FS-UK Silverstone 2008 Competition: - Updates, Pictures, Stories, and More.

[Nitesh]

The Formula Student 2008 kicks off at Silverstone today...

Think its time for a thread for all updates related to the competition


Good Luck to all the teams... Have a safe competition and keep posting


Cheers

[Nitesh]

The Formula Student 2008 kicks off at Silverstone today...

Think its time for a thread for all updates related to the competition


Good Luck to all the teams... Have a safe competition and keep posting


Cheers

[Nitesh]

Where are the pics guys?? no one's clicking anything??

[TomF]

I just got information that only FH Graz completely passed scruteneering, 3 cars, amongst which Oxford Brookes only need to pass brake and many teams passed scruteneering only with tilt, noise and brake to go.

But indeed, where are the pics?

Good luck to all!

[JR @ CFS]

Just got back from spending half a day walking around and chatting with teams about their designs. I was struck (in a good way) by a few things;

I am very impressed by the level of the first year team entries! If you get a chance, have a look at Talins car, especially their rear suspension. A beautifully presented car that looks smarter than cars brought by some of the more experienced teams.

I LOVE Cal Poly SLO's rear end...not in that way I love their solid rear axle and the suspension design to lift the inside wheel.

Lions Racing rear frame (or lack there of) is a beautiful design and I'm suprised how thin the a-arms look. They are proud of it and thats what I love to see. Lots of other teams deserve a mention for their beautiful rear frames (or the lack there of) and it appears a solution a lot of teams have taken on board.

I had a great chat with TU Graz and their car as always was immaculately presented. Interesting to note that they compromised a little on weight loss to make gains elsewhere...I was impressed by their torsional stiffness figure. They liked to iterate that they built everything on their car...liars. They didn't make their driveshafts That was it

Strauslund was another impressive team. Tubular steel chassis/suspension, 4 cylinder, NA and 186kg's...some of the singles couldn't even get that low!!!

I could say so much about so many other teams and cars that I could write for a while tonight. I just think that the level of competition at FSUK increases year on year at an exponential rate and it really is an impressive competition!

Claude Rouelle is in his usual form. I spoke with a 1st year team from the UK who received the following comment from him in the design event;

"I've been a design judge in this competition for 12 years and this is the worst car I've ever seen. Even the indians build better cars than this."

I think the man forgets what this competition is about...inexperienced students learning and gaining experience. I don't think they invest so much time, effort and affect their grades, relationships, etc to be told something like that! Critique, don't criticise!

[Space_Toaster]

Just got back from Silverstone, I have many many more photos available (all from www.pcpimages.co.uk) But here's just a taster of the brand new Oxford Brookes car:

[img]ftp://spacetoaster-2315070:rut4RYeb@hosting9.123-reg.co.uk/2008_07110109.jpg[/img]
[img]ftp://spacetoaster-2315070:rut4RYeb@hosting9.123-reg.co.uk/2008_07110137.jpg[/img]

Paul Chapman Pictures Official Photographer to the Oxford Brookes Racing Team...

[Aarg]

hello mates,
I cant find any photos from sylverstone @ chapmans in 2008's competition please upload some photos.

Thank you

AARG

[Nitesh]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jonnierice:
Claude Rouelle is in his usual form. I spoke with a 1st year team from the UK who received the following comment from him in the design event;

"I've been a design judge in this competition for 12 years and this is the worst car I've ever seen. Even the indians build better cars than this."
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's mighty insulting. not only to that team but to us as well. I am not trying to claim that we build very competitive cars at the competition but to be used as the benchmark for the worst cars present there is a different story all together..

[RiNaZ]

dont take it to heart nitesh. This gives you more reason to outperform all the US/UK team in the next competition.

Im sure when he said it, he probably thought it was just between him and the other guy. Im sure if he knew that it was gonna be posted on the board, he probably wont say it. Not that it's okay to begin with.

p/s: Picturessss!!!

[JR @ CFS]

Just back from the 1st Dynamic day at the event and it was great to see the cars running and as always there are a few with some problems. Weather has factored considerably, with the british summer behaving impeccably!

TUGraz were having shifter problems and got out for two runs in acceleration and I was informed they made a sprint run as well. Joanneum also had problems and I don't know as yet if they made the sprint. Acceleration times not anywhere close to the 07 event times with the fastest being just under 4secs, but still respectable. As far as I was informed stuttgart have posted the top times in all dynamics so far (although I did hear Bath put in a blinder of a run in sprint) and delft have placed top 3 in all dynamics. Some teams gambled for the wet weather to clear up later in the afternoon and it appears to have paid off with some good times coming late in the day when the track dried out. Delft, Helsinki and quite a few others took the gamble to get out early and get their times in, although some got caught out by the changing weather, resulting in spins. Lions racing looked beautiful out there and definitely deserve a mention given the crash last week.

Walking around the paddocks and chatting with the teams there has been quite a bit of frustration and controversy. The "2 inch all round" rule that was introduced in the middle of the year and caused a real headache for a lot of teams i.e. redesign and in some cases rebuilds causing great delays to manufacturing phases, has seemingly been overlooked for some teams. On 1st day of tech inspection many teams were turned away for this rule infringement but due to the sheer number of teams not meeting the rule, FSUK has allowed the teams to continue. Strange given it is in place for safety reasons. Whether or not a points penalty will be put in place remains to be seen and an official comment from the organisers, I'm certain, would be greatly appreciated by all.

The other point highlighted by quite a few teams to me was that although the organisers made a strong point of the fact that "if you haven't made your run by 12:30pm, you won't make one" teams were running in accel until after 12:45pm. Last year I remember many teams being turned away from accel even though there were in the queue and it caused a lot of frustration, but rules are rules I suppose. Again, an official comment I'm sure would be appreciated.

I won't be attending the event tomorrow, but given the action over the past few days, I'm sure it will be a fantastic day. Competition is once again tight and the winner will definitely be a deserved one!

Addition: I think Cal Poly SLO deserve a mention. They have had starter problems and one of their team member is currently on a 7hr round trip to Wales to pick up a part that someone has agreed to remove from their bike for them. No suppliers anywhere in the UK had the part. Their car is beautiful and I hope that it will run tomorrow.

QFR also deserve a mention. They always have great potential and this years car, the most tested vehicle they have had, has been giving them brake problems (which is an understatement). Good luck for tomorrow