Support SAE Concordia with FundOne
In the exposed concrete basement of the Henry F. Hall building, a group of dedicated students work tirelessly to design and manufacture feats of mechanical engineering.
The student-run Concordia branch of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) works year-round to compete internationally in four separate competitions — and now they’re appealing to donors through Concordia’s in-house crowdfunding campaign FundOne.
Mechanical engineering student Milad Parvizi has been involved with the group since his first year. His passion is clear as he walks around the workshop space showing off the team’s achievements.
“Anyone who has a passion for cars and has the time to work on these projects, we encourage them to come down and join. There’s honestly nothing else like it,” he says.
Concordia SAE 2013-2014 Formula racing team, including SAE Concordia president Andrea Cartile (standing, far left) and Milad Parvizi (standing, second from right) | Photo: SAE Concordia
“It’s an exceptional environment, based on hard work, enthusiasm, autonomy and initiative, all within an incredible support system,” says SAE Concordia president Andrea Cartile.
She joined 18 months ago to get hands-on engineering knowledge. That she did — as part of the Formula chassis team — even learning how to weld.
The SAE International Collegiate competition comprises four categories of events: Formula, Supermileage, Baja and Aero Design.
Making improvements to their vehicles every year takes a healthy dose of external funding.
“If you were to build these at home, it would cost anywhere between $40,000 and $60,000 — and that’s excluding the time students put into the design and manufacturing,” he says.
The society has an average of 50 to 60 active members during the year, from all sorts of academic backgrounds.
“We have students from business, arts and history, lots of students from engineering but not just mechanical,” says Parvizi.
Cartile adds, “Our society operates as a business model and includes financial management, marketing, communication and reporting to stakeholders, health and safety management and implementation.”
In previous years, SAE Concordia has relied on funding from the university and from industry sponsors to cover the costs of their operation. Now, the group is hopeful they’ll reach their $7,500 goal with FundOne in the coming weeks.
Each competition poses a different challenge and calls for a separate team. Parvizi explains that the money they hope to raise through FundOne will go directly to finance the four student-led projects.
The Formula team is focused on designing a race car that accelerates from zero to 100 kilometres per hour in about four seconds.
The Supermileage team, is tasked with building the most fuel-efficient vehicle possible, the result of which looks something like a bobsled with wheels. The most recent attempt was able to travel 448 miles per gallon.
The Baja team, which Parvizi was first drawn to, builds an all-terrain vehicle that he calls “unstoppable.” The competition involves driving the vehicle through a series of different challenging tracks including sand and mud.
Not all the events are focused on cars. The Aero Design team is responsible for building a small plane that can lift goal amounts of weight.
All fours teams compete annually in various cities across the U.S. Last year, Concordia’s delegation went up against 121 other teams and earned the best design results in the formula race in Concordia history.
“We are well underway in finalizing our designs for the 2014-2015 competition. We can’t wait to start manufacturing — but we can only do so with financial support,” says Cartile.