Submitted by Umur Selek on Sun, 05/01/2011 - 02:36
NEW YORK — On the main floor of the New York International Auto Show last weekend, thousands of car lovers crowded around the glitzy displays where Chevy, Volkswagon, Toyota, Ford and dozens of other carmakers unveiled their latest models and concept cars.
One floor up, 6-year-old Cameron Birnbaum climbed into a small race car with wide eyes. Among the hundreds of vehicles at the auto show, this one was special, Rutgers University senior David Gumpert explained to the Boston boy and his mother.
"We designed it ourselves. And we take it out and race it," said Gumpert, an electrical and computer engineering major from Hunterdon County.
"Isn’t this cool? College kids made this," said Stacey Birnbaum, Cameron’s mother.
Rutgers Formula Racing, a student club on the Piscataway campus, builds a car every year to compete with 120 other colleges on the Formula SAE student auto design circuit. This year, though, the club debuted its sleek race car — designed and assembled from the ground up by Rutgers students — alongside Detroit’s finest at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.
The 8-foot car was assembled in a crowded garage on the Busch campus in Piscataway, where about 35 students made every weld and tightened every bolt themselves. Some students spent 40 or more hours a week working on the car in the scramble to get it finished — and drivable — by the end of the school year.
The students worked overtime to complete the car early to display it at the world’s most important auto show. They petitioned for a space at the New York show after hearing Columbia University students had displayed their car a few years ago.
To the Rutgers students’ surprise, auto show executives granted them a site for free in the center of the merchandising area on the fourth floor, which overlooks the frenetic main hall where the big auto makers display their latest models.
"We’re proud of what we have accomplished," said Umur Selek, 22, a Rutgers senior industrial engineering major and president of the club. "It’s nice to be recognized."
On Saturday, a small group of Rutgers students dressed in dark suits and scarlet red ties stood at their display and answered questions about their shiny, new 2011 car. They also allowed hundreds of auto show attendees to sit in their 2010 car.
The vehicles, which fit a single person, are open-cockpit race cars. They can reach speeds up to 120 mph and are about half the size of the cars raced at the Indianapolis 500 and other professional races. Parts are designed by Rutgers engineering students on campus computers, then built with the help of alumni who own machining shops.
Two weeks before the auto show, the students were unsure they would finish the 2011 model in time. The car was still a shell and students were piecing together the parts they had spent months designing and manufacturing.
Gumpert, in charge of the car’s electrical team, was carefully wiring the vehicle with a data-logging system his team designed to help record how it performs when driven.
"Everything you see right now was made by us," said Gumpert, 25, of Readington.
Nearby, senior Omar Ashraf was preparing to install the variable length intake manifold he designed to regulate air in the engine and increase the car’s horsepower. With dozens of students working on the vehicle, every part is crucial, said Ashraf, 22, a mechanical and aerospace engineering major from Piscataway.
"If one person fails, we all fail," Ashraf said.
Several of the club’s alumni have gone on to work in the auto industry, using their work on the Rutgers cars as proof of their potential.
Ed Murray/The Star-LedgerStoyan Lazarov cuts a piece of metal as Mike Fabbricatore works on the race car. The two are members of the Rutgers Formula Racing club and are building a car for the New York International Auto Show.
The students spent about $20,000 building this year’s car. The money came from donations, student activity funds provided by the university and the $75 membership fees students pay to join the club. Many in the club, which includes a few female students, also pay for supplies out of their own pockets.
The Rutgers car will compete against dozens of others designed by college students next month in Michigan and again in June, in California. The students, who have been competing since the early 1990s, had their best finish in 2009, when they placed third in the design competition.
The New York auto show runs through Sunday, though the students will bring the 2011 car back to campus Saturday to display at the university’s Rutgers Day celebration. Students expect to publicly race the car for the first time in the parking lot of the Werblin Recreation Center on the Busch campus.
Submitted by Umur Selek on Sun, 04/24/2011 - 01:55
Rutgers Race Car Goes From New York Auto Show to Rutgers Day
It may be half the size of its Indy car and Formula One racer cousins, but the Rutgers Formula race car will still be the noisiest and speediest exhibit that Rutgers Day guests can witness.
Umur Selek, Rutgers Formula Racing team president, shows the race car framework in March.
Each year, students on the Rutgers Formula Racing team build a motorcycle-engine-powered, open-cockpit, open-wheel race car that competes against other universities at events in Michigan and California.
For the past two years, Rutgers Day has marked the car’s debut to the public. But this year it’s first going on display at the prestigious New York International Auto Show in the Jacob Javits Convention Center. The car will be shown Saturday and Sunday, April 23 and 24, in the Level 4 Galleria hall at the show. The team is also displaying its cars from 2005 and 2010 for the duration of the show, through May 1.
“We’re thrilled to be showing our car in such a high-profile event, where so many people will see it,” said Umur Selek, the team’s president.
Selek was quick to reassure Rutgers Day fans that the car will be back in time to roar around a race course in the Sonny Werblin Recreation Center parking lot on April 30.
The team, sponsored by the School of Engineering, is putting the finishing touches on its car today, after receiving the body panels back from the painter.
Following the Rutgers Day demos, the team is off to the first Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) collegiate racing competition in mid-May, at the Michigan International Speedway southwest of Ann Arbor. A month later, the team will compete at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.
Submitted by Umur Selek on Mon, 04/11/2011 - 05:59
Grease-ridden clothes and nights spent sleeping in the back seat of a car are testaments to the Rutgers Formula Racing (RFR) team's dedication to succeed, both on and off the track.
But before RFR will enter its formula-type car this year in two annual Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) competitions, a long process of brainstorming, design and building takes place, RFR President Umur Selek said.
"After a few months into the school year, the actual production of the race car starts and then the students are introduced to the real engineering world," he said.
The team constructs a new car every year, but members first construct a 3D model in a computer-aided design (CAD) software program, Selek said.
Most design work is completed in the summer, but meticulous reviews of the vehicle's systems continue throughout the year, said Paul Gettings, leader of controls and manufacturing.
The process involves several sub-teams, including divisions that focus...(more)
