Formula Student has received record numbers of applications from more countries than ever. China, Ecuador, Jordan and Malta are all applying to take part in the competition for the first time this year.
When registration for FS 2014 closed on 15 January, a total of 178 teams had applied for entry from 38 countries, including 10 teams from India, 12 from Germany and 60 from the UK. Of these, 53 are electric vehicles (there were 24 last year) all aiming to emulate the first- and second-place success of electric cars in 2013.
The final list of confirmed teams will be published online on 31 January: http://www.formulastudent.com/formula-student/Teams/team-registration.
Fiona Pawley, Formula Student Project Manager, said: “Formula Student is, on paper, a ‘design and build’ competition for a single seat racing car, but the competition is intrinsically about high performance engineering across the whole industry. There is business, project management, team development, budgeting skills – all necessary in working life – which demonstrate teams’ design and product delivery. This is already challenging for UK-based teams, but it presents additional layers of difficulty for those from other countries, who will come and compete in another language and culture.”
“We are proud that we have more international participation than any other competition of this kind, and that we are welcoming four new countries to the competition in 2014. For all engineering students, it is ideal preparation for their future: it is well known that a great number of FS alumni go on to careers in the motorsport industry.”
Formula Student undertakes a vital role in reflecting the changes and demands of the industry and, and implements technical challenges in line with new developments in commercial car racing.
The inaugural FIA Formula-e Championship, focusing exclusively on electrically-powered vehicles, begins its series of 10 international races in September 2014: Formula Student, as a training ground for the race engineers of the future, is an important resource for this ground-breaking series. http://www.fiaformulae.com/home
Drawing on her 10 years’ experience in the sector, Fiona Pawley represented the Institution as a Cabinet Member in the inaugural Race Tech World Motorsport Symposium in January 2014. The two-day think tank event was co-chaired by Ulrich Baretzky, Head of Engine Technology, Audi Sport and John Iley, Performance Director, Caterham F2 Teams, with 22 Cabinet Members invited from high-level F1 and motorsport teams.
The Institution’s Formula Student department co-ordinates year-long FS-related activities. Many teams engage with their local schools to inspire future FS engineers, and the department often facilitates university teams’ outreach at a number of events, such as Tomorrow’s Engineers Week. Learn to Win, the one-day seminar opportunity for FS teams to work with industry experts and FS judges, was a sell-out success at Institution HQ last November, with teams based outside the UK also accessing the conference through webinar.
ETH Zurich, 2013 Formula Student winner, proudly exhibited at the Innovation Showcase at the MIA Low Carbon Conference in January 2014. This is Europe’s leading conference for low carbon, high-performance technology featuring real vehicles, concepts and prototypes. It provides an opportunity to demonstrate the latest race-proven and low carbon advances made by the high-performance engineering community. Formula Student also featured at the Engineering Show at Autosport International, held at the NEC in January.
A new year book, celebrating FS since 1998, is now available to buy http://shop.imeche.org/fsyearbook Tickets to attend the competition, which takes place at Silverstone, 9-13 July, are now on sale. Keep up to date with all FS information, technical deadlines, and related motorsport events with the online FS calendar:http://www.formulastudent.com/formula-student/formula-student-2014/fs-calendar
Fiona successfully enhanced the spectator experience at last year’s event through engaging activities for schoolchildren with the FS Academy; as well as broadening stakeholder and sponsorship support for Formula Student. She commented: “As more teams than ever express an interest to join the competition, Formula Student’s brand and activities go from strength to strength. The contribution it makes to the engineering and racing industries becomes more and more invaluable. Formula Student 2014 is expected to be yet another exciting year of showcasing technology and engineering developments.”
Gemma Hatton receives Nissan Gold Award
Gemma Hatton is a student member of the Institution. She is entering a master’s degree at Cranfield University in September 2014 and is currently studying at the University of Bath where she is a member of its Formula Student team, Team Bath Racing. Having seen the high level of technical innovation in the Bath team, Gemma was doubly keen to join the 2014 team. Gemma also works as an automotive journalist for Racecar Engineering Magazine and as well as writing monthly articles, she has also covered Formula Student for the last three years: writing the magazine’s 10 page feature supplement on the event, for which she interviewed key FS players, including Ross Brawn – the Patron – and Jon Hilton FIMechE – the Chairman of FS.
For the Bath University Formula Student team, she fulfils a dual role of data engineer and competition organiser. Recently, she has attended track testing as a data engineer and made key links with industry to aid the team’s search for sponsorship. An active volunteer for the Institution, Gemma has also recently joined the Young Members Committee for Bath and Bristol.
Her ultimate career goal is to be a race engineer in the world’s most famous 24 hour endurance race: the LeMans 24 hour. During her year in industry, working for Nissan as a Vehicle Performance Engineer, she also spent time with the JRM team which race two Nissan GTR GT3s in the Blancpain Endurance Series, shadowing race engineers at the Silverstone and Spa races. She found it inspiring to be based at Nissan at Cranfield for her year, which is right in the heart of the ‘British motorsport valley’: the Surrey/Oxfordshire/Northamptonshire hub where all the teams are concentrated.
Aside from her engineering duties, her stand-out highlight was organising Sebastian Vettel’s visit to the Nissan European Headquarters in Cranfield, to strengthen the links between Nissan, Infiniti and Red Bull Racing.
Giving a sense of the scale of the project she undertook, she said: “With the visit timed to the minute, it was a logistical challenge to say the least – especially as I was in charge of every detail: from importing Infiniti cars from all over Europe for background shots, to ensuring health and safety regulations were met while maintaining the confidentiality of the new Qashqai. I spent weeks chairing meetings with senior management from all departments and was then asked to present to the European Board of Directors.”
“Through my work I am used to analysing car performances on the track and road, going through data with drivers, briefing them and helping in the pit lane. This role at Nissan put me in front of global directors of both Nissan and Infiniti, and I was the only one who knew all of the details – it was a big responsibility!”
The Nissan board of directors was so impressed by Gemma’s effort that they took an unprecedented step and awarded her a coveted Nissan Gold Award, usually only presented to company staff, and for extremely high levels of attainment.
Gemma said: “I was shocked and absolutely thrilled that the directors were so pleased with my work. I really enjoyed the project, and working with Nissan has opened so many doors and created so many great contacts for me in motorsport. Meeting Vettel was fantastic. All I’d really wanted was a photo and a signed hat for my little brother – the Gold Award was the icing on the cake!”
She’s always liked McLaren in F1, and she did admit that being British, she had spent most of her life cheering on former McLaren team mates Jensen Button and Lewis Hamilton. However, spending the day with Vettel was equally fantastic. Vettel was joined at the Nissan European Technical Centre (NTCE) by Infiniti Red Bull Racing Deputy Chief Designer Rob Gray, and Gemma was able to gain valuable insights from him during the event –another highlight for her. Having discovered more about the exciting and dynamic tasks of being a race engineer from Rocky, Vettel’s race engineer at a recent event at Cranfield University, Gemma now enters her masters course more motivated than ever.
On the prospect of being a woman in a very male dominated industry, she said: “It doesn’t bother me; it’s not a disadvantage, but I do feel that I have to prove myself a bit more. I appreciate what female race engineers like Leena and Teena Gade have achieved as trailblazers in the industry.”
What first inspired her to get into motorsport engineering? She explained: “At school, I enjoyed studying maths, physics and design. My brother, who is six years younger than me, was always obsessed by cars. I started watching F1 with him and quickly became fully immersed in the motorsport world. After developing my understanding through university studies and real world race team experience I suppose I am an example of how you can go from being a fan to working on the other side of the pit wall.”
Gemma’s focus in 2014 will be Team Bath Racing’s upcoming competitions in the UK, Germany and Austria. The Bath team has expanded by actively involving the younger years in order to train other aspirational engineers like Gemma early in their careers. Team leader Dave Turton said: “Team Bath Racing now has five female engineers, which is the highest number the team has ever had. No doubt soon we will see more female engineers on the F1 pit wall and this is definitely aided by the early responsibility they can learn through Formula Student – designing, building and operating a race car.”
“Gemma is joined on the team by many other aspiring motorsport engineers, 6 of whom have already completed 1 year work placements at F1 teams including Williams, Red Bull and Mercedes.”
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