Penske Racing Inc. has successfully developed a method to quickly adjust the rear wing angle on the race car during a pit stop. A mechanism to permit movement of the wing was designed, as well as a novel battery-operated power tool that allows a tire changer to make the adjustment within a two-second window of opportunity.
The rear wing adjustor tool functions much like a cordless nut driver. The device is a straight power tool, about 400mm long, and includes commercially available components housed in a billet aluminum body with a carbon fiber battery case. The device is self-contained, and the prescribed rotation is activated upon engagement with the wing adjustor screw. The motor and clutch are sized to deliver sufficient torque to move the wing in actual race conditions.
This prestigious award is sponsored by BorgWarner and presented by the Indiana Section of SAE International in honor of early racing pioneer and past Indiana section chairman Louis Schwitzer. This year BorgWarner has doubled the winner's cash prize to $10,000. SAE International has added a $1,000 scholarship to the engineering school of the winners' choice, with a promise to double the scholarship for any winners who were past Formula SAE participants.