ACADEMICS Motorsport Engineering academic programs focus on advanced engineering degrees. At the MS-level, students may specialize in studies related to either race vehicle design, or in the activities of a team engineer. At the PhD-level the students focus on advanced design and analysis. Students are involved in classes related to vehicle dynamics, engines technology, aerodynamics, advanced materials, and instrumentation. All students must undertake a comprehensive research program as the focus of the thesis or dissertation. Research projects are directly related to the Motorsport Industry. RESEARCH Corporate Research contracts allow your company to take advantage of the capabilities available at Colorado State University’s Motorsport Engineering Research Complex. These resources include both experienced personnel and specialized test equipment. SERVICES Motorsport Engineering offers contract testing and engineering services. Testing contracts and engineering services focus on the generation of data related to very specific client concerns and are generally of short duration. The results are not expected to contribute new knowledge to the general Motorsport field, but rather to answer very specific questions for the client. FACILITIES The Motorsport Engineering Research Center is a self-contained site at CSU's scenic Foothills Campus. The main research building is over 14,000ft2, housing the majority of the Motorsport-related research infrastructure, a state-of-the-art design studio, a large manufacturing research and vehicle fabrication area, and the Composite Materials, Manufacture and Structures Laboratory. Additional laboratories within the complex include: an engine dynamometer test cell, a dynamometer for testing braking materials, a hydraulic damper dynamometer, a flow bench and PIV system, structural testing systems, a polymer analysis and failure analysis laboratory, and fabrication facilities (foundry, injection molding, machining, composites molding). The 5,000ft2 Annex houses the Education and Conference center as well as faculty and graduate student offices. High performance computing capabilities are also in the Annex, enabling CAD, FEA, CFD, Vehicle Dynamics simulation, and more. CONSORTIUM In the Consortium each company, or team, joins for a modest fee. The annual member fee is significantly less costly than even a single corporate research project. However, the sum of the member fees enables the Motorsport Engineering program to support graduate students and trained technical staff who carry out center R&D. Members benefit through the leverage afforded by “numbers”.	Motorsport Engineering Targets the Racing and Performance Industry In August of 2002 the first graduate students accepted into the newly formed Motorsport Engineering Program at Colorado State University began their studies. These students joined others who were already performing research related to Motorsport prior to the announcement of the formal program. The program also initiated the move to a new 24,000ft2 facility, on 10 acres, dedicated to Motorsport Engineering, which became formally titled the Motorsport Engineering Research Center in Fall of 2005. By the late fall of 2002 Motorsport Engineering students and faculty were presenting results of Motorsport-related research at SAE’s Motorsports Engineering Conference and Exhibition, in Indianapolis and exhibited at the PRI Trade Show the same week. CSU has continued the strong presence at the SAE Motorsports Engineering Conference in both 2004 and 2006. In 2006, graduate students and faculty presented 13 papers at the SAE Conference. Since the initiation of the Graduate Program there has been continued growth, with 22 current graduate students. Three key faculty are involved in the program with specialties including vehicle dynamics, composites/chassis structures, and computational fluid dynamics. This group of faculty allows the program to address a broad spectrum of the areas of vehicle technology. Current graduate research projects include topics such as turbocharger control and optimization, composite materials insertion into IC engine technology, CFD of cylinder ports, valve dynamics studies, vehicle torsional stiffness, natural frequency approaches to spring/damper tuning, racetrack simulation, etc. In addition to the graduate research, the Motorsport facility also hosts over 50 engineering seniors enrolled in Senior Practicum motorsport related projects, including Formula SAE and a variety of projects related to ongoing graduate research.
	Motorsport Engineering Goals The goals of the Motorsport Engineering Program are to support the Motorsport Industry by: (a) developing trained engineers with advanced degrees focusing on Motorsport issues, (b) offering specialized engineering services, (c) supplying cutting-edge research and development to the industry, (d) offering continuing education through professional training and focused short courses, and (e) generating a forum for members of the Industry to discuss key needs in personnel and in technology. Opportunities abound when you Team with CSU’s Motorsport Engineering Program Education of Motorsport Engineers Engineers educated to take on lead roles in the Motorsport Industry and on professional race teams are a rare commodity. CSU’s Motorsport Engineering Program is your pipeline to Graduate interns and a well trained employee pool who are prepared for the challenges of vehicle design, setup and race preparation. Research is carried out at the Motorsport Engineering Research Center using advanced, state-of-the-art equipment, including a fully programmable damper dyno, a brake friction dyno, an Eddy current dynamometer, a floating-liner friction test engine, materials and failure test equipment, data acquisition, and a chassis torsion tester, plus computational tools for structural analysis, computational fluid dynamics, vehicle dynamics and engine simulations.	Research projects are based on both corporate contracts and core program topics. In addition, graduate students gain invaluable team experience as both track engineers and design engineers by managing the development of undergraduate racecars produced to Formula SAE specifications. Motorsport Engineering Program Coordinators Professor Patrick A. Fitzhorn Advanced Design Practices, CAD, Vehicle Dynamics, Design of Experiments. patrick@engr.colostate.edu Professor Donald W. Radford Advanced Materials, Processing and Design of Composite Structures. don@engr.colostate.edu Professor Hiroshi Sakurai Computational Fluid Dynamics & Aerodynamics. hiroshi@engr.colostate.edu
A Program in Mechanical Engineering, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1374