A team of students from the Road Arrow team has taken part for the fourth time at the Formula Student competition in Italy, held at the Riccardo Paletti circuit in Varano de’ Melegari.
After presenting their sixth vehicle late in May, students have continued to work of the development of the Cost Report, Business Plan and prepare the Design Event, while part of the team tested the formula every day and worked on removing all the shortcomings. A series of driver training sessions were held, consisting of the four disciplines from the dynamic event at the competition: acceleration, Skidpad, Autocross and endurance races.
The competition officially began on the 19th July, when the teams were registered and organizers welcomed the Formula Student teams, 51 of which took part in the Class 1C (internal combustion engines). Technical inspection began the next day, which we passed successfully as well as the Cost and Sustainability Analysis, a static discipline worth 100 points out of a possible 1000 possible at the competition.
The judges were very pleased with what Road Arrow members prepared and did not hide their enthusiasm for the detail put into the Cost Report. Road Arrow received 89.5 points for the Cost Report and placed the team in 4th place for this discipline!
The next day, more tests were completed, such as the noise and tilt tests, after which the vehicle received all the stickers and confirmation that the car is ready for the track. Two more static disciplines were completed that day: Design and Business plan. The Business plan was also praised by the judges, who learnt how our students justified the economics aspect of production. Quickly after came the Design Event, a discipline that this year was worth 150 points. Around 10 students presented the design of the vehicle this year, for systems such as the powertrain, electronics, suspension, aerodynamics, composite materials, ergonomics… Talks held with engineers from the automotive industry went well, with many vehicle systems and solutions being praised. At the end of the day, the Business Plan brought 53.8 points and the Design Event 128.3 points, meaning that we achieved the best result in static disciplines ever! A total of 270 points out of 325!
The dynamic disciplines began on the fourth day of the competition: first of which were the acceleration and Skidpad. Road Arrow came 16th and 15th, respectively. During the acceleration race, minor technical problems were evident, however they were overcome by the start of autocross event. Autocross is a races worth 125 points and is great preparation for the drivers for the endurance race. All the fixups and investments paid off and according to the drivers, the formula was never more stable in corners, something key at Formula Student competitions.
However, there were already difficulties with the engine and we drove with less power than usual. That led to Road Arrow taking 21st place in this race. We worked until Sunday afternoon to resolve this problem, with great support from Riteh Racing Team, who helped us wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, the problem with the engine was too severe and there was nothing team members could do, which meant that the endurance race was not completed.
In the end, Road Arrow won 380 points and took 20th place in general standings. The delight of the success of the static disciplines did not fade, despite problems that changed our plans of achieving equally good results in the dynamic disciplines. The static disciplines showed the team readiness for this competition and in the next few days we will work on overcoming all technical problems by competition in the Czech Republic and Germany. While we wait to take the track at Autodromo Most and Hockenheim, here’s a bit of the atmosphere from sunny Italy!