Automobile Division
- All teams were able to improve upon the default car’s performance
- Less than 0.3 seconds separated the top 2 Sprint times
- 3rd fastest Sprint time was 4 seconds slower than 2nd
- Full aero and close gear ratio packages employed by top 2 teams
July 2021 was an action-packed month which included many sporting marvels: from the Euro Finals to the British Grand Prix, and most spectacularly – the IPG Lap Time Simulation Event! The event saw entries from all over the world and allowed teams who could not overcome COVID travel restrictions to still experience the thrill of witnessing their creations race around the FSUK tracksp – albeit virtually!
This year also saw the introduction of the IPG Webtools which allowed competitors to work collaboratively upon their models and seamlessly share information by storing vehicle information within a centralised database. Prototypes could then be built with the click of a button for optimisation within CarMaker – a feature which many teams will find useful in the coming season!
Each team was required to configure a virtual prototype by choosing from various aero and gear-ratio packages, as well as defining characteristics such as suspension kinematics. The top performing teams were those who identified the optimal combination to provide the best event times across all three events – compromising between the lateral and longitudinal demands of the Acceleration and Skid Pad events respectively.
Although a full aero package may have slightly hindered Acceleration performance, the two top teams sought this as a trading-off worth taking. Likewise, both opted for a Close Ratio gearbox which suited the nippy straights of the FSUK Autocross circuit, and the two fastest times were within 0.3 seconds of each other.
In the end it was HKUST (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) that provided a consistent performance across all 3 events, narrowly beating IIT Bombay by 238 points to 234. An all-round stiffer suspension set up seemed to favour HKUST in the bends, however softer springs at the rear allowed IIT Bombay to put the power down on the straights and thus win the Acceleration Event.
All teams managed to improve the performance of the default model, proving their knowledge of vehicle dynamics and learn about automotive simulation in the process! We would like to thank all the teams for participating and hope all thoroughly enjoyed the competition, and we look forward to racing again with you next season!
Overall Results
- 1st – HKUST EVRG - Hong Kong University of Science and Technology [HKUST] (238 pts)
- 2nd – IIT Bombay Racing - Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (234 pts)
- 3rd – HW Racing - Herriot Watt University (179 pts)
Best Acceleration Result
- IIT Bombay Racing (4.127s)
Best Skid Pad Result
Best Sprint Result
As a proud partner of the Formula Student Competition this year IPG Automotive attended the event at Silverstone Race Circuit, providing demonstrations of the CarMaker software capabilities and explaining how we support students to meet their goals.
We were delighted to meet so many passionate team members who were excited to hear about how effective virtual testing can be for finding opportunities to improve vehicle performance.