In the Process - Janurary 1st 2009

  The 2009 Team is working hard to meet the goals for this year. The car should be rolling by the middle of February and driving late March or early April. Overall design has been completed and with several changes to this years car the team is eager to get the car built and running to see the improvements upon last years design. Feel free to stop by the school shop in the coming months to see the progress of Viking 46!

Newsletter & Seattle Auto Show- Ending November 9th

  Check out the first Quarterly newsletter for the 2009 Team!

Don't forget to check out the Seattle Auto show and also read about our car on the show's website here:

http://www.seattleautoshow.com/

In the Media - August 31

  Over the Summer of 08 and after FSAE West the 2008 FSAE team has been featured in a few articles, follow the links below:

Here in WWU's News Archive:

WWU Vehicle Research Institute Teams Fare Well at Recent Mini-Baja and Formula Events

Here in the Western Front:

Sixth Place Finish a Formula Sae Team Best

Viking 43 was also on the Cover of Racecar Engineering recently for an article about Formula SAE, and the team is hoping that Racecar Engineering will soon have a full article on FSAE West! The magazine sample is HERE.
Here is an image of the cover,

Keep an eye out for more information from future magazines, and look here for updates on next years team!

FSAE West Finals - June 30

 Hello friends,

 I am proud to announce that the Western Washington University Formula SAE team has placed 6th overall at this year's West competition! In addition, we were selected as one of 3 teams to enter the final round of Design judging and placed third in the Design Event with judges agreeing it was the best looking car of the competition.

 We entered the first dynamic day with an overall lead in the static events but a few slight issues kept the car from performing at it's full potential. Nevertheless, we scored 7th in Acceleration, 6th in Skidpad, and 10th in Autocross that day. Saturday was the big event, Endurance, which accounts for 40% of the score and the event where our car failed last year.  Drivers Erik Kremsner and Adam Baxter were driving very well when on the last lap, 500 feet from the finish line, an official "Black Flagged" the driver because of concern about the damaged nosecone. The official held Baxter for around two minutes before letting him finally finish his lap, making this the first WWU team to finish every event of the competition in over a decade.

 We looked back at the goals we set at the beginning of the year; to build a car in a single year, to develop a new monocoque chassis, to finish every event of the competition, and to place in the top 10.  These seemed a bit unreasonable to many of us back in August, but we figured we might as well aim high. Well, the team accomplished every one of those goals, and has set itself in a position to win the event outright next year! We are all very proud of the car we have built and our performance this week.

 The team would like to extend a special thanks to WWU FSAE alumni Edward West and James Waltman, both of whom provided invaluable advice and help during all 4 days of the competition. We would also like to thank some family members that made our trip not only possible but also very enjoyable, including Norbert Kremsner, Greg & Sheryl Donohue, and Tim & Robin Urness. Special thanks as well to our platinum sponsors Janicki Industries and the Pacific NW Region Porsche Club of America for their substantial contributions and support throughout the year. Most importantly, thanks to each and every one of you for your support; we would not be where we are without you.

 The team is back in Bellingham and most intend to return with a new car next year.  A few members including Matt Nucci, Eric Urness, and myself will be graduating and moving on to the "real world" but we all feel that the lessons that Formula SAE has provided are priceless and we will continue to be involved as the team transitions to a new year.  Thank you for your support and cheers to a very successful year!

John Furtado
2008 Team Captain

FSAE West Day 2 - June 26

 Today was the second day of the 2008 Formula SAE West competition at California Speedway and the first day of scored events.  We are proud to announce that we have passed all 4 technical inspection events and have secured very successful finishes in all three static events.  The first event of the day for our team was the sales presentation, where a few members of the team present a business case for the production of our vehicle on a larger scale.  Members Axel Schmidt and Morgan Ferry gave an excellent presentation highlighting the high performance, low cost, and ease of manufacture that Viking 43 offers, incorporating an exciting 1 minute promotional video make by WWU student Chris Koser. Meanwhile, the rest of the team was working diligently to get V43 through the rigorous tech inspection and finally succeeded just before noon.

 At 2 pm, the team rushed the car to the Design event, where designers Matt Nucci, James Wright, Matt Kelly, and Marshall Hagen presented the most notable aspects of our car to a group of experienced judges including Claude Rouelle.  After design, the drivers brought the car to the noise and brake tests and passed on the first try for both events. At 4 pm, the team brought the car to the Cost Analysis, where we scored 38 out of 40 points on the presentation portion, and "well" overall.

 Finally, at 5:30, the nine Design Semifinalists were announced including Western Washington University.  Semifinals went very well and rumors have been floating online that the team will be entering one of the 3 spots for Design Finals for the first time in well over a decade!  We are all very proud of our performance at the competition thus far and excited to get the car out on track tomorrow. We will keep you updated as scores come in.