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After sanding and the application of mold release wax, carbon fiber sheets are resin impregnated laid down. Since this isn’t a structural part, no fill layer is needed. I believe this nosecone used two layers of carbon. We did not vacuum bag this because the weight savings would have been minimal and we had zero time to get into the composites lab (the seat from part 2 was vacuum bagged in case you were wondering).
For the forward bodywork (the parts that don’t need to be removed) we used blue Monokote. SAE bodywork, by the rules, only has to enclose the driver. Monokote does that job perfectly. It’s also self adhering. Previous cars used Polyfiber aircraft skin, which is a cloth soaked in a special heat sensitive resin that not only bonds, but also shrinks the cloth to a drum like tension under a heat gun. Monokote does the same job without the resin (its adhesive is preapplied and is completely dry at room temperature). This makes it the perfect lightweight SAE covering. The two rolls used only weighed a pound! Best of all you can see that sweet, sweet powder coating through the clear blue plastic (which was the initial inspiration for the clear bodywork). Another advantage of the transparent bodywork is that the driver can see the apex of the corner through the bodywork. Some will argue this is not very safe since the bodywork is basically glorified plastic wrap. They are correct, but these cars are almost exclusively run on open parking lots where the hardest thing one can hit is a cone. So there is little reason to worry about intrusion. If you don’t agree with this, please complain to the SAE rulemakers, not me. After all, us students don’t make the rules, we just exploit them. To protect the bodywork from the tie rods, we 3D printed some grommets to support the plastic and make it look nicer where the tie rods poke through the body. We got the idea to use Monokote from Project Sipster. See, reading MotoIQ really does have its benefits!
The final panel piece of the bodywork puzzle was a cover panel for the pedals. This needed to be removeable, so it was made in aluminum and attached with velcro (which is perfectly acceptable with the speeds we run). We decided to paint it black to match the unpainted nosecone. If you squint, it looks kind of like a Ford Capri with a black hood. Of course we also had to add a bunch of stickers to promote the sponsors and partners who made this car possible.
And with that, we had a racecar. Time to sleep? No, time to load up a box truck with car, tools, spares, and students, and hit the road to Lincoln. The original caption for this picture was “SAE student collapses at autocross…world not surprised…”
This was our rental truck. We called it the Moonbounce because it bounced over every pebble in the road. We also decorated it with painter's tape (a must have for any autocrosser) because at heart, we're all 9 years old. We also decorated my CR-V becaue it was our parts runaround (if you can't tell, I really loved that little ute). Everywhere we went, we got honks and thumbs up. True story: we even passed by the girlfriend of the 2013 UDSAE president on our cross-country trek while she was on her way to visit him in Detroit (because she is still in Delaware getting her Master's). The former president gave me a call and told me the story. Only in Delaware!
