Events
"Formula Student is without a doubt one of the best experiences any engineering student can have. Our advice to every team for this season would be to work out of passion, have a constant hunger to learn. Never settle for ‘enough’, but instead aim for more in every step. Every engineer will face challenges in their professional life, and that is precisely what Formula Student is about. From the first statics test, all the way to endurance, you will all face a series of challenges. But it is when we get challenged when we grow the most, as a team, as engineers, and as individuals."
Alejandro Garcia Guerrero, Oxford Brookes Racing, Oxford Brookes University
obr.brookes.ac.uk
“To advise new teams regarding the Cost & Manufacturing event, I'd say the best thing to do is to focus on the details. Be as thorough as possible, outline different scenarios, present decision matrices and lay out your cost model clearly. Have a realistic reference on which you base your costing decisions, and try to overachieve a little bit. The team should also focus on the sustainability of their car, try to relate your material and process decisions to the environmental sustainability."
"The costing team should take some time to adapt to the terminologies and interface of the new cost tool. That way they could quickly add/edit out anything in their BOM which makes any car modifications much easier for them.”
Muhammad Amr Sherif, ASU Racing Team, Ain Shams University
www.asuracingteam.org
"Formula Student is all about prioritising work in the areas that will gain you the greatest benefit from the resources you have available. Don't forget that the driver is a key contributor to your success or failure."
Monty Jeacock-Fewtrell, LUMotorsport, Loughborough University
www.lumotorsport.com
“First thing that a team should pay attention to is how well the team members know the team (financial, amount of resources, knowledge etc). But this knowledge won't mean anything if they don't know themselves. A good mechanic with a divided personality or uncertainties about him/herself will surely cause a lot of trouble not worth of the work he/she will do.
Second is to organize everything as much as possible. From the procedure that you follow when you go to an event to the procedure that you follow when you elect the new team leader or the files on your computer. This will ensure that the next person that will find your work can understand it and improve it to perfection.
Third is to carefully read the rules before you make any step in designing or even begin researching.
Fourth is to anticipate the next big deadlines (assembly of the car, competition needs like registration etc) in the next 2 months and adjust your schedule accordingly.
Fifth is to never waste money (self explanatory!).
Sixth is to respect your race car, laboratory, equipment as if they were your own and you paid for them.
Generally speaking because we are students and we don't get paid to do this it is common for people to misjudge the situations ending up with bad feelings for the team. The psychological factor of the members is not taken in account very often but is mainly the reason for the success or failure.
All of the above are things that affect the end result (car) but not directly. The only thing that i can say about the car is to try and simulate the scrutineering as many times as possible and make it looking stunning (the only thing that half of the sponsors care about).”
Filippos Georgiou, Centaurus Racing Team, University of Thessaly
www.centaurusracing.gr
"Keep it simple. Read the rules, make sure your car meets them. This will allow you to get through scrutineering and compete in the dynamic events as that's where the bulk of your points are. If you can aim to get things manufactured soon so you can go testing. A simple car which is well understood and piloted by some half decent drivers is going to allow you to complete the endurance with an half decent time. This will put you up on a vast majority of the field. Other than that we all want to win but it isn't always realistic especially for a new team so set some realistic goals. Also make sure you are learning and having fun, if you aren't enjoying it then something is wrong."
Rob Newman, Sheffield Formula Racing, University of Sheffield
www.sheffieldformularacing.co.uk