Mechanical Engineering Project: Mini 4WD Tamiya Car Racing

December 7th, 2022 was a special day for Sampoerna University’s fifth-semester Mechanical Engineering students. Closing on this long tiring semester, the Tamiya Racing Day was a highly anticipated event. Held at Lab F on the LG floor, the venue was equipped with a 3-lane Tamiya Mini 4WD Track. It was held as the end of final project event for the Mechanical Behavior of Engineering Materials (MBEM) course. The venue of the racing day was not only attended by the fifth-semester Mechanical Engineering students who take the MBEM course but also other visitors such as the third-semester Mechanical Engineering students, two lecturers, and some seniors who did not want to miss the hype. Not to mention, the visitors were also super excited about the result of the race.

The final project asked the students to design a roof rack made of polylactic acid (PLA) printed using the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printer. The roof rack was designed to withstand around 300 grams of cylindrical weights. The students were free to design and 3D print their roof rack in any type of beams such as flat beam and I-beam. Moreover, they also can choose whether they want to use the Tamiya’s frame body or not. Divided into six groups, each of the groups showed off their creativity with their variations of designs. The groups chose different types of beams and weight supports, and one group decided not to use the Tamiya’s frame body.

The scoring system of the race was determined by the lecturer of the course, which is Dr. Eng. Ir. Farid Triawan. Each of the cars was judged whether it can finish at least two laps in order to get some additional points for the final project. The winner was the quickest car who can finish two laps without cracking or dropping the roof rack, including the cylindrical weights, and without getting overturned or going off track. Due to that, all the groups were free to attach their roof rack in any way in order to make the roof rack stay in place while maintaining the stability of the car.

As the race started, the tension grew bigger. During the race, the cars were one-by-one overturned and dropped the cylindrical weights as they passed through the corner. In the end, there were only two cars that survived the race without dropping the cylindrical weights which are Genta’s, Richie’s, and Fadli’s car, which managed to survive two laps, followed by Amartya’s, Tasya’s, and Marvel’s car, which managed to survive one lap before reaching the last turn in which the cylindrical weights fell off.

Since Genta’s group survived more laps than Tasya’s group, they were crowned the Champion of the race. The second place fell to Tasya’s group while the rest of the groups got honorable mentions for effort. The racing day was closed off with the announcement of the winner and a class farewell. Three words for the racing day – exciting, intense, and memorable. The racing day was successfully able to put applied knowledge and present it in an entertaining way for everyone to enjoy. This racing day is definitely something worth looking forward to in the next semester.

Written by:
Amartya Natayu and Fatima Tasya Kamila
(Mechanical Engineering Students Cohort 2020)