Berg students design, build their own vehicle

No one ever said hot rodding was easy. Students in technology teacher Chas Beeler’s class, Intro to Automotive Design, are working on building a car to compete in local racing events. While programs like Formula SAE give students a chance to build their own cars at the college, Beeler said it is new for middle school students to be working on a similar project.

“This is the first time that I know of, of something like this that anyone’s ever done at this level,” Beeler said. “It’s been really good working with these guys.”

The idea originated in Beeler’s seminar time at Berg Middle School on Tuesday through Friday mornings. Some students have intervention during that time, but for students who don’t need intervention, they’re allowed to sign up for a variety of classes teachers offer. An avid racing enthusiast and member of the Sports Car Club of America, Beeler knew right away he wanted to do something with cars.

“It’s an enrichment time where we can work on, for lack of a better word, ‘pet projects’ in that time,” Beeler said. “The goal is basically to provide an outlet for students to have some curricular challenge, rigor, in addition to their normal classwork.”

Wanting to build off of Formula SAE, a college level challenge where teams of college students across the country build their own race cars and compete against one another, Beeler looked for a similar opportunity to get his students involved. At first, Beeler found a program called F24, where students can compete to build their own battery powered car, but the class abandoned the idea after realizing the nearest event was in Alabama.

Looking to salvage something from the F24 project Beeler realized he still had a copy of the rulebook for the series. Using the rulebook as a teaching tool, Beeler worked with his students to teach them the basics of automotive design.

“It’s a full-on racing series type rulebooks, it has some gray areas, and some not gray areas in it,” Beeler said. “It was a really good experience handing that to the kids, saying, ‘this is what we have to work with,’ how are we going to use this to our advantage.”

Instead of competing in the F24 series, Beeler and the students decided to set their sights on building a car to compete at local SCCA autocross events. Finding a local outlet for competition gives students a goal to work towards, Beeler said. Using the rulebook from F24 as a guide, and with Beeler’s help, students designed and built a mockup frame for their race car.  For student Ari Hamm, an eighth-grader at Berg, building the frame was a learning experience.

“We used a hacksaw, we cut all of the conduit by hand,” Hamm said. “Before we did all of this we came up with ideas for the frame, we used a smart TV to draw it all out.”

To join the pieces of conduit together the students used 3D printed connectors, a process Beeler said is an easy and safe way to create the mockup frame.

“We made the frame out of EMT conduit and 3D printed couplers because I can’t weld, and they can’t weld,” Beeler said.

Now that they’ve designed and built a mockup frame, the next step for the class is to start designing the suspension and steering components for their race car. The class has also started collecting parts for the build, including a gasoline engine they plan to use as a power plant. Once the body of the car is complete, the class is planning to build a small wind tunnel to test the aerodynamic efficiency of their creation as well.

“We’re trying to take our time and make sure we have all of our measurements right,” Hamm said. “We have to make it so it’s the best it can be, that’ll take some time for us.”

Beeler estimated the total cost of the car would be somewhere around $6,000, and he’s hoping some local businesses will be willing to help cover some of the costs.

“Our goal is to run on 100 percent donations,” Beeler said. “I’m hoping to have a more complete mockup we can take to businesses and say ‘hey, this is what we did with pennies and nickels, can you help us.’”

With all of the students in Beeler’s class are eighth-graders this year, there’s an urgency to finish the car before the end of the school year. Both Beeler and the students are optimistic about the project, although Beeler said if they don’t finish the car before heading off the high school he’d be glad to have them come back and help when they’re able.

“Even if it’s not done I won’t turn down hard workers who want to pop in after school for a couple of hours at a time,” Beeler said. “It could even be something that follows them to high school.”

Contact David Dolmage at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or ddolmage@newtondailynews.com