Formula Student Germany 2016

Formula Student Germany was the event everyone at the HAN Formula Student was long waiting for. We had been designing, manufacturing, testing and preparing our car for the event that was from the 9^th of August 2016 to the 14^th. We arrived in Hockenheim and setup camp at the Hockenheimring a day earlier and collected ourselves for the big week that lay ahead. 

There was a certain relief in the team that we had made it to the event after some tough days but there was also stress about our performance and about being able to showcase our passion properly. 13 passionate members of the team made it to Germany and on the morning of 14^th august we set about registering and setting up our pits and preparing for scrutineering. Scrutineering in general went well for us. Some changes were required as mentioned by the stewards but they weren’t major ones. However, the list wasn’t short so he team got to work and worked till pits closed at 12 midnight after which we had dinner and went to sleep.

We were up early the next day as the pits opened at 6am and we still had a few things to finish to go back for revaluation. The team worked well and quickly and had the car ready for revaluation in time for the car to scrutineered on the 10^th. We had made the necessary changes and had made through the scrutineering. We were quite pleased to do that since we were one of the few first-time competitors there and we had managed to pass scrutineering quicker than some of our much-experienced competitors. This gave us time to move on to the next event.

The next event was the tilt test. The car was loaded with all the fluids and the fuel tank filled by the officials. After which the car was tilted at an angle to check the car for any leaks and to test the seals. Unfortunately, our radiator started leaking during this test so we were not passed. Getting back to the pits we worked on the radiator to find the leak and fix it and see if there were any subsequent leaks. At one hand, we were disappointed with this setback but we were also happy it had happened earlier when things could be fixed instead of in the endurance event. After fixing our radiator we again went for the tilt test and this time we passed. The next test was the brake test in which the car is accelerated and braked. During the braking, all four wheels must lock-up to prove that the vehicle is capable of the braking power it requires.

We passed the Braking Test in our first go and moved on to the next event which was the noise test. The noise test wasn’t much of a hassle though it was a close call on the decibel limit during idling. After the events, we got back onto work on the car as we were having trouble with our brake fluid. Since the car we built was quite a bit heavier than what was specified to the brake manufacturer, the brakes were getting hot which was causing the brake fluid to boil and cause bubbles in the brake lines. This was bad news because this situation was a matter of safety and not performance and we could not jeopardize the safety of our drivers or of anyone trackside. Thankfully, we had some amazing friends all over the paddock who came around and helped us. We were given a different brake fluid with much better heat tolerance. So, we bled the whole system of the old fluid and filled the new one.

The following day, we had prepared for the Engineering Design judging and the Business Plan judging as well as the skid pad. The team made a good case at both, the Engineering Design and the Business Plan and we received positive as well as negative feedback, we took it as constructive criticism and put I down as the things to work on for the car for the coming year.

The skid pad event was up next and that involved a wet track where the cones were laid in a figure of 8 configuration. The objective was to go around the first set cones in one direction 3 times change direction and go around the other circle 3 times as well. This test was a test of the suspension, the body roll, the steering and the mechanical grip the vehicle has. We had two different runs with our two different drivers and got our result of the event. The result of all the events are listed below at the end of this post. We were quite pleased with our result as we were worried that the added weight of the car could put us off in this event. However, we learnt a not so pleasant thing as well. Because of the extra weight that the suspension was not custom made for, it was too soft for all the weight. Which meant that there was body roll which led to the radiator scraping on the ground. Until then the scraping had not had an affect but it could easily break seals in the radiator if that happened repeatedly. We had to come up with a solution so we did not have a coolant leak in the subsequent events. We set about tightening our suspension springs manually as much as the we could allow on the springs. We just managed to finish that before the 12am pit curfew and turned in for the night.

The next day was an important one as two major events were to happen. We had the acceleration event and the autocross. The acceleration event involves a car accelerating from a standstill till whatever speed it gathers over a fixed distance. The time recorded to cover said distance gives a measure of the car’s acceleration. We had two of our lightest drivers lined up so that we have as low weight as possible for better acceleration and once again at this event, we had exceeded our expectations and done a much better job than some of our well-resourced competitors. We believe it was because we used fewer gears with longer gear ratios, whereas our competitors had much shorter gear ratios and wasted too much time changing gears rather than staying on one.

The event that followed was autocross and it was our first encounter with a proper disappointment. We had two runs with two different drivers. The first run went well and was up to expectations but not as overjoying as the past results. As the second driver went for the second run he made a mistake as he overdrove the car and lost control at one of the corners. After which he had to park the car on the side and leave it. The car wasn’t damaged but it was an unexpected event which did not leave us in the best of moods. So the team decided to get over it by heading over for some pizza in the city of Hockenheim and then getting rest for the final day.

The final day had arrived and ahead lay the most daunting challenge of them all, endurance. Our car had been exceeding in terms of performance but not in reliability. To add to that we were a first year team, and reliability problems were something that struck the best of teams. We saw this in front of us as two of the five teams that started their endurance before us did not manage to finish the event, and they were well experienced and funded. Our two drivers prepared for the event and we were underway. We were down on pace compared to our competitors but our car was driving along just fine and as we got to the driver change things got tensed up as we had not done many hot start tests before this and were all waiting for the engine to sound again as it coughed in the first try.

Our second driver managed to get the car going and once again we were not the fastest but we were still going, we weren’t celebrating as yet as one of the teams right before us had failed to finish with only half a lap remaining. As our car was making the final lap we were all on the edge of the fence and of heartbeat redline range. The car made the final corner and was through. We had finally made the Endurance as a first year team. This feat impressed the commentators who mentioned their praise over the speakers, it also managed to win the hearts of our competitors who were in admiration of the feat as well. Our competitors aptly nicknamed our car The Tank, not the fastest but very strong and reliable.

It was a proud moment for all of us because we had worked quite hard for a year to achieve what we just had and that was a great moment for the team. Unfortunately we did not win any awards in the ceremony. Bu we came in as the underdogs and won the hearts of several teams, made friends in many teams, and we learnt a lot about ups and downs and teamwork through this whole week. And as the sun set over the Hockenheimring the HFS returned back to its campsite with newly nomenclated car “The Tank.”