SDSU Aztec Electric Racing Team

We are so excited for the opportunity to sponsor a local racing team this year. We were able to talk to the team President, Greg Sawvelle, about the process leading up to the competition as well as get some pictures of the car being built! Looking forward to seeing the finished product next month!

PTG: Tell us about your team and your role within it.

Greg: I am the President and Founder of Aztec Electric Racing. With the help of my teammates, we started San Diego State’s first Formula SAE Electric Vehicle team. We created a club structure, recruited about 70 new members, and are now designing and manufacturing a formula electric car from scratch. I oversee all four system captains and the business and marketing team. I am also the face that represents our team at presentations around the university and San Diego to help bring in sponsors and publicity for the team.

PTG: Where and when does this year’s competition take place?

Greg: Our competition takes place in Lincoln Nebraska from June 21st to the 24th.

PTG: What are your goals for this year?

Greg: We have 3 main goals this year. The first and most essential is to finish our endurance race. This race counts for 375 of 1000 points of the competition. No one in the history of this competition (which began in 2013) has finished this event. We aim to be the first. To do this we have two underlying goals: pass technical inspection and have a 475 lb car. Out of the 30 teams that go to competition, only an average of 10 teams pass technical inspection. Without passing tech you cannot compete in any of the dynamic events, including the endurance event. The 475lb weight goal is to ensure our car is light enough to finish the grueling 22km endurance race.

PTG: PTG was able to supply you with some 6AL-4V round bar in 2” Dia and 0.8125” Dia. How will this be used in your vehicle and what benefit will it give you?

Greg: The supplied titanium will be used in a senior design steering rack in conjunction with our sister team, Baja SAE. We plan to be using some more titanium for gears in our drive train and also brake rotors.

PTG: Have you ever used titanium before? Will you be machining it yourselves?

Greg: We plan to wire EDM or water jet the majority of the parts. We keep the designs for these parts relatively simple to avoid the complexities of machining an extensive amount of the titanium.

Find out more about Aztec Electric Racing here: http://aztecelectricracing.com/

PERFORMANCE TITANIUM GROUP: A CUT ABOVE THE REST