Final results of the Formula SAE West 2008 competition can be found here.

The UC Berkeley team placed 25th overall. We did very well in all the static events, placing 17th in Design, 19th in Cost, and 8th in Presentation. In the dynamic events, we placed 38th in Acceleration, 10th in Skidpad, and 16th in Autocross. We unfortunately were unable to complete the Endurance event due to a seat belt buckle failure, which hurt our score significantly. However, we have learned a lot and gained a huge amount of experience, which will only fuel our enthusiasm for the design and build of the next car.

We'd like to sincerely thank Mick Franssen and Scott McCormick, our faculty advisors, for their support and advice for the four days of competition. With their help, we were able to get through some of the tougher setbacks. In addition, we would like to express our deepest gratitude toward Ted and Nancy James, not only for letting us use their trailer to bring everything to Fontana, but also for all of the guidance that they have given us throughout the year. Their help and advice has been truly invaluable, and we greatly appreciate it.

We would like to thank all of our sponsors and partners for all of the support that they have given us. You are the ones who make this team at all possible. We hope that you will continue to support the Cal Formula SAE team so that we may continue to build upon our engineering knowledge.

While the team members have been busy getting ready for final exams, we have also done several valuable straight line tests at the Richmond Field Station. As the end of the semester approaches, we are looking forward to a productive month of testing before our competition (which will be held on June 25-28, 2008). In the meantime, feel free to check out the B21 Testing Gallery, which is being regularly updated with pictures from test days.

Our first full test day is scheduled for Monday, May 26 at Infineon Raceway.

In the weeks since our last news update, the team has taken a huge leap toward our ultimate goal of showing a competitive presence at the Formula SAE West 2008 competition. First, and most significantly, we have gone from a rolling chassis to a running car! There are still a few components that need to be finalized, and we are still working on engine tuning and improving drivability, but nevertheless the car is running. We hope to have our first real test run in the very near future.

In addition, the team has been working hard on some of the other aspects of the competition, notably the Cost Report and Design Report. The 200-page Cost Report, detailing the cost and labor time of each and every component on the car, was mailed on April 1st after over a month's work of compilation and organization. The Design Report, which explains the engineering decisions made during the design of the car, is currently being finalized and will be sent out on April 15th. CAD images from the Design Report can be viewed in the B21 Design Gallery.

Cal Formula SAE has a rolling chassis! After the last few machining projects were completed and a few more components arrived in the mail, we finally bolted up the front and rear wheel packages and put the car on the ground. Our final composite panels are being bonded in, and we only have to put the finishing touches on a couple more subsystems. With our new engine also in the process of being tuned on the dyno, we are anticipating having a running car in the very near future!

The month of December began with a trip to the annual Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Orlando, Florida (courtesy of T&N Enterprises), giving a handful of team members the opportunity to thank current sponsors and reach out to new ones. It was great meeting all of our supporters in the motorsport industry, and we really appreciated the time that they took to speak with us. After returning, the team made another strong push during final exams period to wrap up the fall semester of 2007.

With two weeks of winter break remaining, the team was back to work, spending long days in the student machine shop on campus. In only a few short weeks, all of the machining for the 2008 car was completed, including all of the suspension brackets and brake rotors. The team would like extend a special thanks to General Grinding, whose work on the brake rotors helped to produce an outstanding final product.

Meanwhile, at the Richmond garage, final preparations were made on the motor before placing it on the dyno. With the motor completely rebuilt and the wiring complete, the team was able to test the components of the fuel injection system, which worked flawlessly. The final step was the construction of the header and muffler mounting, after which the entire system was ready for running on the dyno.

Finally, the composites team was working tirelessly in the Berkeley Composites Lab as production of the structural panels accelerated. Thanks to Scott McCormick, further testing on the panels also took place on the Instron machine in Hesse Hall, proving that the panels had more than enough strength to endure the stresses of suspension loading. The panels are now being bonded in, and the team can begin final assembly of the car before running in the near future.

November has seen even more progress being made on our 2008 car. We are taking full advantage of the oven at the Berkeley Composites Laboratory to make our structural carbon fiber components, including the floor, firewall, and structural side panels. We have mounted our differential from Taylor Race Engineering. In addition, assembly of the front suspension is underway, complete with brand new Penske shock absorbers. Finally, the wiring of the car is underway - a good sign that the car should be running shortly!

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