Formula Student 2011 Competition: - Updates, Pictures, Stories, and More

[IMechE_FS_team]

We hope everyone's preparations are going well for forthcoming Formula Student Competition. Have a safe journey to Silverstone and we look forward to seeing you later this week.

The weather isn't looking too bad, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/5000? for a 5 day forecast

FS Steering Committee

[BeunMan]

Like always on Silverstone: The weather forecast says "Sunny" the actual weather is "sunny everywhere except on Silverstone" http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

Can't wait to see all the cars in action! GL @ scrutineering to all teams.

[JasperC]

The first time I stay at home while the team is going to a competition since FSG 2008. Feels a bit strange. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Looking forward to hearing news from Silverstone. Good luck to all teams!

[Thrainer]

Our car is on its way to Silverstone. I'm very much looking forward to seeing all the teams again.

If you want to stay updated, you can follow our Twitter list with currently 105 FSAE teams, officials and individuals: http://twitter.com/#!/amzracing/fsae (if one is missing, send us a message)

Check out our car profile and stop by our pit if you have any questions http://www.racecar-engineering.com/cars/zurich/

I hope the Class 1A pits are not just tents. Water and electricity don't go together well and a dry floor would be nice.

What happened to the grandstand next to the pavilion, is that not a viewing area?

Regards
Thomas

[G.Arce]

Our car is on its way to Silverstone, followed by two vans and tomorrow also some team members will be flying.

Really looking forward to the event, the circuit and enjoy all the effort every team put on this project.

Please come and see us! Box number 9!!!

[Howy76]

UH Racing are on site and all set up. The car is having its final preparations for scrutineering later this morning.

Our car spec can be found on Racecar Engineerings excellent website http://www.racecar-engineering.../cars/hertfordshire/ (http://www.racecar-engineering.com/cars/hertfordshire/)

We're posting pics on our flickr page, check out
http://www.flickr.com/photos/u...s/72157627066793825/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uhracing/sets/72157627066793825/)

Howard

[JasperC]

Who can help me complete the list of car weights?

In Class 1A, I have found:

Delft 178.5
Zürich 180.5 (significantly more power than Delft though, 2x35kW vs. 2x28kW, so good job Zürich http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif)


And in Class 1:

GFR 163
Munich 188.5
Stuttgart 192.5

Please keep the car weights & other updates coming! http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

1A have had statics today. Do they actually havy anything tomorrow besides getting the last scrutineering stickers and doing some test runs? Or are there some dynamic events for 1A tomorrow?


Today's pics by the IMechE: facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150245391034719.335526.109517149718


Cheers,
Jasper

[Simon Dingle]

Class 1
Brunel: 202.0kg
Bath: 155.0kg

[Howy76]

UH weighed in at 201kg (class 1)

More pictures on flickr;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/u...s/72157627066793825/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/uhracing/sets/72157627066793825/)

Howard

[BeunMan]

Originally posted by JasperC:

...
Delft 178.5
Zürich 180.5 (significantly more power than Delft though, 2x35kW vs. 2x28kW, so good job Zürich http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif)
...

Cheers,
Jasper

70 kW??? Where are they going to put that with a 180 kg car? Are they aiming for takeoff speed?

Anyway, "fuel economy" or how it's called for 1A is going to get interesting.

Class 1:

155 for Bath, very nice!

Cheers!
Tristan

[Dali]

Class 1:

UAS Graz - 169.5 kg

[Luniz]

Class 1:

UAS Kiel: 224kg (way too much)
TU Graz: 186kg

[IMechE_FS_team]

More pictures have been posted from today at http://www.facebook.com/media/....335727.109517149718 (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150245391034719.335526.109517149718#!/media/set/?set=a.10150246598394719.335727.109517149718)

Howard

FS Steering Committee

[Simon Dingle]

There are loads of updates from teams (particularly Stuttgart) on Twitter at the moment, although we'll have to see how many there are when the pressures of the dynamic events take hold.

I've put together a list of as many teams as I could track down (around 40 so far), just google "@SFDingle/fsuk-2011". Let me know if I'm missing anyone, or if there's a more complete list somewhere.

More Weights:
Running Snail Racing - 160.0kg (class1)
Squadracourse Torino - 217.5kg (class1 i think)
Mobil1 Team Sussex - 301.0kg (class1)

[Mikko Ahola]

Helsinki - 193,5kg

[JasperC]

Class 1A design results:

1. Delft (137.5 pts)
2. Zwickau
3. Zürich

[IMechE_FS_team]

Some stats for you...

We have 109 teams registered on site from 34 countries

Over 2300 students participating

The breakdown of teams are;
80 x Class 1
13 x Class 1A
12 x Class 2
4 x Class 2

FS Steering Committee

[TMichaels]

Originally posted by JasperC:
Class 1A design results:

1. Delft (137.5 pts)
2. Zwickau
3. Zürich

JasperC,
do you know why Delft did not get 150pts? Penalties or something? Because I would assume that the design winner usually gets 150pts.

Regards,

Tobias

[JR @ CFS]

Statics over for the day and the British sunshine i.e. rain is expected during tomorrow and Sunday. Should make for interesting dynamics.

There have been complaints from some camps regarding the sprint track set up. The indications from formula student are that the track will stay as it is.

Looking forward to a great day of dynamics...not looking forward to the rain.

[Fantomas]

There have been complaints from some camps regarding the sprint track set up.

What were the complaints about the sprint layout?

Fantomas

[BeunMan]

Originally posted by TMichaels:
...

JasperC,
do you know why Delft did not get 150pts? Penalties or something? Because I would assume that the design winner usually gets 150pts.

Regards,

Tobias

Tobias, perhaps Jasper knows the real reason, but it has been so for at least the past two years (and probably as long as FSUK exists). I think they calculate your score by a set standard and the closer you are, the more you get near the 150 points but there are always some flaws in the the design or presentation of it and therefore it will be less.

[BeunMan]

Originally posted by Fantomas:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">There have been complaints from some camps regarding the sprint track set up.

What were the complaints about the sprint layout?

Fantomas </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Is it ~69 meter again (i.e. 75 yards) instead of 75 meters?

[bob.paasch]

Acceleration and skid pad are now closed. Lots of rain all morning made for very slow times. Best accel I saw was in the 4.6 range, best skidpad around 5.6.

[JasperC]

Originally posted by TMichaels:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JasperC:
Class 1A design results:

1. Delft (137.5 pts)
2. Zwickau
3. Zürich

JasperC,
do you know why Delft did not get 150pts? Penalties or something? Because I would assume that the design winner usually gets 150pts.

Regards,

Tobias </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nope, all I know is that at FSUK, you can get 10 points for the design report and 140 for what you show at the event itself. As most teams don't score 10 points for their reports, the design winner at FSUK usually gets anywhere between 147 and 150 points.

But 137.5 is really not a lot for first place, so I don't know the reason.

Cheers,
Jasper Coosemans
DUT Racing Team 2009-2010

[Scott Wordley]

I don't know what happened this year, but last year we were penalized for various issues with our design specifications sheet, including:

- Incorrect justification (ie centering) of a cell
- incorrect weighting of borders
- lack of borders where required
- failure to state units, even when the value is zero

These penalties were almost the difference between 2nd and third place.
Interested to see how many teams are penalized this year.
We thought it was a little extreme.

[JasperC]

Wow, so what's happening at Silverstone?

First this tweet: "Attention campers! please can u make sure your tents and gazebos are secure ASAP"
Expecting some stormy weather? http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

But more importantly: "SPRINT EVENT: in order to finish the track events at 6pm it is necessary to change the format to 1 driver, 2 laps" http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_redface.gif

[Fantomas]

According to the commentators and the tweets of the teams, the marshalls are as bad as always causing a lot of re-runs in autocross.

Fantomas

[JasperC]

Well, it seems like the cars were running a bit too close to each other (perhaps this was decided because of the tight schedule) which indeed caused a lot of the quicker cars to catch up with the car in front of them.

Very very preliminary Autocross results, from Twitter/Facebook/Radio Silverstone:

Class 1
1. OSU - 56.x
2. Munich - 59.2 ??
3. I'm thinking Stuttgart but not sure

Class 1A
1. Delft - 58.3
2. Zürich - 1:01.x
[don't know if there's any cars between Zürich and Zwickau]
x. Zwickau - 1.07.95


Autocross was run in damp conditions (probably dry by the end of the afternoon, I would presume).

Zürich have had some issues with the HV system today. Hopefully they can pick up some more pace tomorrow.

[Simon Dingle]

First this tweet: "Attention campers! please can u make sure your tents and gazebos are secure ASAP"
Expecting some stormy weather? Smile

But more importantly: "SPRINT EVENT: in order to finish the track events at 6pm it is necessary to change the format to 1 driver, 2 laps" Red Face

The first tweet was an announcement following a few tents blowing over/down on the camp-site.

The second was part of a few interesting decisions. Firstly, the Sprint event was delayed by 30mins, presumably to wait for the weather to clear (which it did). But then there seemed to be some problems with the timing loops (I was watching from the grandstand so can't be certain) and a couple of last minute changes to the track layout (which seemed to then go back to how they were originally). Basically I don't think any teams posted a time until around 3pm.

This led to the announcement that the format would be changed to 1 driver only from each team to ensure that all teams got to post a time. This seems fair enough, if indeed there were technical issues beyond their control. However, someone then made the decision to let 2nd drivers out and I guess around 40% of running teams got two drivers out. I still don't know if second driver's times counted or not, but the sprint results and running order for tomorrow is up on the Formula Student website.

As a note, I was spectating this year, so I don't know if the teams were better informed.

[JasperC]

I did hear that the teams were informed that second drivers COULD be allowed to drive if there was enough time. So all teams knew that they had to be on stand-by if they wanted to get their 2nd driver out.

But it's still a bit unfortunate that some teams are allowed a second run while others aren't. Then again Silverstone is not allowed to have cars running past 6 pm and I do understand that the organisation wanted to make the most out of that.

[IMechE_FS_team]

Good morning, the endurance event is now underway and cars are running in reverse order from the Sprint results yesterday. The run order can be viewed at;

http://www.formulastudent.com/events/FS2011/Results

On the page are also the list of award winners from last nights award ceremony.

[Calum Douglas]

The sprint problems were resolved after a large number of teams protested. So finally given that most teams only had one run, if you got a second run it will be dis-allowed.

[IMechE_FS_team]

Regarding the sprint event, as already highlighted the start was delayed due to the inclement weather. Unfortunately a timing issue further delayed the event thus not allowing sufficient time to run both drivers. Teams were told they would be allowed a single driver to have 2 runs. By the time teams had done their initial runs, there was a one hour window left and so organisers allowed teams a second driver a run but it was done on the proviso that if not all teams have the second run the times would be removed. This subsequently happened.

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 16 University of Sussex are the first car to complete endurance!

DNF's from the first group of cars include;
509 TU Darmstadt
13 University of Warwick
58 ISAT
90 University of Portsmouth
53 Hochschule Ostwesfalen-Lippe

[IMechE_FS_team]

Cars on track include;

33 King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang

88 Coventry University

62 Queen's University Belfast

26 University of the Basque Country

93 University of Surrey



Car 135 University of Liverpool has DNF'd

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 88 Coventry has completed the endurance!

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 35 Czech Technical University in Prague now out on track

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 26 University of the Basque Country now going round very slowly and looking like being pulled

[IMechE_FS_team]

So far cars to complete endurance include;
88 Coventry
16 Sussex
33 King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 94 Surrey has stopped out on track after 13 laps... its another DNF.

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car Queen's University Belfast are setting the pace, the fastest lap so far is a 63.5

[IMechE_FS_team]

the weather here by the way is dry although there's a lot of cloud around...

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 56 Lancaster has DNF'd after only 5 laps

[IMechE_FS_team]

and Car 62 Queen's University Belfast have completed endurance!

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 25 University of Birmingham are now on track

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 25 University of Birmingham were in for their driver change when scrutineers spotted a fastener loose on a rear upright so its a DNF for Birmingham.

[BeunMan]

For those of you who have difficulties with connecting to silverstone radio, here's another steam:

http://tunein.com/tuner/?StationId=137373&

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 35 Czech Technical University in Prague finish endurance with the fastest overall time so far, excluding any time penalties.

[Fantomas]

Looking at the results of the Class1A dynamic events it seems that only 4 or 5 cars are able to drive under own power, more or less the same as last year. I hope we see some more electric cars running in Hockenheim.

Fantomas

[IMechE_FS_team]

Some 10 ten results from yesterday;
Skid pad
TU Munich
University of Bath
Oxford Brookes University
Helsinki UAS
Graz University of Technology
HSU/UniBw Hamburg
University of Stuttgart
Oregon State University
Karlstad University
UAS Graz

The top time was 5.655 seconds set in wet conditions.

[IMechE_FS_team]

Autocross top 10 finishers;
Oregon State University
TU Munich
University of Bath
University of Stuttgart
Chalmers University of Technology
Graz University of Technology
Helsinki UAS
University of Dundee
University of Hertfordshire
TU Budapest


Oregon set a blistering 56.83 lap, the next best was a 59.22 from Munich.

[Fantomas]

Originally posted by IMechE_FS_team:
Oregon set a blistering 56.83 lap, the next best was a 59.22 from Munich.

Incorrect. The next best was 58.3 by Delft.

Fantomas

[BeunMan]

Originally posted by Fantomas:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by IMechE_FS_team:
Oregon set a blistering 56.83 lap, the next best was a 59.22 from Munich.

Incorrect. The next best was 58.3 by Delft.

Fantomas </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

He was obviously quoting class 1 and not combined class 1 & 1a results (which for points don't matter)

[M3T]

Originally posted by ElectroMan:
For those of you who have difficulties with connecting to silverstone radio, here's another steam:

http://tunein.com/tuner/?StationId=137373&

it's only a music radio :\

[Dali]

there is a church break at the moment...i think that's the reason why they're playing music..

[IMechE_FS_team]

We've had a lull in the proceedings to respect the local Church whilst they have their morning service.

Unfortunately the weather has turned and its now raining.

The next few cars due out on track are;
72 HSU/UniBw Hamburg
540 Eindhoven University of Technology
10 Politecnico di Torino
91 Aston University
9 UAS Kiel
596 UAS Zwickau

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 72 appears to have missed its slot and car 540 Eindhoven University of Technology is out on track along with car 10 Torino

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 91 Aston University have joined the track, followed by car 9 UAS Kiel

[IMechE_FS_team]

You can listen to commentary live on Silverstone Radio, http://www.formulastudent.com/SilverstoneRadio

[IMechE_FS_team]

596 UAS Zwickau are now on track and car 23 UAS Amberg-Weiden is joining the action making 6 cars on track

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 540 Eindhoven University of Technology are in for driver change

Car 23 UAS Amberg-Weiden has stopped on track

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 540 Eindhoven University of Technology rejoin the track after their driver change

Car 72 HSU/UniBw Hamburg have started endurance

Car 10 Turino are in for their driver change

[IMechE_FS_team]

Cars 91 Aston University and 9 UAS Kiel are in for their driver change

[Chapo]

Any chance of getting some rough lap times?

[IMechE_FS_team]

596 UAS Zwickau are posting 76s laps

540 Eindhoven University of Technology and car 72 Hamburg are posting 79s laps

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 54 Karlstad University is on track

Car 91 Aston can't restart after the driver change

Car 10 Torino also can't restart

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 596 UAS Zwickau have re entered the track after their driver change

[Fantomas]

Originally posted by ElectroMan:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Fantomas:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by IMechE_FS_team:
Oregon set a blistering 56.83 lap, the next best was a 59.22 from Munich.

Incorrect. The next best was 58.3 by Delft.

Fantomas </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

He was obviously quoting class 1 and not combined class 1 & 1a results (which for points don't matter) </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I of course noticed that, but thought that it had to be mentioned.

Fantomas

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 72 HSU/UniBw Hamburg now lapping in 74s and setting the pace in these conditions

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 120 Tecnun - University of Navarra are out on track

Car 540 Eindhoven have completed endurance!

Car 39 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki have joined the track

Car 72 HSU/UniBw Hamburg are in the driver change area

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 72 HSU/UniBw Hamburg restart and join the track

[IMechE_FS_team]

Regarding the 2 top autocross times mentioned earlier, they were for class 1 as mentioned.

The top class 1A autocross times were;
Delft University of Technology 58.300
ETH Zurich 61.560
UAS Zwickau 70.130
Eindhoven University of Technology 71.520
TU Darmstadt 81.230

[IMechE_FS_team]

596 UAS Zwickau complete endurance!

[IMechE_FS_team]

cars 112 Swansea Metropolitan University and 64 University of Bologna are out on track

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 120 have restarted after their driver change and rejoin the track

39 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki are in for their driver change

[IMechE_FS_team]

72 HSU/UniBw Hamburg finish endurance! Last lap was a 73.45s

[IMechE_FS_team]

the rain has eased off but the track is still wet causing the occasional off course and cone collecting!

[IMechE_FS_team]

112 Swansea Metropolitan University are in for their driver change and restart

Car 64 University of Bologna are in for their driver change

[IMechE_FS_team]

54 Karlstad University complete endurance, their fastest lap (excluding any penalties) was a 75.46

[IMechE_FS_team]

64 University of Bologna rejoin after their driver change

[IMechE_FS_team]

120 Tecnun - University of Navarra finish endurance! Well technically they have finished, but their driver missed the chequered flag and is on an extra lap! Their best lap was a 76.36

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 42 Helsinki UAS haven't made their endurance slot.
car 11 University of Paderborn and car 59 Oxford Brookes University are now on track

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 112 Swansea Met complete endurance! their fastest lap was a 72.58s

[IMechE_FS_team]

track conditions appear to be improving but its still slippery out there

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 64 University of Bologna complete endurance! their fastest lap was a 69.49s

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 59 Oxford Brookes are in the 72s

And recent addition to the track car 20 Loughborough University have had a fire. The driver is safely out of the car and the marshalls have swiftly dealt with the situation.

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 59 Oxford Brookes successfully restart after their driver change, they're back out on track

[IMechE_FS_team]

52 Liverpool John Moores University finish endurance! Their best lap was a 72.9

[IMechE_FS_team]

Marshalls are putting their waterproofs on as more rain starts to fall.

Car 47 Dresden are in for their driver change. Their first drivers best lap was a 75.15

[IMechE_FS_team]

47 Dresden have rejoined the track after their driver change

car 11 Paderborn complete endurance! Their best lap was a 75.14s

and car 59 Oxford Brookes have stopped out on track... can they restart?

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 59 Oxford Brookes are unable to restart, its a DNF on lap 21 of 23. Their best lap was a 69.25

The only car on track now is #47 TU Dresden. Their best lap so far is a 69.9

[IMechE_FS_team]

the old saying around Silverstone is if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes... and sure enough the rain has stopped.

[IMechE_FS_team]

The following results are all available on the Formula Student website;

http://www.formulastudent.com/events/FS2011/Results

Class 1 Results - Business Presentation, Design, Cost, Acceleration, Skid Pad & Sprint (excluding Endurance & overall scores)

Class 1A Results - Business Presentation, Design, Sustainability, Acceleration, Skid Pad & Sprint (excluding Endurance & overall scores)

Class 2 & 2A Final Results - Business Presentation, Design, Cost/Sustainability

[IMechE_FS_team]

And car 47 TU Dresden complete endurance! Their fastest lap was a 69.9s

We're taking a half hour break for lunch... back soon!

[Chapo]

Anymore news on what is happening?

Sorry to be pushy, I'm stuck on the other side of the world and waiting for my baby to race...

chappy

[IMechE_FS_team]

The action is about to resume on track here at Silverstone. The next 6 cars due out are;

31 Cardiff University
41 TU Budapest
5 University of Hertfordshire
18 University of Dundee
533 ETH Zurich
2 University of Stuttgart

Track conditions are improving and there appears a dry line around the track at the moment.

[IMechE_FS_team]

Hi Matthew,

You can view the run order on this link
http://www.formulastudent.com/events/FS2011/Results

The UNSW@ADFA team are scheduled to run in the 56th starting slot and we're up to #34

There's audio commentary on http://www.formulastudent.com/SilverstoneRadio as well!

I hope we don't keep you up too late! What's the time there?

[IMechE_FS_team]

engines have started, car 31 Cardiff is on track!

the next 5 cars will be released in 1 to 2 lap intervals

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 18 Dundee has stopped on track and the driver is giving a shake of the head, its a DNF

Car 5 Hertfordshire are setting the pace with a 62s lap... fastest of the day so far

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 2 Stuttgart are flying with a 59.97s

car 5 had stalled on track but managed to restart, they're due in for their driver change next time round

[IMechE_FS_team]

cars 41 Budapest, 31 Cardiff have completed driver change, car 5 Hertfordshire has restarted and is ready to go back out on track

[IMechE_FS_team]

533 ETH Zurich have completed driver change and are back on track.

Car 41 Budapest have DNF'd, reports of fluids leaks were coming from the car

Car 2 Stuttgart have completed driver change and are back out

[IMechE_FS_team]

Best lap times for the quickest cars on track are
2 Stuttgart 57.87
533 Zurich 59.8
5 Hertfordshire 60.75

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 5 Hertfordshire complete endurance! Best lap 60.75s

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 2 Stuttgart complete endurance! Best lap time was a 57.44s ... fastest time of the day so far!

[IMechE_FS_team]

533 Zurich complete endurance! Their fastest lap was a 59.82s, They're the fastest 1A car so far

[IMechE_FS_team]

the track is dry at the moment but there's a big dark cloud heading for us...

[IMechE_FS_team]

and car 18 Dundee complete endurance!

and would you believe it, the heavens have opened and the rain is coming down hard.

[IMechE_FS_team]

The rain has hit minutes prior to the start of the 6 fastest teams from Autocross.

[TMichaels]

Will all 6 fastest teams from autocross be sent out together?

Regards,

Tobias

[IMechE_FS_team]

We're holding whilst the rain passes and we can see brighter skies in the distance

The 6 quickest cars from Autocross are running next in reverse order, the run order is;
99 Graz University of Technology
29 Chalmers University of Technology
8 University of Bath
1 TU Munich
585 Delft University of Technology
61 Oregon State University

[BeunMan]

Let's hope they wait untill at least 'damp' conditions to get the tire choice option. (Or do you still have to run full-wet tires with damp?)

[IMechE_FS_team]

we're under way again and car 99 Graz University of Technology is on track.

The track conditions are wet, but the sun is out. Let's see what times these teams can produce.

Chalmers and Bath are now on track, lap times to come.

[Fantomas]

Looks like the organizers decided who wins the event by not waiting for the track to dry up or sending out slower teams before. That is a shame and very ridiculous!

Fantomas

[IMechE_FS_team]

FS2010 Champs TU Munich are out on track

[IMechE_FS_team]

Fantomas,

With respect, the organisers have no power over the weather.

If we delay, then we shall not be able to run all of the teams who have worked hard all year on their cars. We are limited to how late we can run on track and so getting all the cars through is the priority.

[Chapo]

Fantomas I think thats an extremely harsh and unjustifiable statement. The organisers have to get 54 cars out on the track with no more than 4 running at anyone time. Short of running the entire thing in a climate controlled warehouse they are at the mercy of the weather conditions. They will try to do the best that they can and while we might not always agree with thier decisions we have to also have to understand they conditions that they are working under.

These people give up a lot of their time for this event and their work is sadly often unfairly critised.

[IMechE_FS_team]

Best lap times;

99 TU Graz 75.39
585 Delft 70.89
1 TU Munich 71.76
8 Bath 68.83
29 Chalmers 69.66
61 Oregon / GFR 63.59

[M3T]

btw there isn't a bonus time for the cars who run in wet conditions?

[IMechE_FS_team]

Cars 99 TU Graz, 29 Chalmers and 8 Bath are in driver change.

99 TU Graz are on track again

[Fantomas]

@IMechE_FS_team and Chapo:
The whole day only 2 or 3 teams were on the track, now you have 6 teams on the track...room for efficiency improvements which would have lead to some more flexibility with respect to timing.

Furthermore there are plenty of slower teams, for example those that did not post an autocross time, which could have been sent out to gain 30mins.
Where is the problem with that?

Fantomas

[IMechE_FS_team]

8 Bath and 29 Chalmers are back on track

car 1 TU Munich are in driver change

[IMechE_FS_team]

1 TU Munich are back on track.

61 Oregon are in driver change with 585 Delft

The track conditions are improving all the time, times to come

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 61 Oregon are struggling to restart their car in driver change...

585 Delft are back on track

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 61 Oregon / GFR fail to restart in driver change.

[IMechE_FS_team]

More drama, Car 8 Bath has stopped out on track

[BeunMan]

Originally posted by IMechE_FS_team:
Car 61 Oregon / GFR fail to restart in driver change.

Just heard it was the starter engine overheating.

[Fantomas]

If we delay, then we shall not be able to run all of the teams who have worked hard all year on their cars. We are limited to how late we can run on track and so getting all the cars through is the priority.

I think we will see how much time is left after you got all cars through. I bet there will more than 30mins left...

Fantomas

[IMechE_FS_team]

reports suggest Car 8 Bath suffered an engine failure

[IMechE_FS_team]

Fantomas,

There's a saying, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

We're not in the business of gambling, and getting teams through endurance is the priority. We had a plan, and we're sticking to it. To make changes to the schedule is not fair to all parties, and this was born out yesterday!

Please feel free to address any issue you have with the organisers in race control.

Now back to the action!

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 1 TU Munich complete endurance! Best lap time was a 68.53s

[IMechE_FS_team]

and car 585 Delft complete endurance! Best lap was a 68.93s

[BeunMan]

68's in wet conditions is quite fast!

On thing: GFR's half slick/wet tires are probably the way to go.

[Fantomas]

This has nothing to do with hindsight as I am saying it now and not after endurance.


We're not in the business of gambling, and getting teams through endurance is the priority. We had a plan, and we're sticking to it. To make changes to the schedule is not fair to all parties, and this was born out yesterday!
I agree that it cannot be completely fair for everyone, but at least better than it was handled in my opinion. And telling from the comments on radio silverstone and the tweets from the teams they are extremely frustrated which I completely understand and which could have been avoided by just sending out the cars that are running now.


Please feel free to address any issue you have with the organisers in race control
I have tried that several times back when I was a competitor and I was way more diplomatic...

Fantomas

[IMechE_FS_team]

okay, its time for the cars who qualified outside of the 145% fastest time from Autocross.

The run order is;

108 University of Sunderland
89 Slovak Univesity of Technology in Bratislava
96 UAS Graz
15 University of Strathclyde
51 Swansea University
57 Ecole Nationale d'Ingenieurs de Metz
69 UAS Mittweida
43 Brunel University
19 University of Nottingham
30 University of Southern Denmark
151 UNSW@ADFA
101 Dublin Institute of Technology

[IMechE_FS_team]

okay, the hot news coming from the track is that car 108 Sunderland is definitely setting a new record... not for lap time but for the number of cones hit. 25 hit after only 7 laps and counting

Who knows the record for the number of cones hit by a single driver in endurance?

[BeunMan]

Originally posted by IMechE_FS_team:
okay, the hot news coming from the track is that car 108 Sunderland is definitely setting a new record... not for lap time but for the number of cones hit. 25 hit after only 7 laps and counting

Who knows the record for the number of cones hit by a single driver in endurance?

Two years ago it was in the 30's

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 108 Sunderland has ground to a halt, its a DNF

[IMechE_FS_team]

and car 89 Slovak Univesity of Technology in Bratislava has come to a halt on track, its another DNF.

[IMechE_FS_team]

for the record car 108 Sunderland hit 31 cones which equals the record set last year by Warsaw.

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 42 Helsinki UAS are on track (running out of order) and are running in the 66s

the track conditions have been steadily improving and we have a dry line round the track.

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 42 Helsinki finish endurance! Their fastest lap is a 66.16s

Car 57 Ecole Nationale d'Ingenieurs de Metz is black flagged for continually missing a section of the track

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 51 Swansea University has completed endurance! Their fastest lap was a 76.5s

[IMechE_FS_team]

Chapo,

UNSW@ADFA are on track!

they have a 76s lap on the board so far

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 43 Brunel University have finished endurance!

Rookie team 101 Dublin Institute of Technology has pulled over with smoke coming from the car, its a DNF.

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 151 UNSW@ADFA appeared in trouble but they've got the car going again

[IMechE_FS_team]

151 UNSW@ADFA are in the pits for their driver change. Their fastest lap so far is a 67.9s

[IMechE_FS_team]

151 UNSW@ADFA rejoin the track after their driver change.

Car 567 UCLAN class 1A car has suffered suspension failure, its a DNF

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 82 Yeungnam University is out on track and has had an early spin.

[WF]

Originally posted by IMechE_FS_team:
for the record car 108 Sunderland hit 31 cones which equals the record set last year by Warsaw.

Last year we had 33 cones, so our record is safe http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 12 Huddersfield are on track and are posting 69s laps

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 111 Transilvania University of Brasov are in for their driver change. Their lap times have been in the 95s

[IMechE_FS_team]

Sad news for the team from Australia, car 151 UNSW@ADFA has retired. The driver is being interviewed and he retired the car for safety reasons.

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 82 Yeungnam University is in the pits for their driver change.

the 27 Thapar car has pitched itself off the track and has ended up in the gravel.

Car 12 Huddersfield are in for their driver change

[IMechE_FS_team]

cars 82 Thapar and 12 Huddersfield have rejoined the track after their driver changes

Car 111 Transilvania University of Brasov appear to have an issue with their steering

Car 44 City University London has joined the track

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 568 Imperial College London is in for its driver change

[IMechE_FS_team]

Huddersfield's second driver is putting in 63s laps

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 40 Birmingham City University have pulled over with smoke coming from the back of the car after 5 laps. Its a DNF

Car 111 is struggling and they have 3 laps left to go

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 111 Transilvania University of Brasov is smoking and is being flagged in to the pit area. Its a DNF.

[IMechE_FS_team]

Car 12 Huddersfield have finished endurance!

[IMechE_FS_team]

we've posted loads of photos from todays endurance event on https://www.facebook.com/media....336283.109517149718 (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150248388204719.336283.109517149718)

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 67 Heriot-Watt University have DNF'd on their 2nd lap.

[IMechE_FS_team]

Its all action here;
car 44 Queen Mary, University of London have retired with suspension failure.

car 21 Ryerson have stopped on track and are a DNF,

car 124 Wroclaw University of Technology which has just joined the track has suffered suspension failure.

car 106 University of Sheffield had an off and ended up in the gravel.

[IMechE_FS_team]

The last car on track is 512 Politècnica de Catalunya - ETSEIAT and they are in for their driver change.

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 512 Politècnica de Catalunya - ETSEIAT are our last runner and they are back out on track and have the track to themselves.

[IMechE_FS_team]

we have videos online, including Acceleration, skid pad and sprint event, business presentations & 1st awards ceremony http://bit.ly/qwJsiV

[IMechE_FS_team]

car 512 Politècnica de Catalunya - ETSEIAT is on its last lap, the pace over the last lap has dropped suggesting they're running low on battery power... can they make it?

[IMechE_FS_team]

Yes they can! car 512 Politècnica de Catalunya - ETSEIAT complete endurance!

That's all folks!

Time for the BBQ!

Keep an eye on the formula student website for overall results, www.formulastudent.com (http://www.formulastudent.com)

[Osth]

Rumor has it (CFS project leader's status on Facebook) that Chalmers ended in 4th place.

I am impressed by this years team I must say, great work!

[Mikko Ahola]

Results are in:

http://www.formulastudent.com/events/FS2011/Results

[NickFavazzo]

Does anyone have news on what happened to UNSW@ADFA?

[Mbirt]

That bloody CRF450X starter...

Have the GFR guys taken it apart yet? I'm curious if it suffered gradual electric death due to overtemp or if any of the windings physically broke. I had it happen once.

[Frank "Ruska" Roeske]

Originally posted by Fantomas:
This has nothing to do with hindsight as I am saying it now and not after endurance.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">We're not in the business of gambling, and getting teams through endurance is the priority. We had a plan, and we're sticking to it. To make changes to the schedule is not fair to all parties, and this was born out yesterday!
I agree that it cannot be completely fair for everyone, but at least better than it was handled in my opinion. And telling from the comments on radio silverstone and the tweets from the teams they are extremely frustrated which I completely understand and which could have been avoided by just sending out the cars that are running now.


Please feel free to address any issue you have with the organisers in race control
I have tried that several times back when I was a competitor and I was way more diplomatic...

Fantomas </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Fantomas,

come on...sitting somewhere in front of a computer and follow the competition and sending comments during the competition it is easy.
I visited the Formula Student UK this year for the first time since 2008. And in my opinion it was a good competition. Kate and her team did a great job.
Changing the runing order during the competition is not so easy as you think. And the weather is something, where you havn´t any influence.
If you made a decision for the runing order before the endurance will start and you have posted the order you need to stick with this order.

Even the Stuttgart Group was close to get a wet track. Just 5 min away, it rained. In my opinion the did the right thing.
But as i said in the begining sitting in front of an computer or just watching the competition and posting comments, that is easy.

Therefor i would like to invite you to be part of the competition and helping all of us as volunteer or maybe as part of the organizing group. This is the right place for your ideas to making things better.

So just shoot us an email.

Regards
Frank

[Fantomas]

Frank,
would this situation have been handled the same way at FSG?

Fantomas

[oz_olly]

UNSW@ADFA got a lucky break with the weather and were able run in the dry after the top teams ran in the wet.we were lapping around top ten until we had what we think is a gear box failure on lap 17 or 18 of 23. So close yet so far. We were very stoked to make design finals with our beam axle car. It certainly generated a lot of interest.

Cheers

Olly

[blister]

Hi,

The class 1A Design results are very disturbing. They put emphasis on efficiency a lot more than in germany. So why is a 180kg car behind a 270 kg car and just 3 points in front of a 260kg car with brushed DC motors. Also the feedback was that the zurich car looks expensive and that it is not possible to manufacture 1000pcs a year. If they are so focused on this thing they need to tell the circumstances to manufacture it. The cost/sustainability event deals with this already...
Another huge dissapointment was the quality of some class 1A cars. Alot of them did not compete in any dynamic event and a weight of 275kg and more seems to be the standard.

Anyway congrats to Stuttgart for taking the opportunity given to them by the weather and to delft for their dominant win!

[RStory]

I've got a few photos from Endurance at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/r...s/72157627199152818/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertstory/sets/72157627199152818/)

The number of spots to shoot photos through the fence was a little limited, wasn't able to get photos of all the cars this time around.

[rmk36]

Originally posted by Fantomas:
Frank,
would this situation have been handled the same way at FSG?

Fantomas

I would hope they would continue as scheduled.

Rain isn't fun, but it's a part of the sport that nobody can control. Until you come up with a means to prevent rain, please give the people who put this on some respect. They aren't perfect, but I agree with their decision. Most of these people aren't being paid for what they do. They do it to support us. They don't deserve your harassment.

I know what it's like to have unfair disadvantages due to course disorganization, but there is a better means of providing feedback.

[Fantomas]

Originally posted by rmk36:
I know what it's like to have unfair disadvantages due to course disorganization, but there is a better means of providing feedback.

Honestly,
I tried to give feedback for several year by mail, by talking to the organizers and I was diplomatic and polite, but more or less nothing changed.
They still have the same marshalls which are a safety issue themselves for example and show no respect for the students.
I also saw some fire extinguishers on track clearly saying: "Do not use for electric appliances." Smart to use/provide them, if you have electric vehicles on track. I bet no one looks at the fire extinguisher thoroughly enough before trying to fight a fire to notice that it is the wrong one for this case.

I am in now way harassing the volunteers, except for the marshalls...but there are people in the organization who are paid for what they are doing and they can do better in my opinion by just listening to the students.

Fantomas

[MegaDeath]

So what if they were to change the endurance run order on the fly? (which is a terrible idea). Most teams usually don't have their car prepared for endurance until about 30 minutes before their scheduled run position, and that is even a little generous. I have seen top ten teams still fussing with critical parts and quick and dirty improvisions while on grid! If all of a sudden the officials decided that a group of 10 cars who weren't supposed to run until 3:00pm should be moved to 1:00pm and that decision came at 12:00pm, I would guarantee you that no more than 4 of those cars would be in line and ready to start endurance when their car got called. How is that fair to them?

[Simon Dingle]

+1

I thought the endurance race was handled very well. I'm sure TUFast feel a bit hard-done-by (have never typed that phase before - looks odd) on the weather front, but that's racing, it happens at every level.

Also, predicting what the weather will be like at Silverstone in 5mins time is very difficult, let alone hours ahead. What if the running order had been changed, slower cars go out on a drying track and then 1 hour later it pours with rain for the rest of the day?

[Bemo]

First of all I have to say that I also only have second hand information as I wasn't able to attend this year's event at Silverstone http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif.

But you shouldn't mix points of criticism here Fantomas. The marshalls at FS UK have been an issue during the last years, but I can't tell if there was improvement about that this year (at least I didn't here any complaints about them so far, so...)

About the running order I have to say, that from a organiser's view I wouldn't have changed the running order either. The simple reason is that in the moment you do so, everything gets unpredictable.
The Autocross was a very good example for that. As far as I know it started much later than planned because of the heavy rain. In that moment the event got out of schedule. The result was that nobody knew what was going on. First it was announced that only one driver per team was allowed to run, than some second drivers were allowed to run, but in the end their times didn't count...
You can see that things get extremely difficult to handle if you're not sticking to the schedule for whatever reason, so I would be VERY careful to change plans.
The organisers had a running order set up before the endurance. That order was based on a clear criteria -> autocross time.
If you change the running order during the event you don't have any objective criteria anymore. Of course nobody wants competitions decided by the weather, but if it is the case you can't change it.

Running an event with this number of teams is a big task and I Frank is right. If you think events aren't run properly or that organisers don't listen to your feedback, get involved and change things yourself. If you can improve things - great, big thank you for everyone. But maybe you will realise that some things look different when seen from the other side, if so - no problem, you still helped to keep it all going and to give the next generation of students to take part in FS/FSAE too.

[JR @ CFS]

I think the point trying to be made about letting other cars run is that the teams lined up behind the top 6 teams were ones that had qualified outside of the 145% time. More than 6 were already lined up in the endurance queue. This rain shower was known about, as was the 2 hour dry spell that was due to follow.

As 2nd team on track after the rain, I for one wish we could've got the dry track and booked our spot in the top 3, but such is life and we had to make do with "only" 4th. Best result for our team and excellent considering we came with the goal of "top 10." We set a faster Enduro time than most teams who ran, whether it was in the wet or in the dry, so our car (and drivers) showed its potential and we all move on having learned something.

Thanks to the IMechE for a great event, the weather simply added to the excitement.

[Fantomas]

I got your points and probably was a bit too fast with my judgement.
I have not been to the event this year, but I have to say that in the last years the organizers seemed to be a bit ignorant with respect to student opinions which is why I probably overpaced a bit. Especially with respect to the marshals. I have seen how they destroyed the event for more than one team.
We should of course be thankful for every event which is organized and makes gaining experience possible for the participating students, but it should at least reach a level where it is as safe as possible for the students.
Seeing the video from a car falling of a tilt table or the brake test accident of Graz last year makes me think that sometimes more can be done for the safety of the students. That being said I think that the part of the endurance track which crossed the pit wall looked also very dangerous.

Fantomas

[Luniz]

@fantomas: The track layout and its lack of safety has been adressed to race control by several teams, including mine. Due to some contract reasons, there was no possibility to move the track to another part of the circuit where there would have been less/no fixed objects in the way. I think we are quite lucky that despite some "attempts" to hit a wall or armco, nothing serious has happened.

[DMuusers]

My pictures are finally uploaded, enjoy:

Pt.1: http://www.facebook.com/robert...0001079321504&type=1 (http://www.facebook.com/robert.wendt1#!/media/set/?set=a.213801321999177.58169.100001079321504&type=1)
Pt.2: http://www.facebook.com/robert...0001079321504&type=1 (http://www.facebook.com/robert.wendt1#!/media/set/?set=a.213877455324897.58191.100001079321504&type=1)
Pt.3: http://www.facebook.com/robert...0001079321504&type=1 (http://www.facebook.com/robert.wendt1#!/media/set/?set=a.213909088655067.58196.100001079321504&type=1)

And yes, skidpad was wet.
So if you want and HD version of any picture, shoot me a PM on facebook with a direct link of it and your email.
If you'd like to use any picture in any form of media, please consult me first.

Oh, and if anyone from the ImechE or FSUK organisation reads this, be sure to check out the marshalls in the 3rd album...

Cheers!

[Fantomas]

Originally posted by Luniz:
@fantomas: The track layout and its lack of safety has been adressed to race control by several teams, including mine. Due to some contract reasons, there was no possibility to move the track to another part of the circuit where there would have been less/no fixed objects in the way. I think we are quite lucky that despite some "attempts" to hit a wall or armco, nothing serious has happened.
So hopefully it will be changed next year, but I guess it will be not...

Fantomas

[Thrainer]

AMZ also has some pictures on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/media/...8.92330576106&type=1 (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150248908131107.332318.92330576106&type=1)
Further, IMechE has some great shots from the Endurance: http://www.facebook.com/media/....109517149718&type=1 (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150248388204719.336283.109517149718&type=1)

[Frank "Ruska" Roeske]

Originally posted by Fantomas:
Frank,
would this situation have been handled the same way at FSG?

Fantomas

I guess yes. We are making different simulations before each event.
This includes different scenarios but by far not all of them.
Therefore we found out, that we need to change the dynamic Saturday.

But if it will rain, it is quite hard to make any simulations.
The problem the UK FS had to handle was a fast changing between rain and sun.
In my opinion they did it right.

Regards the Track marshals. Running a event like FS is more difficult has you might think.
First off all you need to handle with the law, with insurance, with the track owner etc.
Each of them will give you different requirements. As far as i know some of the FSAE and FS events need to take approved track worker/marshals associations.
The problem is, FS is something totally different comparing to what they usually do. Fast cars, short laps, different rules etc.
Getting people as marshal is hard and my respect to the marshals for staying in the rain all the days and making FS Dynamic Events possible.
And they did a better job comparing to 2008 for example. The managed to extinguish the burning Lobo car in a few seconds.

Of course you can improve anything during a competition.
But as I already said, join the organizers and find out what is behind running such an event.

Frank

[RenM]

i guess accepting flaws in an event has become much harder since FSG is showing that an almost perfect event can be realized every year.

[JulianH]

Hello everybody,

we are looking for the Class 1 results of FSUK2011.

Sadly, on the new homepage, the Endurance and Economy scoring is missing.

Please send me a link or something to the complete results.


Thanks in advance!

Cheers