Changes to the 2012 Design Events

[RobbyObby]

http://www.sae.org/servlets/pr...MULA&RELEASE_ID=1657 (http://www.sae.org/servlets/pressRoom?OBJECT_TYPE=PressReleases&PAGE=showCDSNews&EVENT=FORMULA&RELEASE_ID=1657)

According to the above post, both Michigan and Lincoln events are doing without Design Semis next year. Any thoughts? Any input from the Design Judges on the reasoning and goals of this change?
I know that eliminates one of our team goals this year, making Deign Semis. Although it seems they are increasing the number of teams that make Design Finals.
Anyway, any thoughts?

[MegaDeath]

During Endurance the Design Finalists will run in the normal assigned order based on performance. The finalists will no longer be grouped together for Endurance.

YAYYYYYY!!!!! As a student; a lot of FSAE is about learning from your mistakes. I'm glad the officials have done the same. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[Thomas MuWe]

First of all,

I was just a participant in Michigan and at no other non-european competition. IMO it is a good step to reduce the design workload for the students. In 2009 at MIS the Design Finals were more or less a high end presentation for the teams. They did not ask any fundamental stuff. It was really relaxed and no "I will show you now what you did wrong" - questions appeared. Don't get me wrong it is worth the pain that you hear it from a pro but after Semi's I was really exhausted.
The Design Semi's @ MIS and the Design Finals in Germany showed the same detailed questioning. And I believe that the final positioning was already locked or at least there was a clear trend which teams come in 1st, 2nd and 3rd even before the Finals after endurance happened @MIS. :-) Some judge may correct me if I am totally wrong. Of Course if you aswers are totally off the chart then you can loose some points but I do not believe that Design Finalists normally have fundamental errors. :-)

Of course I can not speak for today's FS but I think this will not reduce the quality as long as the judges are nearly on the same level of expertise and have the same degree of "hardness". So if the US-events do it the same way as FSGermany does it will help teams that have good fundamentals to come into Design finals without all the "fancy" stuff on the car. But @FSG I have seen 4 teams in Design finals as well as 12 (if I remember correctly) or at least 10 (2008). So the number is no longer fixed and the judges can decide based on the quality of the cars who can participate in the finals.

All the best for the teams,

Thomas

suspension jr08/jr08evo
joanneum racing graz

[Shebert]

I believe that the final positioning was already locked or at least there was a clear trend which teams come in 1st, 2nd and 3rd even before the Finals after endurance happened @MIS.

The semis are just long enough for the judges to have a clear idea of who should win design. The weakness of the semis is that it was before the dynamic event. The quality of the semis was that there was more teams and that we had more time. The new solution is clearly better.

[Kevin Hayward]

The semi's were a marathon and well worth the time. The judges are definitely in a position after semis to make a very good decision. The only disadvantage is that the current design finals is run after the cars have run the event.

This helps show the limits of bull the team is willing to deliver in the design event. While I don't believe that the design winning car should be the fastest, especially with the effect a driver has. However the car should have the potential to win the dynamic events if well driven and it should be reliable.

There is generally only controversy when the winning design car is not able to compete in a number of the dynamic events. In some rare circumstances a car that does not finish endurance may be eligible for a design win, but most often it should be avoided like the plague.

Kev

[TMichaels]

Having been a design judge in MIS2011, I can say that the schedule was not only exhausting for the students but also for the judges and I really appreciate the changes for MIS2012.
I can also say that there were, at least in my head, no fixed positions after the Semis and I started the finals with a fresh set of questions and no particular order in mind.

At FSG we have the design finals at the night after autocross/before endurance, so we can make sure that all participants of the finals were at least able to compete in one dynamic event. The judges also have the chance to get an impression of the general dynamic capabilities of the cars without the pressure of running endurance directly against each other.

Regards,

Tobias