Cyclone Racing CR-26

Cyclone Racing Formula SAE Team. As mentioned in the above section, I am a member of ISU’s FSAE team, and I have been involved with the Powertrain subsystem since August 2021. CR-26 is the car that we designed and built for the 2021-2022 school year, and although I was still a new member at the time, I contributed to several key areas within the Powertrain subsystem, including designing an updated wiring diagram for the car, and assisting with wiring and engine calibration.

Although this was a new environment for me, I felt the opportunity to gain some skills not directly related to my major was important and that I should pursue it. Ultimately, I ended up with lots of exposure to a fast-paced, team-based environment, as well as experience with 2D and 3D CAD programs, and hands-on wiring and engine tuning.

To expand on a couple of the above points, having a wiring diagram is critical in this application. Since the car’s electrical system combines many standalone components into one system, it is important that we can map out how each component should be wired, and how the components interact with others. Having this diagram helped me estimate an average load case on the electrical system so that we knew the current draw of our system would not exceed the engine’s maximum generating capacity.

I also assisted the Lead Systems Engineer with engine calibration (image two shows the interface for adjusting some engine parameters). This consisted of monitoring engine data as it ran, making changes to engine settings to ensure safer and more efficient running, and doing post-run data analysis to adjust any settings that may have been missed in real-time.