Since its switch from an internal combustion engine to a fully electrical car in 2023, Northwestern Formula Racing has been unable to develop a drivable vehicle, McCormick junior Stella Heo said. This year, the team is looking to change that.
Heo’s freshman year was the first time the club went fully electric. Since then, they have had to alter their approach to building a car, she said.
“It’s definitely been a shift of mindset of how much time can we designate to design versus actually building,” said Heo, Formula’s project manager.
Formula is made up of 10 sub-teams — vehicle integration, suspension, drivetrain electronics, power distribution, aerodynamics, DAQ, accumulator, chassis, safety electronics and battery management — all of which have team leads and general members.
In her freshman year, Heo was part of the powertrain team, which works to generate power to propel the car. She was also part of the chassis sub-team, which designs and builds the car’s frame and static components. She served as the team’s lead her sophomore year.
The team’s work culminates in the Formula SAE competition, where its car is judged. Held in Michigan, competition events include technical inspections, engineering design, high performance endurance, solo performance trials, cost and presentation.
For their latest car, NFR25, Heo said the team’s main goal is “getting this car to drive” by April, the earliest it ever has. She said they might have to compromise the design to make it work, but that’s something the team is willing to do.
“It might not be the most epic design, but it’s still gonna work,” Heo said. “Then moving forward, hopefully this year’s car can act as a base. We know it can do the bare minimum. How can we go beyond that?”
Last year’s car, the NFR24, passed the Mechanical Technical Inspection but not the Accumulator Technical Inspection, meaning it couldn’t race.
The NFR22 was Formula’s last driveable car, made in 2022, and its last vehicle with an internal combustion engine. It completed seven and a half laps before it succumbed to a cockpit explosion due to an oil clog. The NFR23, the team’s first fully electric car, did not pass Formula SAE’s technical inspection.
McCormick sophomore Anton Walvoord, Formula’s power distribution lead, said he joined as a freshman and appreciated that the team got to work with several disciplines within the same project.
“I’ve learned a lot about electrical stuff, maybe even a similar amount to my classes,” said Walvoord, who is in charge of the car’s electrical harness and low voltage battery, as well as the general power and data distribution throughout the car. “I’ve also learned a lot about budgeting and some management stuff.”
Formula resembles a small business, so members learn about business and marketing, according to its website. The team must also present its business case to a potential manufacturer, which entails cost analysis.
Formula’s workshop is in the Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center.
Chassis lead and McCormick junior Nathan Lee said the best part of Formula is the community.
“And I just like to have fun and make cool s–t,” he said.
Email: [email protected]
Related Stories:
— NU Formula Racing revs up development on first electric car ahead of June competition
— NU Formula Racing works to develop its first-ever electrical car
— Meet Concrete Canoe, the engineering club learning to make concrete float