses. Therefore, cars would be set up with short gears for acceleration.
This gives you some insight on the specs of this car.
The Competition Car: Performance.
This car can basically be thought of as a formula-style go-kart but with a bigger engine and more snappy performance. If you watch a lot of Formula SAE and Formula Student videos of these cars in action, you can get an idea of how they perform. The more dream scenario would be if the cars were fitted with superbike engines, bigger and more grippy tires, and a few other enhancements greater than what regulations in Formula SAE and Formula Student.Now let me explain the concept a bit more. But first...
The Competition Car: Other Ideas?
I actually have other ideas outside of a collegiate formula car for some college motorsports concepts. I have ideas even for something like Legends Cars and even an idea for sportscar prototype racing similar to the Sports Racer categories of SCCA Racing. I may come back to "John's Creative Space" with ideas of other styles of collegiate racing. Stay tuned!College Car Concept: The Concept
I was thinking of a concept in which a specially-designed, turn-key, customer race car that various colleges can use. The idea is of college students still in college enjoy some racing and racing for their beloved schools. So the idea here was to make a game concept or simulation concept of colleges racing against each other. While I do know a lot of my own American colleges and universities, I also thought of American schools vs. non-American schools.
For inspiration, I looked up the kart classes of Automobilista 1. This game has six classes of karting- rental kart, race-spec rental karts, 125cc direct karts, 125cc bodywork karts, 125cc shifter karts, and superkarts (250cc). The superkarts are powerful enough to run on full-length circuits. The other kart styles, however, are more akin to what a lot of these college formula cars could race on. Some of these college formula cars are even raced on kart circuits for testing and hot laps.
So anyone looking for a more authentic-type experience with this level of formula cars can have them on proper go-kart tracks. They would be too slow for a lot of bigger size tracks. I am thinking even superbike-engine college formula cars may still not be enough for a lot of full-length tracks. However, don't get too excited about something like college formula cars racing on tracks like Spa-Francorchamps, Circuit de la Sarthe (24 Hours of Le Mans course), the Nürburgring 24-hour course, or the Snaefell Mountain Circuit (Isle of Man TT).
Now you have an idea about this college formula car I have thought of. If I continue to develop it better, I may offer something like this for sale if/when it is complete. Or I may just pass this along for free and take some donations for anyone who really appreciates my work.
I am glad you could join me for my breakdown of this concept I thought of. You are always welcome to share your thoughts about my material. My only suggestion is to use proper comments and not spam or hate. Subscribe/Follow my blog(s) in any capacity if you love my work. Share my blog post(s) with others if you enjoy my work. Support me further by connecting with me on social media; and if you are inclined, feel free to donate to me (donations are voluntary but would be appreciated). Thank you for reading! Take care and be well.
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