John,
It would be great to have the time to meet everyone at these comps. The UK comp was a lot of fun, and hard work. My co-Faculty Advisor Dr. Nando Guzzomi and I have noted that as we get older these comps just get harder, FSAE is definitely a young person's endeavour. The team is already well into the design of the new car, but I think we are both still recovering.
The team from Cardiff (I hope I got your team right) was excellent and I enjoyed seeing the car run. I hope everyone on the team is rightfully proud of how they competed. If we make it back, there in 2026 it would be good to catch up. We probably have a lot to talk about given our relative research groups.
You make great points about being unafraid of looking like an idiot if it helps advance understanding. I am dealing with that in a very real way as I have just started a youtube channel to track a project that I have been working on for a while. There is enough stuff there that I haven't done before that has me a bit worried that I will stuff it all up in a public forum. Some messages from people I really respect, notably Geoff Pearson (Big Bird) and Scott Wordley (Monash FA) have provided ideas and ways of thinking that were better than what I had put out there. Getting this feedback has been a benefit I hadn't anticipated, and I hope it continues.
I think this forum may be beyond resurrection. I hope I am wrong, but at the very least I have enjoyed jumping back on for a few posts and getting to say a first hello to you, and to chat again with Doug.
Kev