Boston centric MIT Formula SAE looking for testing sites

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Matt Murray <mattm () optonline net>
Date: January 23, 2006 7:30:52 PM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Cc: ehsan () MIT EDU, mattm () optonline net
Subject: Fw: MIT Formula SAE looking for testing sites

Dear Prof. Faber,

Though this is Boston centric, perhaps someone reading IP could help.  
The ideal site would be a large parking lot, decommissioned military  
base/airport. etc. without too many fixed, hard objects (light poles,  
grass islands, walls). They (the MIT students) need to talk with a  
decision maker with regard to the facility usage/ownership.

My connection is that I race with the New England Region  
(www.ner.org) of the Sports Car Club of America (www.scca.org) and  
these students, and a reader of IP.

Please contact Ehsan (or me).

Matt Murray

Mobile 203.856.3703
MattM () optonline net

----- Original Message ----- From: "Ehsan Farkhondeh" <ehsan () MIT EDU>
To: "SCCA New England Region Solo" <nersolo () ner org>
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 5:25 PM
Subject: MIT Formula SAE looking for testing sites


Hey everyone,

I want to say hi from the MIT Formula SAE team (for those who don't
know, here is a pic, its the red one ;-) :
http://ehsan.mit.edu/motor/pic/2005-11-10_Red_Bull/target38.html).  We
came to two of the NER events this year (in the summer and the monsoon
weekend of the Moss) and we had an absolute blast.  You guys are a great
group and we are looking forward to coming to many more events in the
coming years.

I had a question and wanted to know if anyone could help.  I know there
has been lots of talk of trying to find a new site so this question
might strike some as a repeat, but I don't think it is.  We have been
trying to locate and secure a site where we could test and develop our
car.  We build it from scratch so all the settings, etc need to be
discovered by us.  We test mostly on the weekends but can also do
nights.  The question is, does anyone know of a site that we could use
to test our car?

As far as risks go, MIT gives us a huge liability insurance policy so
that would be covered.  As a team, we go through rigorous safety checks
and have detailed lists of how we operate in terms of safety, behavior,
etc.  I know this seems similar to the autocross site question that
floats around, but I think many sites that would not work for NER would
work for us.  We don't need nearly as much room so smaller sites would
work.  And owners who fear some sort of liability problem with people
paying to race on their property also would not have to worry about as
much since its a university sanctioned club testing an entry for an
engineering competition.  Ideal locations would be industrial parks that
are deserted on the weekends or shopping centers that leave their
parking lot lights on at night (the beauty of college is that staying up
till 5 am seems as normal as being awake at 5 pm.)

We have been trying to approach various landowners but this really seems
like the kind of situation where someone with an "in" would certainly
make our life easier.  And we will definitely come to the autocrosses,
but the limited number of runs really hampers us for vehicle development
so we need more seat time.  When a design judge asks you why you use a
certain suspension setup or tire pressure, its nice to be able to pull
out a thick logbook of data to show him and that only comes from long,
endless days of testing.

Anyway, thanks for reading and any help would be appreciated.  Feel free
to email me offline with any suggestions.

And if you want more info: http://web.mit.edu/fsae

and here for more pics: http://ehsan.mit.edu/motor/pic

Thanks
Ehsan Farkhondeh
ehsan () mit edu

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