Formula Student 2004

[vinHonda]

I hear Formula Student 2004 registration is open. Any teams considering making the trek over? I've recieved quite a few emails from NA teams asking about budgets to compete in the UK. I guess some teams are considering it....cough*Cornell*...... http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif Anyone else considering it?

Vinh

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)

[vinHonda]

I hear Formula Student 2004 registration is open. Any teams considering making the trek over? I've recieved quite a few emails from NA teams asking about budgets to compete in the UK. I guess some teams are considering it....cough*Cornell*...... http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif Anyone else considering it?

Vinh

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)

[Mi_Ko]

4 teams are already registered:

École Polytechnique de Montréal
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Tokyo Denki University
Université du Québec Ã* Trois-Rivères

And we're planning to go!

2002/03 University of MARIBOR - Team Member

[vinHonda]

Wow. Illinois was one of the teams who contacted me about budget. That's a huge Canadian contingent!!!

Vinh

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)

[ben]

That's good news. This year's comp was by all accounts better organised than in previous years.

For those who haven't read the FStudent website there will be a design final next year and they are trying to get a dyno and tilt table set up.

There is also a plan to get the full length of the enduro course layed with tarmac, which will be not a moment too soon.

Ben

University of Birmingham
www.ubracing.co.uk (http://www.ubracing.co.uk)

[roadrunner]

i heard on the grapevine that the venue may be changed, not sure when (not this coming competition the one after, prob) or where to. In fact thats pretty useless information!!!!!

Word to ya moms but i came to drop bombs!!!!!

[Brent Howard]

I had heard FS was expensive to register....but I never realized how expensive. I love how the winning team pays 1175 pounds and as a prize for winning they only get 500 pounds.

Brent

www.ucalgary.ca/fsae (http://www.ucalgary.ca/fsae)

[RichE]

I still do not understand why the entrance fee is soo expensive, has anyone heard any realistic arguments as to why the price was put up soo much last year?
Rich

Cardiff Uni
FS Team Manager

[Ben Beacock]

Hey Vinh,

Whats the ballpark figure for a Formula Student trip? I may be able to solicit funds from the university and we could work together to get there since we are close. I'll be in England for my honeymoon anyways, why not bring the car eh?

Ben Beacock
Co-Manager
2004 Gryphon Racing - University of Guelph (http://www.soe.uoguelph.ca/uogracing)

[leclercjs]

Sup you guys,
yes Montreal Polytechnique is in this year. We are working on raising funds to pay for all the details around this event (airplane tickets, bla bla bla). And also, for those who don't know, England is one of the most expensive country in England!!!

Hope to see you all,

JS

And Mi_Ko, were did you found which team was registered?

Jean Sébastien Leclerc
Dir. Formule SAE Poly 2004
http://www.fsae.polymtl.ca

[leclercjs]

oups, I meant Europe


JS

Jean Sébastien Leclerc
Dir. Formule SAE Poly 2004
http://www.fsae.polymtl.ca

[vinHonda]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brent Howard:
I had heard FS was expensive to register....but I never realized how expensive. I love how the winning team pays 1175 pounds and as a prize for winning they only get 500 pounds.

Brent

http://www.ucalgary.ca/fsae<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ya..... try explaining that to the university!!! I've expressed that dissapointment to the organizers this year.... hopefully the prize money will be significantly more.

In 2002, we finished 2nd overall.....and for some reason, took home more money!

Vinh

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)

[vinHonda]

Ben,

It'd be amazing if we could get more Canadian teams over to the UK. I know McMaster is considering as well as Queens and Waterloo.

Here is an over-estimated budget. I sent this to Cornell:

Registration: $1700 USD
Airline ticks: $6000 USD
Car rentals: $1500 USD
Accomodation: $1000 USD
Wooden Crate: $1000 USD
Fumagation: $1000 USD
Documents: $500 USD
Shipping: $4300 USD

In Canadian funds last year, our team put out bout $20,000. That was with some sponsored shipping and sponsored wooden crate.

Vinh

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)

[vinHonda]

I personally liked the enduro track..... surface changes teach a driver how to adapt and learn to adapt to distinct driving changes/situations.

I also like Bruntingthorpe. The event is very well organized, and the teams are all super friendly.

Vinh

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)

[ben]

Interesting thoughts on the track Vinh.

Regarding the entry fee. We had Brian Robinson from Formula Student visit our shop the other week and had a long talk about various issues. One of them was obviously the entry fee.

The reality seems to be that the event does cost this amount of money. The reason we get charged is that they have very little in the way of event sponsorship relative to FSAE. The previous organisor was an idiot and turned a lot of people off, we got the bill :-)

To ease the pain of working on cars, Birmingham will be offered access to our race shop during the comp for one overseas team to store and work on their car. We have TIG kit a metal store, presses, a horizontal mill, and a small lathe. We may be able to get access to the full machine shop in an emergency.

Contact me off the list if you're interested.

Ben

University of Birmingham
www.ubracing.co.uk (http://www.ubracing.co.uk)

[vinHonda]

Ya. We held a little competition at our testing facilities this year with 17 cars present. I can understand organizers nightmares.

It'd just be nice if the winner could WIN something! instead of pay up half the entry fee!

That's very kind of you to offer up the shop facilities. We're pretty self sufficient when it comes to the UK nowdays. But I'll give u guys a shout if we need anything. It seems a convoy of us from Canada will be coming this year!

I thought the track was nice and wide, cones were well laid out, it provided some areas where ballsy drivers could gain a lot of time. I liked how the spectators could see a lot.

Let's hope some more NA teams can make the trek across the Atlantic!

Vinh

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)

[Mi_Ko]

To leclercjs:

On the formulastudent web page,.. 2004 registration

2002/03 University of MARIBOR - Team Member

[V2 - Italy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by vinHonda:

Here is an over-estimated budget
Fumagation: $1000 USD

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

We are planning our trip to FSAE, and your budget isn't overstimated from Italy.
Anyway I don't know the meaning of Fumagation.
Please explain it to me.

Daniele

Firenze Race Team V2

http://www.firenzerace.too.it

DUCATI POWER at the UniversitÃ* di Firenze

[leclercjs]

Thanks ben for making available your shop for this year FS. We never know what an oversea trip can make to a car!!!

For Daniele, fumigation=decontamination. I've search a little bit why Canadian Teams have to do this (and maybe other teams). The reason is to eliminate most of the bacteria that could be bring from another country. Since Canada is a large beef producer (and other), we have to do this to minimize the risk of bringing disease to live cattle (like mad cow disease).

See you all this summer

JS

Jean Sébastien Leclerc
Dir. Formule SAE Poly 2004
http://www.fsae.polymtl.ca

[vinHonda]

I really dunno why we have to do it..... I guess Jean's answer is correct.

But the importers/exporter....or your shipping company won't ship the crate without a certificate of Fumagation. Local gas companies who do infestations, and anything where they need to spray gasses will do it for you.

And I don't understand why it's so damn expensive. But it has to get done. So.

Vinh

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)

[ben]

Airlines, etc tend to worry a lot. I had a training camp in France during the foot and mouth outbreak over here. They took our bicycles and sprayed them with some horrible cleaner right in front of the departure lounge!

Ben

University of Birmingham
www.ubracing.co.uk (http://www.ubracing.co.uk)

[Life of Brian]

I thought as Ben had mentioned my name, I'd better respond on this topic.

Yes, Formula Student is expensive to enter, and I am taking steps to deal with that. The reasoning behind the increase in fees was twofold: first, to reflect the value of the FS programme to universities (it attracts students to their degree programmes) and second, to better balance the books. Generally speaking, we expect the universities to pay the fes, not individual students. Maybe that is not always the case.

That said, for 2004 we have greatly increased the number of team members included in the entry fee (e.g. from 10 to 16 for Class 1), and removed the necessity for team members to join IMechE and SAE (now you only need to be a member of one), so the overall costs to attend should be less next year, especially for large teams.

On the subject of prize money, obviously teams don't enter for the money, but I can except that to have the main prize less than the entry fee looks a bit odd. What I can do about it for 2004 I'm not sure yet, as it depends on how much prize money we have available, but what I can say is that the overall winner of Formula Student 2004 will be given free entry for the following year.

Brian Robinson
Formula Student Manager
IMechE

Designing, Building, Competing, Learning...

[vinHonda]

Wow! an event organizer on the bulletin board!

Brian, it really makes the teams feel good to see that the organizers care to hear what the students say.

I completely understand the entrance fee thing.......we held an event at our testing facilities this year with 15 cars....and we didn't charge anything....it hit our budget pretty hard!

http://fsae.utoronto.ca/2002/large/2003shootoutl.png

Formula Student is a fantastic event..and our team returns every year mostly because it has a great atmosphere and is superbly organized with a nice touch of british motorsport passion (u don't get that in michigan)

Your idea of the overall winner of Formula Student 2004 being given free entry to FStudent 2005 is an excellent idea!

if only it could apply to the 2003 champions!
kidding.

See you at the 'big thunder'. We will be registering in Jan.

Vinh

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)

[Julius]

We have registered and can't wait to go back to compete at the formula student event. We had a great time in 2002.

Julius

McMaster University

[Mi_Ko]

Offtopic:

Vinh, what kind of car is in the front of the photo. It looks great!
Better for us it isn't a FSAE car, or is it?

2002/03 University of MARIBOR - Team Member

[vinHonda]

Julius,

Whutz up champ? I'd love to see some progress on that 04 Mac car! Get that single cylinder turbo go'n yet?

The car is a Formula Renault car. Taatus monocoque, 2.0L Renault engine. Three graduates from our FSAE program started their own team from scratch and won the North American winter series championship: www.autotecnicagroup.com (http://www.autotecnicagroup.com).
Anyone hear of any other worldwide teams coming to Formula Student this year?

Vinh

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)

[leclercjs]

Hey guys,

great to see that McMaster is the 3rd officially entered CANADIAN team to FS 2004.

Vihn, if you want to see all the teams registered, FS organization is doing a pretty good job updating their website.

They are now posting that the competition may be held one week before the first date issued since France GP is off the calendar and GB GP may be held on the week-end the organizer have settle the first date. (2-4th of july instead of 9-11)

All because the Montreal GP is now back on the calendar http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

C ya

Jean Sébastien Leclerc
Dir. Formule SAE Poly 2004
http://www.fsae.polymtl.ca

[vinHonda]

Ya, looking forward to going to a lot of GP's this year...CAN, US....and a few in Europe after Formula Student. Sounds great that we'll at least have 4 Canadian teams at Formula Student this year!

Vinh

University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team
www.fsae.utoronto.ca (http://www.fsae.utoronto.ca)