Student Participation in Formula SAE Design, Fabrication, and Testing as Capstone Experience

The impetus of capstone experience is to allow a student to use knowledge they have cultivated and skills they have gained to design and develop a solution to a problem or to innovate an existing artifact for better performance. The University of Georgia (UGA) recently started a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Collegiate Design Series (CDS) specifically the Formula SAE (FSAE). The CDS “competitions take students beyond textbook theory by enabling them to design, build, and test the performance of a real vehicle and then compete with other students from around the globe in exciting and intense competitions” [1]. The FSAE activities align with the capstone experience rationale. This paper discusses the experience both the students and faculty had in the design, build, and test of the powertrain. The powertrain is an extensive system since it provides the power and transmission to develop motion of the vehicle. The presentation covers the background of FSAE at UGA, the powertrain as part of the capstone experience, and the outcome. This paper views involvement in capstone activities thorough Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) [2], namely: concrete learning, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. Student class work learning is enhanced greatly by transfer of abstract information to a concrete problem-solving activity.