Awards & RecognitionFaculty member recognized for dedication to students

Student overcomes technical difficulties to place in competition

2008 Bagley College of Engineering Student Hall of Fame Inductees

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Special Podcast Release    Nash Street
Walk up to any newsstand on country music row in Nashville and you will see headlines that read “Nash Street named ‘THE BEST NEW ACT IN COUNTRY MUSIC.’” The upbeat blue grass/country band is made-up of Mississippi State students. Daniel Hare, an aerospace engineering major and the lead bass player tells the story of their experience playing at the Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Ole Opry, and how this small town band is making it big in the genre of country music.
Click here to listen.

They are getting their motor running, heading out on the highway, looking for adventure, and they’re ready for whatever comes their way. The first line of the popular Steppenwolf song describes what mechanical engineering students might feel when they enter their custom designed race car into competition at the Virginia International Raceway next month. Student members of the Mississippi State Motor Sports team have been spending their free-time this past year designing, building, and test driving their own formula-one race car. They have worked countless, volunteer hours creating the formula-style race car for the annual Society of Automotive Engineers International (SAE) race. Team captain Jonathan Rudd said the international competition offers three competitive tracks: Baja, snowmobile and formal. The latter is the BCoE SAE team's course.

“We’re the only formula-one race team representing Mississippi, so we want to represent our state well,” said Rudd. “I feel this college design series is important because I want to work in the automotive field after I graduate. This is giving me tons of experience, and it’s going to put me a step ahead of my competitors.”

The Mississippi Motor Sports team has competed in the Formula SAE design series twice in the past twelve years—1996 and 2006. The rest of the time they competed in the Baja design division. They intended to enter their 2007 car, but realizing the event is highly competitive, the team felt the car wasn’t ready. The Formula SAE event features student members who must conceive, design and fabricate small formula-style racing cars, which are then used in competition. Judges will assess the vehicles based on maneuverability, speed, safety, and the durability of the power-train and chassis.

“We’re learning how to design and build a car using a software program called Solid Works. The computer-assisted design [CAD] software lets us build a car in the virtual world, and that helps us minimize mistakes, and stay within our budget, before we actually begin building the car,” explained Rudd.

When the Denzo North America Foundation made a $30,000 gift to the Bagley College of Engineering, the mechanical engineering SAE student chapter was able to purchase the Pro 800 engine dynamometer. Jason Fountain, the team’s chassis leader and a mechanical engineering major, said using this piece of equipment has proven to be a vital key for allowing his team to stay competitive.

“It's computer software that gives readouts from the engine as far as the air/fuel ratio, the water temperature, the air temperature charge, and the amount of throttle, as well as the revolutions per minute (RPM). It gives you everything you can monitor on an engine,” explained Fountain. “It's basically a great data acquisition software and mechanical engineering package.”

The team is made up of sixteen members, and a core of six students has been spending 40 plus hours a week building the car from concept to completion.

“We opted to use a Honda CVR 600cc engine, which is the event’s maximum limit. As far as the engine itself, we’re basically talking about what is called a bone block. You have the external housing in a motorcycle case. You have the transmission, the engine block, the head, all the internals already there,” explained Fountain. “We design our own intake and fuel injection system, everything externally mounted to the engine.”

The team not only has top computerized software equipment to help them create a finely tuned engine, but they also have access to state-of-the art machining tools.

“As far as the chassis, we build everything. We do everything in-house using the milling machines, the lathes and the sheering machines," described Fountain. “A couple of parts that we do not make are some of the obvious things like the shocks, the engine, some of the fittings, and that is about it. Everything else we pretty much make in house."

“Personally, I really enjoy learning the skills of how to use the software, learning the skills of how to use the machines like the lathe, the mills, and learning how to weld. I mean, we have access to all that stuff, and it is free to us,” expressed Rudd. “We get to use pieces of equipment that are worth thousands of dollars, equipment that we wouldn’t or couldn't afford to have access to on our own."

Finding drivers for the car isn't a problem; Rudd and Fountain have a long list of candidates to choose from. They will select two main drivers and two reserve drivers. Rudd said he plans to send driver candidates to the Sports Car Club of America (SSCA) for formula-one driver training.

“The Mississippi chapter teaches drivers how to race. In our case we are going to let our drivers get acclimated to a formula-one car because it is very different from anything else they have ever driven,” said Rudd. “Once they become acclimated, we will let them compete at SSCA, and then we feel they should be ready to try out."

Rudd and Fountain will choose their drivers based on time trial outcomes and seniority as well as drivers' commitment and dedication throughout the year in helping the team build the car. Fountain added that when considering speed, the race car offers a “wild ride”; it accelerates from zero to 60mph in four seconds or less, but he said being the driver of the car is a very short-lived moment.

“A lot of people say,‘Do you get to drive the car? Who gets to drive the car?' Everybody wants to know who gets to drive the car. That’s definitely a really good aspect of it, but the engineering is the main thing,” observed Fountain. “You get to see engineering and your calculations and solutions applied in real-time on the car, the creation you are helping design. That is exciting. Yes, driving the car is definitely an experience that you will never forget, but it is only for a couple of minutes. Learning the engineering aspect is with you for a lifetime, so you never can replace that.”