FS2020 Virtual Dynamic Events Overview

Following our decision to cancel the FS2020 live event, scheduled to take place in July at Silverstone, we have been working on options for delivering those elements of the traditional FS event format which could be continued with or offered as virtual or simulation events to provide the fullest possible educational benefit to competing teams whilst complying with the social distancing regulations in force around the world due to COVID-19. This document provides an overview of our plans for Virtual Dynamic Events.

At time of launch, the Virtual Dynamic Events will be open to teams who registered as a Formula Student (formerly Class 1) team. You remain eligible if you have merged with your Concept Class team for the Static Events.

Purpose

• To respect social distancing regulations from the World Health Organisation and governments around the world in the fight against COVID-19 by removing the requirement for students and officials to physically meet in order to participate in the Formula Student competition
• To retain the traditional purpose of the dynamic events – education, competition and fun
• To provide an opportunity for engagement between the IMechE, FS officials and university teams
• To provide an opportunity to gain experience using LTS software
• To give teams a chance to learn about the influence of different setup parameters and the inherent compromises
• To emulate the experience of competing against other drivers in similar cars, with a limited amount of practice beforehand
• To provide a range of challenging driving experiences that require a high level of skill and adaptability to be quickest
• To gain an appreciation of how driving style and technique influences the dynamic behaviour of vehicles

Event Format

The precise details of the Event Format will be released later, at this time it is expected that the “Virtual Dynamic Events” will consist of two parts:

• Lap-Time Simulation (LTS) of Acceleration and Skid-Pad using a Multi-Body Dynamics (MBD) Model.
• Online multiplayer competitive sim races using Assetto Corsa and an IMechE hosted private servers.

Lap-Time Simulation Event

A proprietary software package, pre-configured with a generic Formula Student vehicle will be made available to all competing teams several weeks before the date of the competition.

Most of the vehicle parameters (mass, aero, tyre model, powertrain etc) will be locked. A range of suspension tuning parameters will be editable, within limits, and the performance of the vehicle evaluated over a restricted number of simulation iterations. The overall aim being to achieve the lowest event time.

The LTS event may also include Driver in The Loop (DIL) runs using the vehicle setup derived from your simulation iterations to assess their performance and stability when driven by a human rather than software code following a pre-determined run profile.

For full details, including software and hardware requirements, check out the full overview document on the Forms and Documents Page.