FORMULA HARDROCKER RACING
2017 Competition - Brooklyn, Michigan
Competition is the climax of each competition cycle.
An entire year's worth of effort, totaling to several thousand man-hours, comes together in an effort to prove just how good the car we have designed and built truly is. Our team believes that every member who wants to go to competition should attend because this not only educates that member as a future engineer, but also serves as motivation for the next year.
The Pit Area is where the team prepares the car for each event.
From doing "mock scrutineering" to warming up the car before events, it is critical to the team's performance that we have a pit ready in case of break downs as well as keeping the team supplied with food and water.
Catching a nap between all the action is also quite common here!
Technical inspection is made up of scrutineering, tilt, sound, and brakes.
Until the team has collected all four stickers from the judges, the car is not allowed to compete in any of the dynamic events. This image shows three of the team members looking over the car alongside the "scutineers" who check to make sure the car meets all the rules.
Ford, GM, Honda, and Tesla were all recruiting at the competition.
All of these automakers (as well as other companies) see this competition as an ideal way to train engineers and use it as a first stop for making new hires from. The companies support the competition financially as well as bring some of their "toys" along to show to us.
The Design Event is where we discuss our engineering with the pros.
Engineers from GM, Honda, Bosch, as well as other major companies serve as the judges during the design event. We show them the car in person and bring with us the evidence that we engineered the car in a way that represents the perfect amateur auto-cross vehicle. The other "static" events are:
Sales Presentation - 75 points
Engineering Design - 150 points
Cost Analysis - 100 points
And of course, there is autocross and endurance.
The team has to prove the car is as fast as it looks by having members of our team drive the following events:
Acceleration - 100 points
Skid-Pad - 75 points
Autocross - 125 points
Efficiency - 100 points
Endurance - 275 points