With the success of Swinburne's 2002 car, Full Boar Racing's 2003 SAE entrant was an "evolution rather than a revolution". The track and wheel base dimensions where reduced to the minimum that the competition allowed. Still using a CBR engine as a fully stressed member, "lightweight, reliability and simplicity" was again the motto of this team.
Using hydraulic cylinders and a PIC microcontroller an electronically controlled paddle shifting system was devised for the 2003 car. The system not only controlled the gear selector but also the clutch actuation. On up shifts, which could be switched to happen automatically, the ECU killed the ignition momentarily allowing the driver to keep the throttle open. On the down shift the clutch would automatically engage allowing smooth down shits. For take offs launch mode was selected from a button on the steering wheel and the clutch would be slowly released, this system in conjunction with launch control was a great help during the acceleration event.
To increase hub life and reduce steering effort a scrub radius of 6mm was chosen. No "off the shelf" brake caliper could be found that allowed this value whilst still using our Keizar rims. The solution was to design our own front calipers, it was then decided to take it to the next step and incorporate them into the custom uprights. The result was a very neat system that was light weight and performed extremely well.
The 2003 team
decided to continue the development of using the CBR engine as a stressed member
of the chassis. Furthering the testing pioneered by the 2002 team, more
dynamic tests were run to prove the design to the judges.
Manufacturing techniques employed by the 2002 team were taken a step further in 2003. A large NC mill, usually used for large aircraft work, was used to locate all eight suspension pickup points off the welding table. The chassis bars, that where all fish-mouthed by a 3-D laser cutter, where located using a 3-D reusable jigging system, the result was a highly accurate chassis and suspension system with a very short lead time.
With no NC machine available the front uprights were machined by hand, a very time consuming process but gave excellent results.
The 2003 car performed extremely well on race day with no dynamic result below 4th except for the endurance event. The team came second in design behind Western Australia and again picked up the testing and validation award. On the last day it was looking very good for the team, leading the competition, and judging by the autocross times looked good to take the comp. Unfortunately an official believed he saw a fuel leak on the car and disqualification left the team unable to complete the endurance event.
