Data Acquisition and Analysis of a Formula SAE Car

The purpose of this research project is to take data acquisition readings from a MoTeC brand data acquisition module and interpret the data relating to the performance of a formula SAE car. The process of this experiment will include test driving the vehicle in a controlled environment taking readings from numerous sensors placed on the vehicle. Some of the sensors used include linear potentiometers on the suspension, accelerometers, brake pressure sensors, wheel speed sensors, and infrared temperature sensors. There will be changes made such as raising and lowering tire pressures, adjusting tire camber, adjusting brake bias, and adjusting the stiffness of the springs on the suspension. All of these changes will be made with the car running on the same course to maintain consistency as well as making one change to the chassis at a time. A successful change will be noted as a decrease in lap time as well as a higher average lap speed. The challenges that will be faced are deeming whether or not the improvements of lap time were due to the change in the vehicles dynamics or if it was purely driver improvement. To combat this issue, there will be a combination of average lap time, as well as having multiple drivers do runs with each change. This will allow to improve accuracy and if the change in lap time is significant with all drivers, then the change can be solidified as an improvement