Please tell us about your team, your role within the team and how you all met
On many meme websites you can find the quote “because racecar“. Could that be the main reason? No, lets take this seriously. The idea of founding a Formula Student team came to the minds of a few people in an automotive engineering lecture of the “Naturwissenschaft und Technik” faculty.
After a short time, more people were motivated for the project and a functioning team was built. In February 2015 the team began to design a car with one objective in mind: to build the lightest car ever produced by a team in its first year at Formula Student, by combining the collective abilities of the university in one project.
Why have you and your team entered Formula Student?
Learning never stops in Formula Student. The most important aspects are to gain experience, to take over responsibility and to work together with many people in one project. Additionally it is also very important to work in a structured way to keep all deadlines, and still have enough time to test all components.
We’re really interested to learn more about your car.
Our 2015 car was driven by two electric motors with a peak power of 80kW connected to a two stage gearbox. For 2016 we modified our frame and trust on transversal-flux motors connected to a chain drivetrain. At the same time, we reduced our system-voltage to 58.1V while keeping the weight under 200kg.
How did you come up with the design and why did you choose this path?
We decided this path because we want to show that it is possible to build a competitive Formula Student car without need of dangerous high voltage components and without the usual drawbacks of a low voltage concept.
What element of the car are you most proud of and why?
We are proud of the combination of the Low-Voltage-Motor with the comparatively low weight and the look of the car. But in general we are happy to present our first car after such a short time and are proud of all the work that went into it.
What is it about Formula Student that you’re looking forward to the most?
It is the team spirit and the interaction between the teams, the organisers and sponsors of the events. It already feels like a big family in which everybody supports each other and everyone profits from gaining experience.
And finally… Are you going to win Formula Student 2016?
It is always good to have dreams but in our first year we need to be realistic and we do not plan to win or to be in the top 10. If this happened, it would be a surprise for everyone. Our own target is to become the best newcomer 2016 at all events and to successfully participate in all of them.
If you have a question or have something interesting to tell us, contact us via email at formulastudent@imeche.org.
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