Design Report and Spec Sheet deadline reminder

A reminder and some guidance for all teams taking part in this summer's competition from Head Design Judge Neill Anderson.

You will hopefully be aware that the deadline is approaching for your submission of the Engineering Design Report and the Spec Sheet. You submit them via your FS/IMechE team account. You are helpfully advised to check your access permissions in advance of the deadline in case you have forgotten passwords etc.

These must be filed (separate submissions) by 1700 UTC on 10 May 2022 to avoid any lateness penalties. Note that the server will get busy at this time and uploads may not be instant. It is possible to submit these documents after this time but such submissions will incur lateness penalties of 10 points per day (or part day).

The last possible time to submit these documents is 1700 UTC on 20 May 2022 (i.e. the maximum lateness penalty is 100 points). After this time uploads of the Design Report or Spec Sheet will not be possible.

Full information is in the Rules and the Key Dates document but in summary:

• Any lateness is deducted from your Design Score: non submission of either the Design Report or Spec Sheet means ZERO Design Score.
• The Report in itself can give you a possible 10 points of your Design Score before we even see your design or talk to you… 
• There are templates for the Spec Sheet (Excel) for IC and EV and Hybrid entries on the FS website, complete these and upload as instructed.
• There is no template for the Design Report, the required format is a pdf document, of no more than 8 A4 pages, maximum 5 pages text with 3 separate engineering drawing views, each on its own page.
• Any cover page/advert/sponsor logo page counts towards the 8 and is therefore not required. 
• Every year we receive many “non-compliant” Reports, usually more than 8 pages, lacking the drawing views or with small drawings all on one page. Surprise us all by making 2022 the first year where every Report is legal.
• Check carefully that your Report once uploaded is correct and legal when viewed. 
• There is plenty of advice online as to how to write the Design Report. Very briefly, your chosen design is unique to you and we care far more about “why” and “how” you made your choices rather than “what” you chose. 
• Please don’t just describe your car part by part: this is an engineering education event.  The Score Sheet (available on the website) points split should inform how you allocate the limited space accordingly

Many thanks, I look forward to reading your reports.

Neill Anderson, Head Design Judge.