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The higher the difference between the tallest and shortest driver on the roster, the more adjustable the vehicle will have to be. This might mean adujstable pedals, adjustable steering column etc. It also may not be possible to adjust the seatbelt for a height range of more than 2”.
# of available drivers.
Currently there are 3 eligible 6' drivers and 4 eligible 5’10” drivers. Eligible in this case means that they are under 80kg.
For future drivers, note that the average height in Canada is ~5’7” (for 20-39 year olds). Average male height is ~5’10”. I haven’t been paying attention to stats but I’m fairly confident that it will be more likely that we get more drivers in the 5’8”-5’10” range than the 5’10” - 6” range. (Canadian Health Measures Survey: Cycle 2 Data Tables: Table 22 — Measured standing height, by age and sex, household population, Canada, 2009 to 2011 (statcan.gc.ca)
Finally, consider that taller people generally weigh more and have broader shoulders, meaning they have a higher chance of being eliminated as a driver anyway.
Implications
A taller driver will most likely mean a heavier car with higher drag, although not by a huge amount. Wider shoulders (or body in general) will also mean a heavier car with higher drag, although probably not by a huge amount. The weight of the driver basically has to be under 80kg.
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The car is almost guaranteed to be less optimal if it is built for taller, wider people. That being said, we are a relatively tall team and a chassis made to accommodate 6” drivers will accommodate for almost everyone on the team. If members are more motivated to work on the car if they can drive it, accommodating them could benefit the team in the long run. It should be noted that there is tolerance built into occupancy cell, so basically everyone would be able to test drive the car if it was designed for a 5’9 driver, they just wouldn’t pass regs. It is highly recommended that every driver is within 1-2inches, regardless of chosen height. This means that if we design the chassis around a 6” person, the minimum height that could drive would be 5’10”.
Regardless of which height we decide on, one group of people will not be able to drive.
Decision Matrix
Data entries are either -1, 0, or 1, relative to the status quo
6' | 5’10” | |
Driver Weight | -1 | 0 |
Aerodynamics | -1 | 0 |
#of currently eligible drivers | 0 | 0 |
Ease of Egress | -1 | 0 |
Results | -3 | 0 |
Note that weights were not added because relative impact is hard to calculate and it is already exceedingly clear which option is better from a technical standpoint.
Although this is meant to be a purely technical discussion, we understand that there are emotions tied to it, but it should be noted that 100% of leads who participated in our survey voted to cap the height regardless of their eligibility.