2016 Formula Student UK (FSUK)

[MH]

I've read through the posts here, it seems there is a big difference in opinions. Which is ok.

However what if we think about the years to come? What's next?
I can just imagine the conversations after the endurance.

FSUK: "Sorry team, you're DQ'd."
Team:"What? Why?"
FSUK: "Because after a more rigorous level of inspection we've found a bolt which shows 1.5 thread (instead of 2) sticking out from the locknut. And as you know rules are rules and you are responsible for compliance at all times..."
or
FSUK: "Because after a more rigorous level of inspection your shoulder harness is at 20.1 degrees below the horizontal. And as you know rules are rules and you are responsible for compliance at all times..."
or
FSUK: "Because after a more rigorous level of inspection the school name is 49.8 mm high and not the required 50mm. And as you know rules are rules and you are responsible for compliance at all times..."

I can go on with the examples. And the FSUK organization will have no other choice but to disqualify these teams, because they have set a precedent this year and according to their official statement it's not fair towards other teams not to do so.

Is this really the direction that FSUK is heading towards? I truely hope it's not.
If so, it will be very difficult for some teams to find a reason to come back to FSUK in the years to come. Especially the ones that will likely to be in the top 10 and be subject to a more rigorous level of inspection.

best regards,
Miki Hegedus
Faculty Advisor Formula Student Team Delft

[Pat Clarke]

Miki,

Getting bitter and twisted doesnt help.
Just dont go to Silverstone any more!

Pat

[Swiftus]

...Just dont go to Silverstone any more!

Pat

Pat - I am unsure if this was serious or sarcasm, but it could taken in two very distinct and opposite interpretations if you look at Delft's past performance at the UK competition. In short, either 'feel accomplished and move on' OR 'good riddance'. The optics are unclear which wouldn't be the case in a different media.

As you are well familiar - and this is going from my memory so feel free to correct me - eDelft (the electric era for Delft) has done amazing in its 6? years, especially at the UK competition.

IIRC, they placed as follows in previous competitions:
̶
̶2̶0̶1̶1̶ ̶-̶ ̶2̶n̶d̶?̶ ̶M̶a̶y̶b̶e̶ ̶3̶r̶d̶ ̶>̶ ̶S̶t̶u̶t̶t̶g̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶b̶u̶s̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶1̶s̶t̶
̶2̶0̶1̶2̶ ̶-̶ ̶1̶s̶t̶
̶2̶0̶1̶3̶ ̶-̶ ̶2̶n̶d̶ ̶>̶ ̶A̶M̶Z̶ ̶1̶s̶t̶
̶2̶0̶1̶4̶ ̶-̶ ̶2̶n̶d̶ ̶>̶ ̶A̶M̶Z̶ ̶1̶s̶t̶
2015 - 1st

EDIT: Completely wrong with the placing above. Check out Julian's post below for Delft's history at FSUK.

[JulianH]

Jay,

you are right, that Delft was amazing at FS UK, but your memory is shockingly bad

In 2011, there was a separate Electric class, which Delft won.
2012, they placed 2nd behind Chalmers when they had the upset of the century.
In 2013, we actually won, but Delft had a DNF in Endurance and placed somewhere outside of Top 10
Contrary, we had a bad Endurance in 2014, placed only fourth, when Delft won.
2015 they actually did win in a landslide after Zurich decided to start the "let's overshoot the power limit in FS UK Endurance" streak (2 years and running...)

But in all seriousness:
Miki, if you start to make it a "thing", there will be a lot of Top-Teams following Delft in a FS-Brexit to make UK the next Italy - boycotted by all the fast guys...

[Swiftus]

Jay,

you are right, that Delft was amazing at FS UK, but your memory is shockingly bad ...

Hehehe - 1 for 5 correct on my part. That's approaching a perfect record in my book! Thanks for the actual results Julian! In any case, my point was they are essentially always on or near the podium. A recurring 'top team'.

[Thijs]

Yup, we took our sweet time to actually win overall, but we were at least the picture of consistency in always being pretty close

2007 - 2nd
2008 - 2nd
2009 - 2nd
2010 - Finally on track to winning overall... until a starter relay failure during driver change --> DNF

[Bemo]

I just wanted to give a short summary of the re-inspection at FS Austria last week. First of all there was not a single DQ. I think, we did a very similar re-inspection like they did at FS UK though (we measured the aero packages, the restrictors and checked brake overtravel switches).

Maybe the teams were a bit more careful about this after the story of FSUK as we didn't have any really close cases. All in all it went fine without big discussions as it happened as you would wish. You measure it, see it's fine and wish the team a nice award ceremony and after party.

But of course we also discussed how to deal with it, if something similar happens. We came to the conclusion that there are several rules which state that something is prohibited but don't state what the consequence of an infringement is (as Miki already pointed out). For example the rules also say that during driver change no works on the car are allowed except the specified examples. But there is no definition of a consequence given. So we came to the conclusion that the organisers should give a penalty they deem appropriate to the severety of the infringement.

We decided that the rules can be interpreted in the way that for minor violations, which didn't cause any dangerous situations or which didn't give the teams huge performance advantages, it would be possible to give time penalties. This is still not an ideal situation as it may lead to situations in which it appears that penalties are given just by the mood of the officials. But it opens the possibility to penalize also minor infringements but not directly DQ the team.

[Thijs]

Thanks for the insight Bemo.
That sounds like a fair way of approaching these situations.

[JulianH]

Bemo,

out of curiosity:
What would have been the penalities for the mentioned "minor infringements"?
I saw that TU Fast Munich seem to have gotten a Time Penalty (23:24 +3*2 = 23:30; but they are ranked with a 23:50) in Endurance.
I never saw a 20seconds penalty in FS (only know the 120 seconds for missing your slot).
Were they the "first to experience" the new penalty system?

Thanks
Julian

[Thijs]

Miki,

Getting bitter and twisted doesnt help.
Just dont go to Silverstone any more!

Pat

Pat,

It may sound hyperbolic, but percentagewise 49.8mm rather than 50mm for school name height is a greater error than 3mm out of 1426 for the distance between the outer walls of your front tires.
It is also easier to measure to that precision and it has about as much influence on track speed.

Unfortunately there have been no further responses from mr Royce or other officials to several direct points (although I still look forward to those), but you´ve now heard both sides of the story.
I´m curious to hear what you think about how the situation was handled.

Thijs