2002/2003 Sponsorship

 Dear Prospective Sponsor,

Carleton University’s engineering and industrial design students are pleased to inform you that they will be starting their design and development of a new Formula SAE vehicle during the 2002/2003 academic year.  All students in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering programs at Carleton University must undertake a substantial design project in their final year of study.  The design and manufacturing of a Formula style race car has been one of these projects for the past several years.  A number of students from the school of Industrial Design have also been involved in this project, receiving academic credits towards their degree in industrial design, and complementing the engineering students with their skills and knowledge.

Provided that we succeed in designing, developing and manufacturing the car in a timely fashion and to high standards, we proceed to present our design at an educational competition held annually by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in Pontiac, Michigan.  Typically, around 125 universities from around the world enter this competition, and the cars are judged on the basis of design innovation, marketability, as well as dynamic events.  We are proud to state that Carleton University has been represented at this competition for the last four years, and our car has made a good impression at this international event. Top students in the project are also encouraged to enter their work into student engineering competitions held by The Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers (CSME), and The Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO), wherein they have been very successful in the past. Apart from the exposure that this project provides for the engineering program at Carleton University, the project has served very well in its primary objective of contributing to the training of a group of young prospective engineers by giving them hands-on engineering experience.  The project is also an excellent medium for preparing these students for the team-based work environment seen in industry.

This year’s main objective is to design and manufacture a new vehicle by applying the experience and knowledge attained over the last five years.  In order to achieve this in time for the competition, the focus of the students will be on performing in-depth engineering analyses to further improve several of the vehicle subsystems that were developed last year.  This design philosophy of improving upon our past designs rather than a complete redesign of the vehicle will increase the efficiency of the team, leading to impressive results over a shorter time span.  This year, we have almost thirty fourth-year students that have chosen to do their final-year engineering project on this task.  In addition, over fifteen students from junior years of engineering programs are expected to join us, and will be given tasks that complement their levels of study. All of these students will combine their efforts in the design, computational analysis, manufacturing and physical testing of critical components on our car, with the aim of designing a lighter, more reliable and state-of-the-art vehicle.

There are considerable costs related to the construction of the vehicle and its entry in the week-long SAE competition in Pontiac, Michigan.  Since only a limited amount of resources can be assigned to this project by the Faculty of Engineering, without external funding it is not possible for us to continue beyond a paper design.  Thus, as we have successfully done in the last several years, we are seeking businesses, corporations, and individuals who have a keen interest in becoming an educational partner of Carleton University’s engineering and design students. Contributions of funds, parts, materials or services will help us attain our goal of constructing a competitive Formula SAE race car.  Your generosity towards this project, which strives to enrich the skills and working experience of future engineers and designers from Carleton University, would be greatly appreciated.       

Please find enclosed with this letter further information concerning this project, including our budget, timeline for the completion of tasks, information on who has been sponsoring our project in the past, as well as the benefits for sponsorship of this project.   

We look forward to hearing from you concerning your interests in the sponsorship of our design project. Thank you for your time and consideration

 Sincerely,

Tim Harold, B.Eng                                              Dr. Metin I. Yaras

Student Project Leader                                    Project Faculty Advisor

Contact Information:

Ms. Janet Davidson

Telephone: (613) 520-5683

E-mail: jdavidso@mae.carleton.ca