Fall Quarter is Underway!
August/September 2026 Newsletter
With the first weeks of school behind us, our team is busy balancing classes, jobs, and progressing rapidly on FE14’s design!
On September 10th, our team was honored to be interviewed by Good Day Sacramento. This segment highlighted Blue Max Kart Club and their contributions to making motorsport and karting more affordable. We are grateful to be part of this segment highlighting student engineering as part of racing. Thank you to Blue Max for their continued support!
In other exciting news, FRUCD had the opportunity to participate in Davis’s Ride Cool Transportation Fair on Sunday, September 27th! This showcase of EVs, E-bikes, and other modes of sustainable transportation was put on in order to encourage the Davis community to make the switch! We were honored to be representatives of electric racing and green energy for the community.
Taking place that same weekend, FRUCD hosted its Middle Design Review (MDR), where each subteam presented their goals and designs for the year, gaining valuable feedback from alumni and other team members. Thanks to everyone who attended!
Recruitment is still open through Fall Quarter, and FRUCD hosted our annual recruits presentation on October 3rd. If you missed it, no worries! Applications are still open, and the slides are available online if you are interested in learning more.
Find the Slides and Applications Linked Here
After three design reviews, Aerostructures has made good progress on developing the new aero package for FE14. On the aerodynamics side of things, the rear wing design has been frozen, and the team is focusing on planning and developing an active DRS system for the second and third element. The front wing is undergoing some tuning to add more adjustability based on MDR feedback and is almost complete. Evolving from last year, Aero is fully utilizing their ability to 3d print, introducing a second loft onto the 2nd element as well as exploring possible attachments on the endplates. The undertray has been further developed with a simplified design, as well as further developing CAD and concepts for mounting and jigging.
The Composites team has been working closely with Aero in manufacturing, planning, and material testing. Composites has completed mounting for the rear wing and has started internal CAD work around new challenges presented by DRS. Prepping for manufacturing, they will start to cut foam for routing MVP components (Nosecone and front panel). The team was also very lucky to work with Professor La Saponara to perform material testing for our PET-CF carbon-skinned and low-density foam carbon-skinned test pieces. These tests allow us to have a better basis and understanding of our manufacturing and design choices.
Wheel package has models for the new upright and wheel hub. In exciting news, both designs are in the final stages. One FRUCD lead, Daniel, has been implementing assembly FEA for the upright design. Devin, another lead, has been redoing the old wheel hub's FEA to compare with the new model.
Suspension has spent the summer designing the system’s geometry, and the team was excited to deliver final hardpoints on time for MDR! They have researched and adopted a modern view of load transfer, analyzing elastic versus inelastic load distribution and 3-D kinematics. Their new philosophy and in-house MATLAB simulation tools produced a drastically different suspension compared to previous cars. The new design targets neutral handling, accommodates a growing aero package, plans for anti-roll bar integration, and ensures rule compliance. The team is approaching the unsprung CAD freeze with a near-complete assembly and looks forward to the challenge of jigging that follows.
With that much complete in the first few weeks of school, we look forward to seeing how each of our subteam’s progress in the upcoming months! FE14 is well underway, and the team is thrilled to see this iteration come to life.
