Formula Student Russia 2016

[Pat Clarke]

After something of a hiatus last year, FSR returns again in 2016

http://www.fs-russia.ru/

The date is 8th ~ 11th September and the event is for combustion cars only.

The Location is Konstantin Sakharov Park Complex of Technical History, in Tolyatti (or Togliatti if you prefer) https://www.google.com.au/maps/place...ba4ed3d6609ee3

Registration is open until 25 April 12:00 Moscow time and the the Registration fee is 200 Euros.

Judging will be headed by Claude Rouelle, Craig Powers, Steve Sayovitz and myself.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Pat Clarke

[xdriver]

After something of a hiatus last year, FSR returns again in 2016

http://www.fs-russia.ru/

The date is 8th ~ 11th September and the event is for combustion cars only.

The Location is Konstantin Sakharov Park Complex of Technical History, in Tolyatti (or Togliatti if you prefer) https://www.google.com.au/maps/place...ba4ed3d6609ee3

Registration is open until 25 April 12:00 Moscow time and the the Registration fee is 200 Euros.

Judging will be headed by Claude Rouelle, Craig Powers, Steve Sayovitz and myself.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Pat Clarke

Hi,

My name is Serhat. I am team captain of Meliksah Racing.
The last year we registered the fs Russia but the competition canceled.
Is this year the competition will be certain ?

[Pat Clarke]

Serhat,

Last year the competition was cancelled when the Moscow city government withdrew funding following the slump in value of the Rouble.
This was disappointing for all concerned and it showed the problem with 'top down' financing.

This year the event is being organised in the 'bottom up' manner that has been shown to be successful all over the world.

Should you have any concerns, I suggest you contact the organizers through the website address I published above.

Pat

[Kevin Hayward]

Pat,

Great to see the continued effort for the Russian competition. It seems such a short time ago since you were involved in the start of the Oz comp. Since then the Formula SAE/Student calendar has got a lot busier. The international nature of the competition is something very special. I would encourage anyone that hasn't traveled outside of their local competition to give it a try. There is a lot to be gained by meeting future engineers from around the world far beyond a given finishing place or world ranking.

To quote Paul Kelly:

"From little things, big things grow"

Kev

[Pat Clarke]

Hi Kev,

It's been a bit of an effort getting FSR going. The first event was funded by the Moscow government...and then the butt fell out of the Rouble, underlining the dangers of 'Top down' funding.
Last year there was a minor event (dynamics only) as part of a motorsport festival in Moscow, That is not what FS is all about and I was not involved.

This year the event is being organised 'bottom up' in Togliatti (Where Lada cars are made). We are hopeful that this will be the permanent beginning of the Russian event.

There are many obstacles to overcome, not least being with Russian Customs in order to permit reasonable access to visiting teams from Europe.

Still, my visits to Russia have been very educational and not at all what I expected :-) Their different take on technology is proof there is no one answer!

Pat

[P^squared]

Pat,

Can you please confirm the news we've just received ??

[Pat Clarke]

It is not for me to confirm, but I understand there is a delay due to the withdrawal of the major sponsor.
You should direct any enquiry to the organisers as I do not speak for them.
This makes the Togliatti venue untenable and there will be a delay organising a new venue.
I do understand FSR 2016 will still be run, just at a later date.
A public statement from the organisers should be imminent.

Pat

[P^squared]

Thank you for letting us know the truth !
The official email said that sponsors wanted all international teams to be able to attend, who were currently having problems with getting their visas. What a way of passing on the blame !

I hope you can understand the magnitude of trouble we're in with the organisers cancelling the current dates and venue 8 DAYS BEFORE THE EVENT was scheduled to take place !!!

FS Russia 2016 was supposed to be my team's first International competition. And we believe we'd planned accordingly.
We reserved 2 days before the event to assemble the car from the crate, procure supplies and make sure that we were completely ready.
Inspite of all the issues with the customs and visa we pushed through and WERE READY to meet our deadlines.
The amount of money involved with the transportation of the car and team was something we weren't familiar with in the past.
In fact, its greater than the budget of our last car. The visa itself cost every person more than the domestic event's personal transport and stay.

The team was supposed to leave India TONIGHT. Our car is ALREADY in Moscow !!
But there's no one to collect it, and clear it through customs, because of which it will be sent back in a week.

This is supposed to be an INTERNATIONAL EVENT, with foreign teams needing to follow a strict timeline.
It is completely irresponsible and unprofessional on the organiser's side to do something like this.
I'm sure they could've seen the problems coming and could've taken this decision atleast a month before.

For the International teams who were ready to attend, this is worse than what happened last year !

[JulianH]

This is horrible P^squared! You have my full sympathy.

Please make sure to choose an event next time, which is not supported by the government or dependent on big sponsors. It's great that a lot of senior people support FS Russia but I fear that there is more money spend on flying judges through the world then on the teams.

Come to Spain next year, or Hungary, or Czech Republic, Italy or to the new FS East. They won't let you down like this!