The Formula Buckeyes were visited by the President of The United States on Thursday, while on a tour of The Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research.

The focus of the visit with the Formula Buckeyes was to showcase light weight vehicle structures being developed at Ohio State.  Team members Jared Martin, Nick Rumberger and Greg Massey were on hand to present the US President with race cars from previous years as well as the latest 2012 race car in progress – a full carbon fiber monocoque. Additionally, Mr. Obama was presented with several parts from our new vehicle such as carbon composites suspension arms, ceramic brake rotors and inertia welded titanium components.

Mr. Obama showed a genuine interest in the formula car, asking questions about the car’s development and its relevant parts. Team members were told by the President that the skills they acquire working on the formula team would become vital in their future careers.

Look for more updates about the visit in the upcoming days, but right now we have a car to build!

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The titanium uprights designed for the 2012 vehicle would not be possible without the support of SGS Tools and Titanium Metal Supply.

SGS Tools is a second generation, family-owned, Ohio-based company that designs, engineers and manufactures solid carbide rotary cutting tools. With over 50 years of experience and expertise, SGS has been helping customers around the world save money by offering outstanding products. The Formula Buckeyes contacted SGS Tools with concerns of machining the upper and lower control arm mounts from Ti 6-4, and were grateful to receive a variety of endmills by donation from SGS Tools to complete the project. The great tooling coupled with the SGS Tool Wizard resulted in great surface finish and tool life. We couldn’t have been happier with the final products and the support from SGS Tools, who even went out of their way to hand deliver the tooling to our shop. Thank you Tom and the rest of the staff at SGS Tools for your support!

Titanium Metal Supply, Inc. is a titanium supplier and stocking distributor, and full service source of titanium mill products. They supply titanium mill products to the metal finishing industries including aerospace, architectural, automotive, biomedical, chemical processing, industrial, marine, military, oil, tooling, racing, and others. TMS is in their second year of supporting the Formula Buckeyes and have played an integral in taking components from computer design to in-hand parts by providing the team with the required material. When we approached TMS about our needs for the uprights, they came through for us with the billet titanium. Thank you James and the rest of the crew at Titanium Metal Supply for your continued support of our project!

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The 2012 season will mark the first time the Formula Buckeyes travel to Hockenheim, Germany to compete at Formula Student Germany. After a high stress 6:00AM EST registration, the Formula Buckeyes were able to secure one of the four North American slots allotted for early registration of foreign teams. At FSG 2012, the team will be competing as Car #30 against 77 other teams from around the world in static and dynamic events. The trip to Germany will be the second time the Formula Buckeyes have entered foreign competition, placing sixth overall at Formula Student UK in 2001.

A visit to the Transportation Research Center is the final result of hours of design and fabrication work done by Formula Buckeyes members. The amount of last minute preparation that takes place to ensure everything is safe and functional takes more time than you would think and covers every nut, bolt and fasteners to ensure the safety of those in and around the car. This is a job that needs the guidance of expert hands and the knowledge of a wise adviser. These roles were fulfilled by none other than Mike Sadie and Ben Kruse; two men who took countless hours out of their busy days to help with a car that they were no longer competing in. The level of dedication that comes out of the late nights at The Center for Automotive Research shop is what separates Formula Buckeyes from the average OSU student.

Once the car was completed and ready for the track, the excitement rose exponentially. Hearing the car run and knowing that soon it would be driving was all the newer members had hoped for. Getting to drive the Formula car, which can go 0-60 faster than almost any car on the road, is a unique experience unlike anything else on this planet. Few outside of the ultra-rich and professional race car drivers get to enjoy this kind of acceleration. This is the beauty of Formula SAE, anyone regardless of ability, who has a desire to succeed and a drive to work as a team can experience this excitement. Although this was only a taste of driving a Formula SAE car, all those who were part of the TRC test day with car #106 are now hooked for life.

Words by Tim Sherer

Tim majors in Animal Science and enjoys contributing to the Formula Buckeye racing team in his spare time.

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Fall quarter has arrived and with it came the Student Involvement Fair on Monday, September 21st. Unfortunately, bad weather meant the typically outdoor fair was moved inside into the new Ohio Union. Thousands of students poured into the Union to see what many opportunities OSU clubs have to offer and enjoy some free food. The Formula Buckeyes were on site to display parts for the upcoming 2012 vehicle, hand out fliers with team information and sign up interested students for our mailing list. The team enjoyed meeting new students and sharing our passion for Formula SAE with them – we hope to see many of them join the team and work alongside us in the upcoming year.

Fall Kickoff Meeting:

The Fall Kickoff Meeting will take place Monday, September 26th at 7pm in Scott Laboratory, Room E0125. Come join the Formula Buckeyes team for an info session on our team, project, and goals for 2011-2012 season!

The Team Leaders will be on hand to present on each vehicle sub-system and projects available for team members to get involved with. At the conclusion of the presentation at Scott, we will be shuttling those interested back to the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) to tour our shop and research facilities, view the past vehicles, and show the construction of our new vehicle. We will then shuttle students back to campus at the conclusion of the tour.

We look forward to seeing you there. Please enter through the main lobby and arrive early as seats will fill up fast and the doors lock around 7pm. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.