Liberty’s vehicle engineering teams test mettle at national competitions

Two vehicle teams from the Liberty University School of Engineering recently hit the road and showcased their mechanical skills at national competitions. The Liberty Motorsports Formula SAE team raced in the May 14-17 national championships at Michigan International Speedway before its Baja SAE team participated in the Baja SAE national collegiate design series event June 12-15 at Budds Creek Motocross Park in Mechanicsville, Md.

Liberty brought a total of 27 team members to the Formula SAE championships, with four drivers participating in the acceleration, autocross, skid pad, and endurance races. Overall, the team finished 35th out of 120 teams.

“We were the highest-placing team that was competing in the dynamic events for the first time,” said Elijah Ometz, a rising senior mechanical engineering student who served as lead engineer and co-team captain along with Chris Jenne. “We completed everything and had no issues, which we were super excited about. It was the first time being at the competition for most of the team members. Seeing what they worked on for so many hours come to fruition, they were pretty ecstatic and on top of the world.”

Steve Mason, School of Engineering lab manager and competition team coordinator, said the Formula SAE national showing was groundbreaking in only its third year competing in the internal combustion engine category after starting with an electric model.

“The Formula SAE team passed all of its technical inspections with flying colors,” he said, noting the inspections were conducted by high-level engineers in the automotive industry, from Ford, General Motors, Tesla, and other manufacturers. “To place 35th out of 120 teams, including teams from large engineering universities like Purdue, Texas A&M, and the University of North Carolina, was pretty amazing for the amount of time we’ve been doing it.”

During daily repair sessions in the paddock area — as teams tore down and rebuilt their cars, changing fluids, putting on new tires for the next day’s testing or events — the team offered spare parts from its toolboxes to other teams in need.

“The School of Engineering is proud of our team for all the sportsmanship, interactions, and contacts they established throughout the competition,” Mason said. “They represented Liberty very well and were good ambassadors for Christ during the entire event. It was a competition, but there was good camaraderie as well.”

The competition involved a brake inspection test, which required drivers to accelerate to 35 mph and lock up all four tires completely before skidding to a stop; an acceleration test with a staged time trial on a straightaway (Liberty’s car reached a top speed of 70 mph as it covered 75 meters in 4.55 seconds); autocross, a time trial event on a mile-long road course, with corners, hairpin and sweeping turns, slaloms, and straightaways; skid pad, a time trial test where drivers negotiated a large figure-8 course, completing two laps around a 15-meter circle in both directions; and the endurance race, which featured staggered starts with upwards of 15 cars on the track at the same time reaching to speeds of 70-75 mph on the straightaways with drivers experiencing significant G-forces on the curves.

Fuel efficiency also factored into the score. Liberty’s entry — which weighed 480 pounds and featured a 600CC engine from a Yamaha RX sports bike — averaged approximately 15 miles per gallon, placing it in the middle of the pack for efficiency.

The Baja team placed a program-best 42nd out of 98 vehicles in its competition, capped by a 27th-place showing out of 84 cars in the final four-hour endurance race, where it completed 42 laps on the 1.5-mile motocross course.

“We were able to stay on the track the entire time and the car did very well,” said Daniel Truxel, the rising senior team captain and chief engineer. “Most cars had to pit for serious issues like broken suspension components or broken drivetrain components, so we were really happy with our performance as far as the integrity of the vehicle.”

Truxel and seven other team members attended Baja SAE Maryland along with Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dr. Mark Atwater, who served as faculty advisor.

Though they witnessed a few rollovers, Truxel and suspension team lead Chancey Matthews, who finished the last hour and a half of the endurance race, avoided collisions that sidetracked other vehicles on the hilly dirt track course.

Prior to the engine, four-wheel drive functionality, and brake test inspections, teams gave 15-minute presentations on their cars’ business and cost reports as well as the overall vehicle design to a panel of judges. They then put their cars through a series of four short track dynamic tests: acceleration on a 150-foot straightaway; maneuverability around traffic cones and hay bales on a road course; an extreme hill climb; and suspension and traction through a rugged obstacle course made of tires, concrete barriers, and logs.

Baja SAE provides teams with a standard 10 horsepower Kohler internal combustion engine.

“Everyone uses the same one and we can’t modify it,” Truxel said. “It’s a way to kind of level the playing field. You’re only given so much power. What are you going to do with it? It’s an interesting challenge, and it’s more about reducing weight and improving your drivetrain.”

Mason said both teams continue to improve on previous models and push the envelope of technical innovation.

“It is important that there is an upward trajectory to a team, signs that they are progressing and trying to get better by building upon and improving previous knowledge,” he said. “You don’t want to reinvent the wheel every four years. You want to be gaining knowledge and gleaning from information passed on by graduating team members.”

The Formula SAE team is already working on developing next year’s model and making significant improvements to increase the engine’s horsepower, reduce the vehicle’s weight and improve its suspension and aerodynamics, possibly with the addition of front and rear wings.

The Baja SAE team, which expects to return 20-25 of its 30 members from last year, has already begun manufacturing its next car, Dolly, and held a “Delta” meeting to discuss all the areas of the vehicle design they want to improve, from acceleration and top speed to turning radius, as well as ways to streamline preparation for next year’s competition.

During the school year, both the Formula SAE and Baja SAE teams work out of adjacent shop spaces in the Hudgins Building, the manufacturing base for most of the engineering competition teams.

“There is a rivalry between the Baja and Formula teams, but it’s all in good fun,” Truxel said. “Since I’ve been a team captain, we have definitely fostered an environment of encouragement. We help each other out all the time, bouncing ideas off each other. Sometimes we’ll do test days together at CERE or New London Airport. We’re all teams of engineering students trying to see each other succeed.”

The experience of serving on a competition team is already proving invaluable for students. This summer, Ometz is an intern with the aerospace division of Kaydon Ring & Seal Inc. bearings in Hanover, Pa., designing seals for F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jet engines manufactured by Lockheed Martin as well as others for GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney.

“My design and manufacturing experience helps me to merge what I’ve learned in school and how I can apply it to my internship,” he said. “It’s really tied to Formula SAE. Each team is like a company manufacturing a product, and it lends itself to being a more well-rounded engineer and employee in the future.”

Truxel is interning for a second summer at Harley-Davidson York (Pa.) Vehicle Operations, and Matthews is interning with Hendrick Motorsports in Charlotte, N.C., traveling with Liberty-sponsored driver William Byron and his team to Cup Series events.

For more on engineering competition teams, visit the School of Engineering clubs and teams webpage.