FAST CATS

• By GEORGE MORRIS
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: May 11, 2008 - Page: 1D - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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When 13 LSU engineering students added up the time they spent on their senior project, they figured it was enough that each of them could have walked to and from Michigan — one at a time.

Instead, they’re driving to Michigan International Speedway today, where they expect things to move much more rapidly.

The students make up Tiger Racing, and the car they designed and built will compete in this week’s International Society of Automotive Engineers collegiate championships. Theirs is one of about 120 cars that will be entered in a multi-day event that tests acceleration, endurance, handling, design and a variety of the car’s other attributes.

This is the third consecutive year that LSU has entered the national championships, having finished 56th and 58th in 2006 and 2007. Last year’s car looked like it would finish in the top 30 until the drive chain broke during the endurance test, said Brad Guillot, of Baton Rouge.

“So, our goal is to go up there and just finish everything and get in the top 20,” Guillot said. “It’s something we think we can realistically do.”

If they don’t, it won’t be for lack of innovation.

This year’s car will have a drive shaft rather than a chain, has a lower center of gravity to improve handling, and has a cooling system that team members believe will be the only one of its kind at the competition. Mariana Hurtado, a native of Maturin, Venezuela,
designed a microtube radiator that will greatly reduce the amount of water needed, a weight reduction that is important in a vehicle where every ounce counts.

“The new radiator is half the size of your regular radiator, but it still has double the efficiency,” Hurtado said.

“We’re the first team and probably the only team in a while to have that kind of technology,” said Tim Murphy, of Houston.
“It’s kind of a big deal,” said Guillot.

Other features of the race car include a four-wheeler engine modified for fuel-injection, OBD2 compatibility, which allows the team to troubleshoot problems by plugging in a diagnostic tool, and push-button gear-shifting. The car also has two 32-ounce Miller High
Life cans that serve as the required catch-basins for oil and water coming off the engine. This particular equipment innovation has the advantages of being light, inexpensive, strong and, ahem, readily available should spare parts be needed.

“If you break one, then somebody has to drink one,” Hurtado said. “It’s hard. We have to make that sacrifice.”

The design and construction team consists of one electrical engineering and 12 mechanical engineering students and includes, Steven Calverley, Chris Taylor, Alex Hageman, Ryan Goitia, Ante Tesvich, Lance Brumfield, Phil Spoelker, Michael Morgan, Russell Garehan and Darrin Kattan. Dave Leedom and Andy Smith will drive during the competition.

It cost a little more than $17,000 to build the car “before we started breaking motors,” Guillot said. The latest blown engine put a lot of stress on team members, who were working on it during final exams week.