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In this weekly podcast, follow us as we go more in-depth with the students, faculty, and staff who are behind the different organizations and programs featured in our Instagram video series Try @ TXST, and see what makes Texas State University so unique.
Part of the TXST Podcast Network: https://www.txst.edu/podcast-network.html
Nora:
Hi, my name is Nora. You're listening to Try at Texas State and I'm here with Bobcat Racing. Could you guys please introduce yourselves?
Sean:
Yes, my name is Sean-Pascal Swift. I'm a current electrical team lead. I'm a current mechanical engineer and I'm a sophomore.
Madison:
Hi, I'm Madison Stanchos. I'm a public relations major with a minor in sports media and I'm currently the team lead for public relations.
Nora:
And you guys are both with Bobcat Racing. Could you guys tell us a little bit about what that is?
Sean:
Yeah. Bobcat Racing is the FSAE team for Texas State University. So we focus on designing, building, and competing a formula style car here at Texas State.
Nora:
What does FSAE stand for?
Sean:
Formula Society of Automotive Engineers.
Nora:
And at Texas State, you guys go by Bobcat Racing?
Sean:
Correct.
Nora:
Okay. And Maddie, you're a public relations major, so how did you find out about Bobcat Racing?
Madison:
I actually found Bobcat Racing through the University Star. They did a section on it and I went and interviewed and I just fell in love with the environment and the car and I immediately joined.
Nora:
So what excited you most about Bobcat Racing?
Madison:
Just all the opportunities that it has to offer. Currently, in my role, I'm a public relations specialist with them and I do event planning. I do sponsor outreach, just growing our relationships with our current sponsors. I do a lot of social media, marketing, branding. So really I get to wear a lot of hats there and it's just such a great experience to learn so many things. So just being in that environment as well with the engineers, it's really inspiring.
Nora:
And Sean, what do you do for Bobcat Racing?
Sean:
So I'm the current electrical team lead, but alongside that, I'm also one of the main welders and fabricators for the team. So we kind of focus on doing the electrical system for our FSAE car and I did a lot of the welding on the chassis and exhaust systems.
Nora:
So did you have a background in working with cars before joining Bobcat Racing?
Sean:
Yeah, so I grew up with a bunch of cheaper cars that we always had to fix up. It was just easier to afford. So I grew up always fixing and working on different items. But I also did three years in the trades doing pipe fitting. That's kind of where I got used to welding as well.
Nora:
And have you ever worked on cars before this?
Madison:
I hadn't worked on cars before this. I had had an IT role in my hometown, so I was actually originally on the electrical engineering team when I first joined, but then I moved over to the marketing side and I really enjoy it.
Nora:
So for both of you guys, what was the biggest learning curve in Bobcat Racing?
Sean:
So coming from the trades, it was so much hands-on skills, but one of the biggest shocks, I guess, is that this isn't kind of a club or a car club. It's more of an engineering organization. So what comes with that is a lot of the design work. So the biggest learning curve was just understanding how the team functioned and also what it meant to actually start designing components for the car. A lot of the hands-on work already came natural, but that was the biggest learning curve for me was just understanding how to draw designs and actually come up with an engineering method.
Madison:
I think for me, the biggest learning curve was trying to understand that it's an organization, but also again, an engineering group. So not only are we doing engineering, but we also need to manage our members and just how we go about that.
Nora:
Speaking of management, how do you guys manage your time in Bobcat Racing? I know you have four classes today. You're very busy with your major. You guys work maybe. So how do you guys balance everything?
Sean:
Poorly. No. Before when I was doing welding on the chassis, I spent a lot of late nights. The biggest thing is just writing down my to-dos for the week, the goals I want. And especially as a team, it's pretty important you're also delegating tasks to your kind of members to make sure they're still interested. So the biggest thing for me is just trying to keep everything mapped out and just listed on some sort of notebook. So I'm always carrying around a notebook to just jot down ideas, but also setting aside time. Our meeting times are very uniform, so it's easier to set that time out for that and prepare for that meeting on Fridays.
Madison:
For me, I'm also a resident assistant and I'm in two other orgs, the University Star and PRSSA. So I've found that an Outlook calendar has helped me the most. Honestly, just putting every little thing in there, even if it's just a meeting with someone, it's really helpful. And then I also make one for Bobcat Racing too, like a content calendar for the week of our events and our meeting times and things like that. It really has helped me.
Nora:
How big is y'all's team?
Sean:
Maddie, actually, you probably have a better number on that.
Madison:
56?
Nora:
56 people.
Madison:
Yes.
Sean:
Yeah.
Nora:
Whew. After graduating, do you guys see yourselves working in an environment similar to Bobcat Racing?
Madison:
I do, yes. I plan to work in motor sport media, hopefully. So I am a public relations major with a minor in sports media. So I'm really hoping to go into motor sport media, just get my foot in the door any way I can.
Sean:
Yeah, absolutely. Actually through the organization, I was able to go volunteer at some of the race shops around here. So I was able to actually experience what it is like to be on the track and be on the track side. And I absolutely fell in love with it. It is an amazing feeling. I love being around all these vehicles, so it's the place I'm going to be at.
Nora:
So speaking of racing, how does Bobcat Racing compare to, say, Formula 1? Can you guys talk a little bit about competitions?
Sean:
Definitely not as extreme. Our organization or the FSAE competition is more focused on points rather than actual wheel-to-wheel racing. So you do four different events depending on dynamic, static events, just a tech inspection of the vehicle, making sure you're engineering. And you also do a presentation on your engineering and how or the whole design of the vehicle, and it comes to business, a cost report, all the engineering methodology behind every decision made on the car. So instead of Formula 1, it's wheel to wheel, whoever gets the first place, harbors more of the points, the actual whole process of designing and producing the car.
Madison:
And that goes to say, I think it's kind of the reverse of Formula 1 almost. We work for an entire year constructing the car and promoting it and doing all the branding and earning sponsors and trying to come up with the funding to create the car. But it's a whole year spent crafting the car. And then just the last portion in May is the competition portion.
Nora:
Okay. So speaking of branding and marketing, you guys in October, I believe, you showcased your car alongside the Aston Martin team's car. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Sean:
Yeah, it was amazing. I think through our faculy advisor, Abhi, had done a little work through it. It was a big surprise. So I think last year, when it started, to my knowledge, we were able to go to the track, actually track side in the Aston Martin pit. But this year it was very much facilitated by the Ingram and our faculty advisor setting up everything. But it's been an amazing time to showcase our car next to that and working with them as well.
Madison:
It was incredible. They even had Jack Crawford there and he actually raced in Formula 1 for a session in practice this year. So it was pretty surreal to be next to him and the car itself. And they even had a custom livery on the Aston Martin car describing universities and engineering and just them doing that tour, which was just fantastic.
Nora:
Did you get to speak with the marketing team at all? Did you get to learn anything about what they do and replicate that within Bobcat Racing?
Madison:
There was a creative developer there. He specializes in the liveries that they put on. So he went behind the whole explanation of how they came to that engineering math type livery that they were going to tour at the universities and a whole process that goes behind that. It's an entire team, not just one person drawing up something. So it was pretty surreal to see how much effort and how big of a team it is that goes into just that small detail of a car.
Nora:
Can you guys talk a little bit about your favorite memory in Bobcat Racing?
Sean:
There's a lot. Going from... By myself, once I had the chassis up on a table, I was kind of rock climbing in the chassis to get some welds done. That was a really fun memory for when I was producing the car. But the most emotional one we had is this last... We went and did a UTA and we did our first mock competition, and that's the first time the car has ever ran. That's the first time a car has ran and actually drove for Bobcat Racing. Even though I've been on the team for, it was my fourth semester, my chief engineer's been on the team way longer. It was a really emotional time to see actually how this hard work kind of paid off. Even though it had its flaws, it was still a lot of hard work that finally actually did something. So that's probably my favorite memory so far.
Madison:
I would probably have to agree with that one just because especially the week prior, we put so much effort into it and we put a livery on the car and we got it there and it started and it drove laps and it did really well for being a no arrow car. And it was just fantastic to see. We had our monster out there branding us. And then we have had KDamp take photos with the car. I think that's been really surreal for me. It's been really emotional, I think, to see him next to it.
Nora:
What's a livery?
Madison:
It's like the art that is on the side of the car. So a lot of Formula 1 teams change it for special tracks. For Suzuka, for example, a lot of people do cherry blossoms since it's in Japan and things like that. So just changing it up. When they come to Circuit of the Americas in Austin, they like to put stars and American flags and things like that. So when Aston came here, they had math equations on the side.
Sean:
Yeah, it was a STEM focused one because that's their movement. They had a bunch of equations that went into the development of those vehicles. So ours has the Bobcat. We took us some inspiration from V-Carb when we did the bigger paw prints, the smaller paw prints, and then we have our logos, our sponsors on the car as well.
Nora:
Okay. So Sean, you've both been throwing out a lot of lingo. Can you explain what a chassis is and then also just break down what the process of getting your team together and making the car is?
Sean:
Yeah, so a chassis is basically the frame of the vehicle. So we have a tubular chassis. There's a monocot chassis that's more technical stuff, but we run a basic tubular chassis. So it's basically tubes in a triangulated form that is the body of the car, the frame that actually the body and everything kind of sits onto.
Nora:
I imagine a lot of the people listening right now also don't know very much about cars. If they're interested, how would they start? How would they join the club? How would they learn and get this hands-on experience?
Madison:
So we actually do have an interest form on our Linktree. Applications are going to open up in the fall semester. So we do an interview type process. So they'll fill out the form, attach their resume, and then we'll actually split them up with the team lead that we think they're most fit to. So for example, if somebody's already an electrical engineer, we'll have them interview with Sean, because he's the electrical team lead, and they'll go through the entire interview process, and then we'll make our selections, and then they join the team. And you don't have to have whole knowledge of everything to join. That's the great thing about this org is it's about learning. Nobody came in knowing everything. So yeah, it's learn as you go, for sure.
Nora:
So as an English major, I could fill out the interest form and I could apply an interview and potentially learn more about cars.
Madison:
Yes.
Sean:
Especially a business major, we're definitely searching for business majors.
Nora:
Okay.
Sean:
Yeah.
Nora:
And then do you have anything to say specifically to any women that might be watching this? I know that we often think about engineering and cars as sort of a male dominated space. Do you have anything that you would want to say to the women that are interested in joining?
Madison:
I'm definitely big into Formula 1, but I know a lot of people aren't, but even if you're not into cars, not into Formula 1 and you're a woman, don't be intimidated by our organization. It's a really great place to learn. Like I said, just the environment being around the engineering itself is just so intoxicating and there's a little bit of everything. We have many women that do mechanical engineering and things like that on our team. So it's not just marketing or public relations. You can be working on the car wrenching it. It's really fantastic to learn. It's great.
Nora:
I love that word you used, intoxicating. What about Bobcat Racing is so intoxicating for you guys?
Sean:
The stress? No. No. No. Well, really it's what you're creating. I mean, for me, it's the possibility right now of what this next car is going to be going to competition. We've had an exponential growth this year. It's been really impressive. That's why we're sitting here right now, trying to outreach and stuff like that. But thinking about the future, I have two years left. I'm really excited what can I make this team with Maddie this next two years and when I leave, what will it be? So that's currently just always my head kind of thinking about the future.
Madison:
I don't know. There's just something about it. I started the org when we just had an engine and it blew up and then we had to go get a new engine. So I've been there since the beginning of time and I had to stick with it. It just felt like a part of me that I had to be a part of and just put my love and effort into. And I truly love giving it all my time, honestly.
Nora:
You guys said that there were 56 members in your organization. How does it work? How do you guys, like, walk me through the process.
Sean:
Yeah, so this is kind of something I'm actually focusing on this semester myself, but the general process for an FSAE team is going to have a year turnaround. So design starts, if you're really, really eager, you're going to start designing in the summer and conceptualizing what you're going to do for this next vehicle, whether it be optimizing different subsystems or even developing just new systems in general. So design starts in the summer, then you have recruitment in about September, like I said, early fall. Then you'll have project design up until December. And then hopefully you have most of your digital twin or a recreation and an expectation of what your car is going to be. So you'll start ordering all of your components by December. Then early spring, hopefully you have the car built in about a month. It's a quick turnaround.
Nora:
A month?
Sean:
Yeah. So if you've properly planned, everything goes together like a Lego piece. It doesn't really happen all the time, but you can try. And then that gives you the most time to actually do testing to take out the car and there'll be a reliability curve where it's going to break, you're going to fix stuff. But hopefully by competition, you're set to go. So it's a really quick turnaround for that.
Nora:
So the actual building is the fastest process. And then as for all the other steps with the planning, those are individual groups within your team.
Sean:
So for our organization, we have our breakdown structure for the engineering side of things is we have the chief engineer who will take general guidance on the different sub-teams. And then we have our team leads that are divided upon our sub-teams. So we have electrical, chassis, powertrain and suspension and aerodynamics. So there's five team leads underneath the chief engineer, and they'll focus on delegating different tasks and projects that the chief engineer is designated to.
Nora:
Okay. So there's a lot of team leads and then a lot of delegation of task, and then they do all the planning. And then the last piece, the quickest piece is putting the car together?
Sean:
Hopefully.
Nora:
Okay.
Sean:
Yeah. Hopefully it goes together really well. Also, kind of point out is that, like I said, a whole semester is just spent at a laptop. You're doing a bunch of research, you're doing calculations, you're finding your equations that you're going to need and the parts you're going to need. And that's where also business comes in as well, is during that phase. You tell them what you want and hopefully we get sponsors for it.
Nora:
And that's why you guys are looking for business majors?
Sean:
Yeah. Yeah. We definitely are. Our business team needs growing. It needs growing. I think pricing out the car and expectation of an average FSAE car is around $50,000 to $70,000. I think that's, with competition as well, some teams get up into... Honestly, if you're buying most of your components, you could be looking at, and an EV car as well, you can be looking at almost near $100,000 vehicle.
Nora:
Sponsorships are important. So would that be where you come in with public relations? Okay.
Madison:
Yes. Yeah. I do a lot of sponsor outreach. We're currently with Haas, our CNC machine. We also are with Monster Energy. Another big one is Simpson Racing. They provide all of our racing gear and our safety gear, which is awesome and Driven to Care with Lisa Weinberger. She donates a ton of money to us, which is fantastic. She has Ferrari dealerships that we go to and learn soft skills as well, like detailing and just sales. It's really awesome.
Sean:
Just want to shout-out Driven to Care. I personally got there... Lisa is an amazing, amazing person. That program has gotten me in the door into actually racing and similar sports. So we're amazing and very thankful to have them as well.
Nora:
So through this program, through Bobcat Racing, you have access to a lot of different opportunities, people, and skills that you can learn?
Sean:
Yeah. I think one of our business majors, he sadly had to leave to go work at Harris Hill, so he's already at a door.
Madison:
Yes.
Sean:
So yeah.
Madison:
Yeah, we have our Driven to Care events. Like I said, they're learning soft skills. She also has a scholarship specifically for our organization for engineering students, which is awesome. We go to Circuit of the Americas quite often, which is also another great way to network and things like that. So yeah, definitely a great way to learn soft skills and network. And yeah.
Nora:
Well, thank you guys so much. I really appreciate you being here and answering all of our questions. And do you have anything else that you would want to add to try and convince anybody watching why they should join Bobcat Racing?
Sean:
I mean, for the engineers out there, this is an amazing organization for you to get the most skills, engineering related skills that I think you can get on campus. This is a continuous project, not just a one-off, one-week project that you're going to do. This is going to be from start to finish. You have an assigned task that you can put on your resume, put in your portfolio. I personally have landed internships because of FSAE. I think it's an amazing organization with a lot of potential growth for you to grow with, like I said, soft skills and really implement your engineering skills there.
Madison:
Same with public relations, marketing, business. It's a fantastic way to learn so many skills. I did not think I would learn half the things I did. Everything I'm doing is crazy. I wear so many hats and I've learned so much. And FSAE did get me an internship as well, which is fantastic. But yeah, again, it's also an open door. You don't have to come in with knowledge. We don't just go and wrench on the car from the beginning. We have info sessions where the engineers talk and teach and you can learn so many skills.
Sean:
Yeah. We're not going to just be like, "Design a car." No, we really try to implement and to break down all those projects in this huge, complex mess to get it broken down for you to actually follow along really easily, whether you're a freshman, sophomore or junior. And even a senior that much senior design comes in, but we really love anyone or anyone that can come and help out.
Nora:
Well, perfect. Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate you being here.
Madison:
Thank you so much.
Sean:
Thank you so much.
Madison:
This is awesome.