does anyone have any experience with wyotech or similar trade schools? im looking to go to wyotech for their race chassis and high performance engine fabrication and the business course that goes along with it.
Just join the formula sae team if you wanna learn race chassis design. We are going to be finishing our chassis on monday.
Thats not even close to what Wyotech would offer. While I have not been to Wyotech I do know that watching Formula SAE finish their chassis on Monday will not be what this guy is looking for. There are plenty of knowledgeable folks on the Formula team but it would not be equivalent to the training available from Wyotech.
i have a friend that goes there last i heard from him they were rippin apart tranny’s and next they were onto motors, but i the school is out in the middle of nowhere and there arnt to many jobs for atleast a 20 minute drive, oh and all the cars down there are boosted for the most part
it’s more of debate of engineering vs. fabrication
We design our chassis from the ground up with no templates. We manufacture it and weld it together. I never suggested that just show up on monday. If he really want s to learn chassis design then he can participate in next years car design and manufacture. It is already in Buffalo and he wont have to pay anything extra. This isnt welding some tubes inside an exsiting car body or anything. It is a ground up design and manufacture. In the process of the design you have to account for suspension pick points, fuel cell location, driver egonomics, steering and pedal assemblies, etc. The frame is designed to support every subsystem that is all custon designed as well. So when you designa frame you are actually designing the rest of the car at the same time. This isnt grab a mustang, gut it and weld in bars all over the place like they do at Wyotech. With our car we have to make suspension jigs, tubing jigs and all other stuff. My point being is that there is way more to chassis design than where to put tubes. Our project is so involved that it makes wyotech a joke for that particular program. Also it is free to participate for UB students and you dont have to fly to east bum fuck to do it.
I’ve seen UB Formula SAE. They didn’t have much of a car while I attended.
Edit: Hopefully you newer guys pulled the program together and will make it to a competition. Good luck.
I just graduated from UTI which is very similar to Wyotech. I dunno how their HotRod Program at UTI compares to Wyotech. It was a good school if you really focus and take it seriously. Also Chicago is a fun city to live in if you wanna go out there.
You know what, i weld tubes in to an existing car, and I’ll tell ya that your open bodied go-cart is not that big of a challenge. How much actual experiace does the individual student get, can he leave the SAE team and go work for a indy, nascar, nhra team? probably not, and they probably couldn’t even work at a shop that “welding some tubes in an existing car.” there is more thought in the fuel system on this car than your entire “formula” car. http://www.bmrfabrication.com/MustangBuildup2.htm You guys in college are great at sticking your noses up, until you get out and the real world comes and smacks them back down with reality. I also work for military aerospace as a tech rep, and you guys can act like engineers, but i’ve seen real engineers, and thier not building toy cars.
Rant over, the short and sweet is, if you want an education, go get it. Be it wyotech or others, its a real education, not an after school program.
to add to that, the education is what you make of it. Personally I would not go to wyotech as the prices are astronomical. I would first see if any of the local Chassis shops are looking to hire a helper and learn that way. Now you are getting paid to learn 
There are 3 actual shops in the Buffalo/Niagara area and tons of guys doing it on their own
Some people will never understand this.