We spoke with Head Judge Dan Jones ahead of the weekend’s on-track events. Here’s what he had to say about the race track, the importance of reveling and why there’s no such thing as a “perfect Formula Student car. “
Overall, very smart so far. Covid happened in 2020 and we had to cancel the live event, so we did sim races to race the cars, which worked well.
We now have some events incorporated into the festival, based on what we’ve been doing during those Covid years. We have a sim racing festival that starts in October with monthly league races, and then we have a live final that takes place at the Williams F1 factory and its esports facilities.
Since Covid we also have a lap time simulation. IPG Automotive provides the software to the interns and incorporates it into the static elements.
Obviously, after Covid, due to the absences from the competition, there was a loss of continuity in many teams. In 2021, we carried out a hybrid test, where we allowed last year’s changed cars, as they did not have time to access. the workshop. So, from 2019 to 2022, when we went back to a “normal” first occasion, most team members had only noticed one occasion in 2019 and it was only a remote memory, or they hadn’t noticed the occasion at all.
Yes, and then we are in a phase of recovery, if you will, of the number of cars on the road, of the point of cars. If you’ve ever been to Formulas Student, there will be a lot of cars in the pits and those that didn’t make it here. This year the numbers are much better. Of the 110 groups registered, only five of them were unable to attend, which is a significant improvement compared to last year.
This is the first year of the festival where the number of electric cars is higher than the number of internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, which does not surprise us. We have noticed that this trend has been around for a few years and reflects the nature of what is happening in the industry and in society in general.
Yes, we tried it last year, we provided the fossil fuel that had been provided every year before, but very kindly to Motorsport UK and fuel supplier Coryton we discovered that it was pumping an equivalent spec of petrol, so it’s a 95 Ron . E10. We may have opted for super unleaded, but although it is still a sustainable fuel, it contains fossil elements to achieve sufficient octane. 95 Rum E10 is a 100% sustainable fuel.
Teams can get general fuel in their garage to test and progress out of competition, and then when they race, they come in and it’s a quick replacement.
We have also long allowed E85 as fuel. Last year, every single E85 car was powered by fully sustainable E85. It’s the same thing, it’s a true 100% and there are no fossil elements for octane or anything related to chemistry.
Last year was very lucky and we tried to ensure that each and every combustion vehicle runs on a completely sustainable fuel. What we would potentially like to do in the long term is that, in the case of select gasoline, the groups do not have to do any engineering to be able to adapt to the operation of the fuel.
E85, whether sustainable or not, wants to perceive the difference in calorific value. The appeal of the E85 is basically for groups that practice some kind of forced induction, due to the extra surprise resistance that the E85 gives you.
If we can get to a point where less experienced groups can use it as additional fuel, however, there’s something there where groups can use it as a merit of functionality if they design around it, which is about making the school facets similar. to it, as well as environmental aspects.
The independent component of the festival has existed for six or seven years. We weren’t the first festival to do this: Formula Student Germany in Europe has created a category of driverless cars. And in Europe, many groups have already opted for electric cars and had cars running. So, the regulations in place in Germany were: take an electric vehicle in operation from last year, put the autonomous vision formula on it, the processors and everything else, and make it work as an autonomous vehicle. next year.
But we recognized, as the founding committee of IMechE, that most teams in the UK didn’t have that as a platform. You can create an autonomous combustion vehicle, but that is a complicated point because you have to create actuators for the clutch, gears and everything else, and the electric vehicle is a lower barrier to accessing it.
With the Center for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), we commissioned and developed the car you saw here. On that first lap, we made a car for ourselves. Coventry University brought one and then we made a second car as the party intensified.
Then, this year we obtained a second investment circular from the CCAV, with which we have now built two more cars. This year it’s just testing, but next year they will be fully operational cars, so we’ll have 4 in the fleet.
Last year our capacity was finally limited by the number of cars available. We allow the fully autonomous Formula Student cars in which some groups compete in Europe. Other bands will try, and if not next year, the following year we’ll have someone to succeed.
I haven’t had the opportunity to communicate in detail with many teams. It’s great to see Edith Cowan from Australia again, when they were here before they had a cool drivetrain and rear suspension, and they kept the idea going. They are unique in the type of car design they have brought and it looks like a well designed solution.
It’s a kind of pragmatic balance: “Is this the most capable and capable theoretical suspension system, its isolated design?” No, but as a committed global solution that offers them in terms of weight, load and everything else as a component of the Formula Student philosophy, then yes.
There is no best answer as to which vehicle is in Formula Student, but you know, going to a particular track is an attractive and different solution.
We’re getting closer to what Formula Student was, in terms of the popularity of the cars, the number of cars in operation. We weren’t there before Covid, but the trajectory is going in the right direction.
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