f86sabre Revield

"f86sabre" (f86sabre) 12/11/2013 at 22:09 • Filed to: Introductions

4

11

I can hop on a bandwagon as well as anyone. At least it isn't a dance party. My name is Michael. I started on Jalopnik around 2007. I know it was around there as I came across a business card from Murilee Martin that I got at our first LeMons race just the other day. S/he was a judge and s/he gave us a big Jalopnik sticker to put on the car and it stayed there until our last paint scheme. I'm 39 and have always had a love of motorsport. My parents were mystified when I demanded that I be allowed to stay up and watch the replay of the Indy 500 when I was 5. My initial motorsports foundation came from the 500 and whatever they would show on ABC's Wide World of Sports back in the day. ESPN brought us NASCAR and I was a fan of that when I was a kid and found F-1 on a regular basis around 1988. Not a bad time to get hooked. Now I have evolved into an avid F-1 fan as well as having an interest in Le Mans/sportscar racing, Indycar, N24 and WRC. My wife and I, along with a few friends, have a Le Mons team that has run 7 races. HUGE, HUGE fun! We've also run the Red Bull Soap Box Race here in Atlanta.

My vehicle ownership experience is as follows. I got my first dirt bike when I was 3 and rode all through my childhood. I learned to drive in an 1977 Ford F-150 Custom 4x4 when I was 10 +/-. It was an auto and pretty easy to manage. Took my driver's test in a 1986 Cavalier. My first car was a 1968 Mustang that I still own. Worked an entire summer to save up for it. When I went to college I bought an 1995 Dodge Dakota SLT (nice little truck). I traded that in for a 1997 Eclips GS-T in 1999. In 2003 I bought my 2003 Evo VIII that I still own and love. I also have a very used 2002 Silverado 1500 and an ex cop BMW R1150RT-P motorcycle.

2012 USGP

Under the podium at Le Mans 2013

The only thing that trumps my interest in cars and racing is aviation. I am an aerospace engineer with a degree from Purdue and have been in the industry for almost 16 years with a major airline. It is like being a kid in a candy store. We have the best toys next to something that requires you wear khaki green everyday and I get to climb all over them. My job also allows me to travel extensively. The world is a great place and worth a visit. I try to share my travels as much as I can. Not because I want to show off what I'm doing, but to bring people along with me as best I can. This year has been exceptional as far as travel for me. Beyond that, I have a pilot's license that I haven't used in forever and I'm a SCUBA diver. I haven't done that in a few years either.

My avatar picture is a Saturn V rocket staging.

Slow4o > f86sabre 12/11/2013 at 22:23

0

Love the LeMons car. My best friend has been racing LeMons since 2009, and his team has been dominating MSR here in Houston. I crewed for them last race for a full 24 hours, which we won as well! Your car reminded me of one of his team's previous iterations:

And this is what it looked like when we won a couple months ago:

Jayhawk Jake > f86sabre 12/11/2013 at 22:31

0

What does your day to day work actually involve? As I'm sure you know, I'm an aerospace engineer too (although with way less experience than you), and I've always been interested to know what engineers do for airlines.

f86sabre > Slow4o 12/11/2013 at 22:35

0

Very cool. leamons is just amazing. Best we have done is second in B class and 7th overall. We did win the Grassroots Motorsports trophy for most with the lest a couple of races back.

Slow4o > f86sabre 12/11/2013 at 22:39

0

Nice. We have found out that the way to win a race is honestly the pit stops as long as the car doesn't break down. The team has the procedure down to a science, and with more than 15 teams smoking our average lap time the last race, we still won by over 7 laps.

f86sabre > Jayhawk Jake 12/11/2013 at 22:48

0

The aircraft and associated components and engines come with manuals. When the mechanics find a condition beyond the scope of those manuals they come to us for solutions. For the first 10 years I designed structural repairs for the airframe in a 24 hour support group. We worked rotating shifts. As you can imagine most maintenance happens at night. I saw more bird strikes, lightning strikes, bagage cart strikes, corrosion, cracking and odd ball conditions than you can imagine. We would develope the repair instructions, do the drafting and analysis. We have the authority to do internal approvals of major repairs through our DERs and ODA. We would work with the OEMs when needed and interface with the FAA from time to time.

I now run a group of engineers that looks after components. All the bits and pieces that come off the planes for maintenance. My company retained their shops while most of our competition has outsourced that work. Not only do we maintain our own equipment, but that of a number of customers as a 14 CFRS 145 repair station. The work utilizes basically the same processes I used for structures when it comes to developing repairs, but the subject areas vary from mechanical components, avionics, some interiors stuff, landing gear and aero structures. (Composites and sheet metal). We also review engineering work done by our vendors and do PMA parts approvals.

The job allows me to travel just enough to be fun. I also get to be part of industry conferences and that kind of thing. All cool stuff.

f86sabre > Slow4o 12/11/2013 at 22:51

0

Pretty much same for us. We also drive clean. I think we have only had a couple of black flags for contact in the last 3 or 4 races. Stay on track and make laps.

Jayhawk Jake > f86sabre 12/11/2013 at 22:53

1

That's awesome, and right in line with what I figured. It sounds like an interesting line of work

f86sabre > Jayhawk Jake 12/11/2013 at 22:55

0

It is pretty fun. The flight benefits are a nice perk too!

What part of the field are you in?

Jayhawk Jake > f86sabre 12/11/2013 at 22:59

0

Design engineering, airframe design to be precise.

f86sabre > Jayhawk Jake 12/12/2013 at 06:19

0

Ah, a fellow structures dude. Awesome.

Jayhawk Jake > f86sabre 12/12/2013 at 08:08

1

I'm not a structures person per se, I don't actually do any analysis (and frankly, I'm really not that great at it). I'm more focused on laying out where things go. I was doing configuration design when I started, and that's actually where I'm more of an expert, but I'm working the airframe of a new plane for the time being.