2016 FSAE Australasian Driver Swap Feedback

[Scott Monash]

Hi all,

We had a great Driver Swap day at Oakleigh following comp this year.
I just thought I would start this thread as a place to collect and share all the feedback from drivers.

It was pretty obvious to me that the teams that have been participating in this the past couple of years have all improved significantly, one reason for the extremely tight competition we saw this year.
Let's keep it up.

From my spot directing the track all day I noted the following things:

- Curtin, UTas, Wollongong and Monash all produced extremely quick cars, any of which could have taken down autoX or Enduro.

- Newcastle and Griffith were two of the most improved cars this year. Both were extremely capable and I can't wait to see what these team bring back next year.

- Tokyo Denki didn't get on track much at comp but showed at Oakleigh that they can still build fast cars. Was one of the nicest vehicles we have seen from them in a while.

- Drivers are still a big part of this competition. Seeing our Alumni Trav in some of these cars demonstrated that most teams are still not getting the most out of their cars on track. A greater investment in driver training and seat time would yield better results for all the teams I saw at Oakleigh.

- All the teams mentioned above really proved that they can build quality "weekend Autocross racers", which is the ultimate intent of this competition. All came down and ran all day, with unfamiliar drivers who quickly pushed the cars to their limits. At least one also survived a frontal impact with the tyre barriers completely unharmed. For me, this is the foundation of long term competition success.

- We had no electric cars in attendance but we hope to see some of them next year.

Thanks to everyone who came down for a great day!

Scott

PS - when are some of the other comps going to run a similar event? A post comp test session at Brunty for the UK teams woukd be easy to arrange.