Design event guidance for Formula Student teams

Head Design Judge Neill Anderson shares some further guidance for team members competing in the Design event.

Ahead of the 2021 competition, make sure you download the latest Design guidance for Formula Student and Concept Class teams from the new Design Guidance page. To whet your appetite, here's a list of key points to remember as your prepare for the competition.

• Your Design Report creates your only first impression upon the Judges: we don’t remember any previous competition performances!
• Don’t submit more than 8 pages in total, don’t forget that 3 separate engineering drawing views are required leaving 5 pages for text and figures/graphs. Don’t use a cover page: it adds nothing and subtracts 12.5% of your allowance!
• Drawings should be clear (remove hidden lines!) and with some basic dimensions to provide an idea of scale. It’s perfectly fine to show a split view with one half including body and one half “bare”. It’s also fine to use any “spare” space to have call outs showing upright and brake detail for example. The 3 drawings don’t need to be to the same scale: make the most of the space.
• Graphs should be simple to understand/large enough to identify the message intended.
• Don’t have too many tables of text etc.
• Real images of parts or laboratory testing/workshop jigs etc. are more convincing than renders and computer shots.
• Don’t use twin newspaper style columns of text
• Don’t forget to ensure your car number and University name are included on page 1.
• We suggest apportioning the 5 pages in line with the points awarded in each Score Sheet Category unless you have certain areas that you feel deserve more credit.
• Don’t forget to cover the basics, e.g., passing the Noise test, how the Tilt Test will define certain limits to your chosen track width and CG height etc.
• Make sure to include the drawbacks to your chosen solution rather than just highlighting all the good points, e.g., single cylinder may be lighter but potential issues with noise, vibration, crank signal stability, alternator output etc.
• Warning: try to never use the word “optimise/optimised”! The very basis of the word implies you have achieved perfection, so unless this is demonstrably true try to use a more honest noun or verb.
• Have someone proof read the whole 5 pages to ensure there is consistency of approach, units and core philosophy. Check the document is still 8 pages after creating it as a pdf. Check again after uploading it by downloading it and viewing - we see a lot that seem to be literally one line bigger than 8 pages!