Well its over for another year: The 2008 SAE Formula West Event happened last week, June 25-28 at the Nascar track in Fontana California. Nine Bobcat Motorsports members plus our advisor made the trip.

So here's how it went down: The car and spare parts along with the design lab couch and stereo, all the toolboxes, drivers gear and safety stuff plus the usual banners, sun shades, coolers, lawn chairs, etc were loaded into John Babbit's huge 6-place trailer on Tuesday evening, after a crazy and sleepless couple weeks pounding out the completed car. Larson had arranged use of the WTI Suburban, so the team hooked up and rolled out of Bozeman by about 8:00 PM for the straight-thru run to Cali. Riders packed into the rig were Popa, Willard, Michelbacher, Silverman, Prison, HubayDies, and Smith. Got there in time for the required 5:00 PM Wednesday captain's meeting with an hour to spare, and met Nord and Krob who flew in for the race.

Found the hotel and setup shop in the parking lot to finish car business. Galpin met us and helped apply decals and sponsor logos, for another LATE night of work by headlights. Hotel cop was cool, no hassles about taking over the place. Car looked SWEET with the numbers, logos, and the Awesome Big Sky Collision Center paint!

Thursday at the track early to get paddock assignments (way out in East Bum----, about like last year) and start in on stuff. 9:30 Design, 11:30 Presentation, 2:30 Cost, plus Tech inspection and safety checks. Passed Tech on the FIRST TRY!! and had cool design judges, they liked the car. Thankful we didn't get Claude the hardcore judge who loves to rip everyone. Had some issues on tilt table, couldnt keep the LR wheel down despite ballasting with tire chains, bricks, and Nord. Noticed a debonded pull rod, so packed it up and hit Lowes for JB weld and other parts for the overnight repair.

Friday AM got another early start, the bonded fix worked and the tilt judges let it slide (they were tired of our trying) despite a small amount of wheel lift. Noise was fine we were super quiet, and braking passed on 2nd attempt - Remember last year?? Then off to skidpad and accel for the first real driving test for the car. We got (slow) times in both, and had NASTY wheel hop during acceleration. Figured our narrow, stiff suspension and wimpy attachment fittings just weren't allowing the wheels to stay hooked up. But we got times anyway, ready for Autocross Friday PM.

The Autocross was looking pretty decent with Will at the wheel until about 2 turns from the end: Thats when it all came crashing down... the left rear toe rod joint failed and the carbon rod pulled off the aluminum insert.  When that happened the wheel turned left and totally ripped apart the a-arms and suspension push rod. The car landed hard on the aluminum rear module and bent it, shearing some of the locating bolts. Parts from the axle went flying, and it was quite a show for the whole crowd.

So the damage was a little too much to consider fixing, and confidence in our bonded joints was low after two pull-out failures in two days. The team bailed for the hotel pool, and the beer tasted SO good. Larson bought the team Mexican dinner and Chris's dad pitched in for a round of margaritas. Then off to do a little partying but thats another story.

 We caught some of the Endurance event on Saturday and bailed for Vegas by about 3:00. Home late on Sunday night, trailer unloaded Monday, and thats about it! Pics to follow...

Final results aren't yet posted, but we'll probably be in the middle of the pack due to our structural failure problems during Autocross. It was a tough pull to wrap up the incomplete and untested car, but thanks to the tireless work of a bunch of guys it all came together at the end! Shouldn't be too tough to re-make our rear end parts for some hot-rodding this summer, and the other cars only need a little attention to be race worthy. So think about some Autocross this summer!