Welcome to the Mechanical Engineering Department
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
Homepage: http://www.calpolysae.org/
SAE is a professional organization that was started at Cal Poly in 1950 and is one of the oldest Instructionally Related clubs on campus. The club holds general meetings biweekly to put members in touch with professionals in the automotive industry. We also get speakers to come out and talk about design techniques and jobs. Along with the professional aspect of SAE the Cal Poly chapter participates in three of the international collegiate design competitions held by SAE International. Our three teams are Formula SAE, Mini Baja, and SuperMileage. All competitions involve designing and building a racecar in which the students present and race at competition. Each project gives students the best designing, manufacturing, and engineering experience, outside of class, at Cal Poly. Everyone is welcome to join the club and be on one of the teams no matter what experience they have. What you do not know we will teach you!
Teams
The Supermileage competition requires the team to design and build a single-person, fuel-efficient vehicle. The goal is to obtain the highest gas mileage possible (using iso-octane fuel) while increasing the public’s awareness of fuel economy. All teams are required to use a 3.5hp Briggs and Stratton engine. The Engine may be extensively modified, but the engine block must remain. Teams are rated based on the gas mileage obtained, their presentation, and design report. The team that obtains the highest overall score wins the competition.
The SAE Baja competition is an intercollegiate design competition. Teams design and build a single-seat off-road buggy. All teams must use an unmodified 10 hp Briggs and Stratton Intek engine, which Briggs and Stratton kindly donates. Scoring for competition is based upon subjective design and cost reports, subjective design and sales presentations, as well as objective dynamic events. These events are Maneuverability, Rock Crawl, Acceleration, Hill Climb, and an Endurance Race that usually lasts 4 hours. Points are awarded for each event. The team with the most points wins the overall competition. Teams are allowed to run the same car for two years in a row.
Formula SAE has been at this university since the 70s. We have come a long way since then, and we will continue to go farther. Formula SAE is a division of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and we build a Formula style race car from the ground up, doing all of the design, fabrication, and driving ourselves. We usually compete in the collegiate event either in Detroit, Michigan, or Fontana, California. These events include stratic and dynamic events including, Design, Sales, Cost, Acceleration, Skidpad, Autocross, and Endurance. For more information on the collegiate events, please visit www.sae.org. In our current year, the Formula team will be traveling around California competing in autocrosses to prepare themselves for the SCCA Solo National Championships in Topeka, Kansas in early September.