OBR Newsletter: FSG 2014

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FSG 2014

The latest updates from behind the scenes at OBR

OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

SCRUTINEERING The most challenging inspection takes place in FSG, where no stone is left unturned Having already breezed through the technical inspections at the FSUK event one would imagine that getting through scrutineering at the following competitions would be easy, however this is not always the case, and the FSG competition has become reknowned for it’s reputation for taking the rules to the absolute extremes.

In other words nothing gets past them!

Unfortunately we once again found this to be the case, with the FSG scrutineers making sure that the car was absolutely to the letter ready to race. This meant even providing proof of the bolt specifications!

However fortunately we were able to bag 7th place on the Scrutineering order before the competition, which meant that we had plenty of time to make the required adjustments, and complete the scrutineering in time for the Static and Dynamic events to begin.

With tech eventually passed it was straight on to fuel and the Tilt test. Normally this is

easy, and as usual we were able to pass it first time. The noise test then followed, normally this is a nail-biter with the Single cylinder engines, however again we were pleased to see the newly modified KTM 570cc engine running at under 110db, and passing the noise test in our first attempt.

Having watched the dynamic events I believe we were one of the quietest singlecylinder engined cars, with the TU Graz, GFR and Akron single-cylinder engines competing for loudest car.

Next we had the brake test, which once more we were able to pass first time, meaning that we could relax with a full set of stickers, and prepare the car for the coming day’s events.

Unusually at FSG the artificially wet skidpad is run on Friday alongside the statics, so Carly needed to be set up in race-trim, as well as a good polish and some beautysleep time that she looked her best for the design and cost events the next day.

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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

STATIC EVENTS After great results in FSUK the team were hoping for continued success We began the statics with an early start for the cost presentation team, leading us into the day’s events at 10:00am. The small team of Sam Unsworth, Mikey Twigge, Chris Shawe and Megan Berridge ran through each and every component on the car with the judges, successfully defending their proposed methods for manufacturing 1000 cars for the Amateur Weekend Motorsport Market at the best possible price.

Once again the cost team did a great job, and we improved our position from 27th last year up to 12th, scoring 78.5 points in the process.

Next it was time for the design team to show their skills, and try to repeat their performance from FSUK. With the design judging team deliberately tasked with putting the team members out of their comfort zone, we did a great job. Both powertrain, Aerodynamics and Chassis received excellent feedback, while the

suspension guys had to deal with two chief judges.

Although the feedback was good the judges asked about a lot of carryover components and so developed an image of the car as if it was just a carryover from last year.

However we fought our corner and explained how much has changed and been redesigned, and overall narrowly missed out on a design finals slot, finishing design in 9th place, with the top 8 going through to the finals.

Finally the business presentation took place, with George heading up to the top of the BW Tower to make his business pitch.

After some inspired last-minute encouragement & tweaks with the team in the hotel room beforehand, George delivered an excellent pitch, and was told by the judge ‘I will remember you!’. Overall his presentation scored us another 60 points, resulting in 14th place in Business.

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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

DYNAMIC EVENTS Changeable weather made strategy a key concern during the Auto-X session With the wet-pad event running alongside the design and cost events we were forced to run later than we would have liked, with the pad opening while we were still completing our statics. However when we did hit the track Will set our fastest time leaving us in 21st place, a little behind where we were hoping after a good result at FSUK. In Acceleration however Carly launched like a dream, with 2 super-quick runs from Robin to start us off, Will went even faster with an eventual best time of 4.341s, leaving us 2nd placed single-cylinder, less than 0.1 behind eventual winners GFR, and in 12th place overall.

Next came the Autocross event, which started just as rain began to fall over the Hockenheim circuit.

We decided to hang on and allow the weather to settle, since the course would be open for the whole afternoon, and

hopefully the conditions would improve throughout the day.

Eventually the sun came out, and the circuit quickly dried up. While this was happening we were waiting at the front of the line, ready to head to the hot-area as late as possible to allow as much temperature to come back into the circuit as possible.

Ben headed out first on his laps, avoided the cones and looked very quick indeed, as he crossed the line he put us in the provisional pole position too! But there were plenty more cars to run yet.

After about 15 minutes George hit the track to capitalise on the sunny weather, hoping for rain to catch out the other teams later on. He improved our time again, this time running in provisional 2nd place behind Chalmers.

As the session drew on we slowly dropped down the order, ending up 15th overall and beating world #1 Rennteam Stuttgart.

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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

ENDURANCE

With good results under our belt by Sunday, a top 10 finish rested on the endurance

At this point we were looking good for our target of an overall top 10 performance, however the Endurance event always leaves the competition wide open, with the cruel 22km distance causing many teams to lose out on their share of the 350 points available.

This year was particularly harsh on the top teams, with TU Graz, KA Racing, HAWKS, Monash and more retiring on the last lap of the endurance.

For us however the Endurance event never really got started, with Ben taking to the circuit and setting a respectable first lap time, as he came around to complete the 2nd the solderless nipple on the end of the throttle cable came loose and fell from the car. This left the throttle pedal going straight to the floor, with no connection between it and the throttle actuator on the engine intake.

Ben rolled off to the side of the circuit and immediately jumped out of the car, sadly in the knowledge that there would be nothing he could do to keep the car going and complete the rest of the endurance distance.

So after just 2 laps we were out, and with that we were unable to gain any points for either the endurance or efficiency events, leaving us with just 431 points, and down in a disappointing 32nd place overall.

Even more disappointing is that if we factored in a representative endurance and efficiency score we could have been figting for a podium position overall, but then again so could the rest of the teams that suffered the same fate!

Overall we were satisfied with the performance car & team at the competition. A significant improvement on 2013, & some impressive results again in Acceleration, Cost & Design to be proud of.

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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER Watch highlights from the FSG event here! Click the image below:

We then look forward to the FSCz competition, starting just 3 days later in the Czech Republic. We go to the competition hoping for a top 3 result, and to improve on the 5th position overall that we gained in 2013 despite not completing the endurance event. Keep an eye on your

inbox for the next edition of the OBR Newsletter, with a complete competition report so that you can see how we got on.

Finally, once again thank you to all of our sponsors, staff, Alumni & supporters who helped us along the way!

Oxford Brookes Racing – Formula Student Germany 2014

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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

FSG - GALLERY

FINAL BUILD

The race team were kept busy!

Cost real-case judging in progress

Mike pushing hard on the wet skid-pad

Robin finishes an Accel run

Group photo in progress

George running AutoX in the dry

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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

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