Here is a link to a facebook album showing the racecars and teams at the 2009 Formula SAE California intercollegiate engineering racecar competition that occurred June 17-21, 2009 at the Auto Club Raceway, Fontana CA.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=89098&id=92647534369
2009 Formula SAE CA
Michael Ashby presents materials information in a practical format in his book Materials Selection in Mechanical Design.
Materials Selection in Mechanical Design
This is a link to lecture notes that give an idea of his approach:
http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/cme/pdfs/443ashbylectures2006.pdf
This 10-bar linkage is designed to drive a scissors movement in order to actuate a deployable structure. It was presented at the 2009 ReMar Conference in London. (UCI Robotics and Automation Lab)