obr newsletter: fsg 2014
DESCRIPTION
The event report from Formula Student Germany 2014TRANSCRIPT
NE WSLE T TER
FSG 2014 OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK TWITTER.COM/OXBROOKESRACING FACEBOOK.COM/OXFORDBROOKESRACING
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FORMULA STUDENT GERMANY EVENT REPORT
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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER
OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK
Having already breezed through the
technical inspections at the FSUK event
one would imagine that getting through
scrutineering at the following competitions
would be easy, however this is not always
the case, and the FSG competition has
become reknowned for it’s reputation for
taking the rules to the absolute extremes.
In other words nothing gets past them!
Unfortunately we once again found this to
be the case, with the FSG scrutineers
making sure that the car was absolutely to
the letter ready to race. This meant even
providing proof of the bolt specifications!
However fortunately we were able to bag
7th place on the Scrutineering order before
the competition, which meant that we had
plenty of time to make the required
adjustments, and complete the
scrutineering in time for the Static and
Dynamic events to begin.
With tech eventually passed it was straight
on to fuel and the Tilt test. Normally this is
easy, and as usual we were able to pass it
first time. The noise test then followed,
normally this is a nail-biter with the Single
cylinder engines, however again we were
pleased to see the newly modified KTM
570cc engine running at under 110db, and
passing the noise test in our first attempt.
Having watched the dynamic events I
believe we were one of the quietest single-
cylinder engined cars, with the TU Graz,
GFR and Akron single-cylinder engines
competing for loudest car.
Next we had the brake test, which once
more we were able to pass first time,
meaning that we could relax with a full set
of stickers, and prepare the car for the
coming day’s events.
Unusually at FSG the artificially wet skid-
pad is run on Friday alongside the statics,
so Carly needed to be set up in race-trim,
as well as a good polish and some beauty-
sleep time that she looked her best for the
design and cost events the next day.
The most challenging inspection takes place in FSG, where no stone is left unturned
SCRUTINEERING
OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER
OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK
We began the statics with an early start for
the cost presentation team, leading us into
the day’s events at 10:00am. The small
team of Sam Unsworth, Mikey Twigge, Chris
Shawe and Megan Berridge ran through
each and every component on the car with
the judges, successfully defending their
proposed methods for manufacturing 1000
cars for the Amateur Weekend Motorsport
Market at the best possible price.
Once again the cost team did a great job,
and we improved our position from 27th last
year up to 12th, scoring 78.5 points in the
process.
Next it was time for the design team to
show their skills, and try to repeat their
performance from FSUK. With the design
judging team deliberately tasked with
putting the team members out of their
comfort zone, we did a great job. Both
powertrain, Aerodynamics and Chassis
received excellent feedback, while the
suspension guys had to deal with two chief
judges.
Although the feedback was good the judges
asked about a lot of carryover components
and so developed an image of the car as if
it was just a carryover from last year.
However we fought our corner and
explained how much has changed and
been redesigned, and overall narrowly
missed out on a design finals slot, finishing
design in 9th place, with the top 8 going
through to the finals.
Finally the business presentation took
place, with George heading up to the top of
the BW Tower to make his business pitch.
After some inspired last-minute
encouragement & tweaks with the team in
the hotel room beforehand, George
delivered an excellent pitch, and was told
by the judge ‘I will remember you!’. Overall
his presentation scored us another 60
points, resulting in 14th place in Business.
After great results in FSUK the team were hoping for continued success
STATIC EVENTS
OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER
OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK
With the wet-pad event running alongside
the design and cost events we were forced
to run later than we would have liked, with
the pad opening while we were still
completing our statics. However when we
did hit the track Will set our fastest time
leaving us in 21st place, a little behind
where we were hoping after a good result at
FSUK.
In Acceleration however Carly launched like
a dream, with 2 super-quick runs from
Robin to start us off, Will went even faster
with an eventual best time of 4.341s,
leaving us 2nd placed single-cylinder, less
than 0.1 behind eventual winners GFR, and
in 12th place overall.
Next came the Autocross event, which
started just as rain began to fall over the
Hockenheim circuit.
We decided to hang on and allow the
weather to settle, since the course would
be open for the whole afternoon, and
hopefully the conditions would improve
throughout the day.
Eventually the sun came out, and the circuit
quickly dried up. While this was happening
we were waiting at the front of the line,
ready to head to the hot-area as late as
possible to allow as much temperature to
come back into the circuit as possible.
Ben headed out first on his laps, avoided
the cones and looked very quick indeed, as
he crossed the line he put us in the
provisional pole position too! But there
were plenty more cars to run yet.
After about 15 minutes George hit the track
to capitalise on the sunny weather, hoping
for rain to catch out the other teams later
on. He improved our time again, this time
running in provisional 2nd place behind
Chalmers.
As the session drew on we slowly dropped
down the order, ending up 15th overall and
beating world #1 Rennteam Stuttgart.
Changeable weather made strategy a key concern during the Auto-X session
DYNAMIC EVENTS
OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER
OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK
At this point we were looking good for our
target of an overall top 10 performance,
however the Endurance event always
leaves the competition wide open, with the
cruel 22km distance causing many teams
to lose out on their share of the 350 points
available.
This year was particularly harsh on the top
teams, with TU Graz, KA Racing, HAWKS,
Monash and more retiring on the last lap of
the endurance.
For us however the Endurance event never
really got started, with Ben taking to the
circuit and setting a respectable first lap
time, as he came around to complete the
2nd the solderless nipple on the end of the
throttle cable came loose and fell from the
car. This left the throttle pedal going
straight to the floor, with no connection
between it and the throttle actuator on the
engine intake.
Ben rolled off to the side of the circuit and
immediately jumped out of the car, sadly in
the knowledge that there would be nothing
he could do to keep the car going and
complete the rest of the endurance
distance.
So after just 2 laps we were out, and with
that we were unable to gain any points for
either the endurance or efficiency events,
leaving us with just 431 points, and down
in a disappointing 32nd place overall.
Even more disappointing is that if we
factored in a representative endurance and
efficiency score we could have been figting
for a podium position overall, but then
again so could the rest of the teams that
suffered the same fate!
Overall we were satisfied with the
performance car & team at the
competition. A significant improvement on
2013, & some impressive results again in
Acceleration, Cost & Design to be proud of.
With good results under our belt by Sunday, a top 10 finish rested on the endurance
ENDURANCE
OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER
OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK
We then look forward to the FSCz
competition, starting just 3 days later in the
Czech Republic. We go to the competition
hoping for a top 3 result, and to improve on
the 5th position overall that we gained in
2013 despite not completing the
endurance event. Keep an eye on your
inbox for the next edition of the OBR
Newsletter, with a complete competition
report so that you can see how we got on.
Finally, once again thank you to all of our
sponsors, staff, Alumni & supporters who
helped us along the way!
Watch highlights from the FSG event here! Click the image below:
Oxford Brookes Racing – Formula Student Germany 2014
OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER
OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK
FSG - GALLERY
FINAL BUILD
Mike pushing hard on the wet skid-pad
Cost real-case judging in progress
Robin finishes an Accel run
The race team were kept busy!
Group photo in progress George running AutoX in the dry
OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER
OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER
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OXFORD BROOKES RACING
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