Senior Design Project

It is crunch time here at Ohio State as students begin to wrap up the quarter. For most this means staying in from the beautiful weather and opening the books that have been neglected the rest of the quarter. However for some Buckeye Bullet team members this also means putting the final touches on senior capstone projects. This year the Bullet team has three senior members who for the past eight months have been creating their own capstone project.Beyond their other projects for the car, Luke, Evan and Austin have been working on designing and building a tire test stand to fulfill their senior project requirements for a bachelor's degree in engineering from The Ohio State University.

The project hopes to uncover more data about tire behavior at the high speeds that are unique to land speed racing. Because these statistics are typically so difficult to gather under race conditions the capstone team has set out to create a rig allowing them to simulate the conditions. The rig which will be used in conjunction with the dynamometer resources at The Center For Automotive Research. Once complete the test stand will be able to achieve speeds of 6000 RPM, simulating vehicle speeds of 500 MPH.
With only two weeks left to finish up the design and present to a panel of judges from industry, the team is working extra hard to ensure everything is ready and working. Testing should be completed during the summer and data will be collected then.

Luke cleans parts of the frame

The Indy Tub

The third generation of the Buckeye Bullet has the largest goals of any of the vehicles designed by OSU. However our number one goal has and continues to be driver safety. The safety of our driver Roger is second to none here at Buckeye Bullet. One of the exciting things that we have been working on for the new car is the possible inclusion of an Indy car tub. As the racing league moves to an all new body style for the 2012 season there are a number of previous generations that have become available. Over the past few weeks members of our team have been lucky enough to have some hands on time with one of these tubs.

The possible use of the tub marks one of the first active steps towards creating a safer race vehicle. Because the tub features a driver inclination that is larger than in the past it is also safer for the driver. Other major safety improvements are anticipated for the new vehicle including a more robust harness system, and the use of new high-density multi-impact foam around the driver. The Indy tubs represent a great opportunity for the sharing of knowledge between motor sports. We hope that this collaboration can be one of many for our team as we continue to build a safer and more advanced race car.

Don’t forget to check back next Saturday for more updates on the progress of the Buckeye Bullet 3.

Hands On

Welcome Back

Welcome back to the Buckeye Bullet Blog the year has just begun but already the Buckeye Bullet team is hard at work.

With football season finally reaching a merciful end and the temperature diving, the Buckeye Bullet team is back to work on the Buckeye Bullet 3. Over the last month the team has accomplished many key tasks including stripping the old chassis as we prepare for the future. Also the team recently had the opportunity to sit down face to face with Venturi for a technical meeting.

This winter also marks a major transition time for the team as one of the key team members, Josh Terrell says goodbye. Josh has worked extensively on the previous cars and has also been key in battery testing for the upcoming car. The team would like to thank Josh for everything he has contributed and wish him luck with his future endeavors.

The Stripped Frame