The end of another Formula Student competition season is approaching. This year, the wheels of Road Arrow rolled on the tracks of the legendary Red Bull Ring in Austria, Hungaroring in Hungary, and in Croatia.
At the FS Austria competition, we participated in static and dynamic disciplines. Our team members presented the vehicle’s design and the costs involved in the creation process to the judges, who are employees of leading automotive industry companies. Due to technical inspection issues, we skipped the acceleration and skidpad disciplines, but we managed to participate in the AutoX discipline, where we achieved a commendable 11th place, as well as in the endurance race, where the car completed an impressive 6 laps.
Participating in such a prestigious competition is considered a success. We are extremely pleased that the vehicle performed competitively under normal conditions. We are also proud that our vehicle successfully passed the technical inspection, complying with the rigorous rules of the elite FS Austria competition.
Upon arrival in Hungary, we successfully completed the pre-scrut. We also passed the scrutineering successfully, and our drivers demonstrated their speed during the egress test. We are particularly proud of the Cost and Manufacturing – static discipline, where our team achieved an excellent 10th place. The defense of the business plan was more than successful – our team ranked among the top 10 in this category.
On the second day, the tilt test was successfully passed. This year’s vehicle successfully met all the set tasks up to that point, and we finished the competitive day with a successful vehicle design defense.
The remaining competition days were quite challenging for our team. Despite having an appropriate vehicle that passed scrutineering with the judges, we faced significant efforts to overcome technical issues, which meant that Hungaroring would have to wait until the next season to experience the heat of Road Arrow’s tires.
Our third competition this season was FS Alpe Adria in Croatia. After the initial inspection and suggestions from the judges on a few vehicle elements that needed to be corrected or improved, our team worked hard, and on the second day, we successfully earned the orange scrutineering sticker. In the Cost discipline, we achieved notable results, securing second place. The presentations and defenses of the business plan and vehicle design were crowned with 11th and 7th place, respectively, and in the overall rankings, Road Arrow found itself among the top 10.
Being aware that this year’s Road Arrow team mainly consists of young rising engineers, we have recognized our shortcomings and mistakes. This year’s season has been quite challenging after significant changes that occurred during the one-year break. Above all, it has been a valuable moral lesson – a step closer to better quality work and an improved vehicle.
From the presented results, it is evident how skillful the team members were in choosing the most favorable materials and parts, and it showed that all future technical issues that might happen will be quickly overcome with knowledge and experience gained this year.
