Just a few days after unveiling our latest car and concluding our rollout event, our team hit the road to participate in the Formula Student Easter warm-up competition, held once again at ZalaZONE from June 26th to 28th. Easter is a fantastic initiative to test ourselves before the main racing season and to practice both static and dynamic disciplines under real race conditions. Unlike traditional competitions, Easter lasts only for three days, making it an intense, fast-paced weekend.
We spent Friday morning traveling. Upon arriving in Zalaegerszeg and completing the registration, the team settled into the pit garage. The first day of the competition was dedicated entirely to technical inspection, or scrutineering, which is always the most critical part of the event. The judges thoroughly examine the car to ensure it complies with every single rule. After each approved system, we receive a sticker indicating that the car operates safely and has successfully passed that specific checkpoint. These stickers are the mandatory requirements for competing in the dynamic disciplines.
Unfortunately, on this first day, we didn’t manage to secure any stickers after the first round of inspections, though this is not so rare in the world of Formula Student. Our new low-voltage and high-voltage systems required minor fine-tuning, so most of the day was spent troubleshooting and resolving these issues to get the sticker for our accumulator. We wrapped up the first day with the opening ceremony, which set a great mood for the weekend. However, our evening was mainly about getting some rest, as intense work resumed in the pit at 7 AM the next morning.
On Saturday, scrutineering continued, but the most important events of the day were static disciplines. These events are all about presenting and demonstrating our engineering and business knowledge to the judges. We started the morning with the Business Plan Presentation, a discipline where we present a fictional business model centered around the car or one of its specific technology or components. This was followed by the Engineering Design Event (EDE for short), where the team must defend the engineering decisions made during the design process, backing them up with precise data, calculations and simulations in front of the judges. In the afternoon, the Cost and Manufacturing event took place, where the team uses a list containing every single component of the car - called Bill of Materials - to demonstrate that our chosen parts and manufacturing techniques are as cost-effective as possible.
Meanwhile, the team was working non-stop in the pit garage as well. On this day, Mechanical scrutineering turned out to be a challenge, as a few minor items requiring modifications prevented us from securing the sticker. Simultaneously, our powertrain and electronics subteams worked on the accumulator and electrical system all day long and their efforts paid off. We successfully passed the accumulator inspection, getting our very first sticker on the car!
On Sunday, we were back at the pit garage right at opening, as an intense morning lay ahead. Racing against the clock, we pushed to finish the minor fixes and fine-tuning that were needed to secure the remaining stickers. Although the team gave it their all, time ran out before we could pass all checkpoints, meaning we were unable to compete in the dynamic events this time around. Despite this, the weekend turned out to be an invaluable learning experience. Upon returning home, we evaluated and reflected on the critical areas that came up during the event so that we can work full steam ahead on solutions before our next competition.
We dedicated the entire month of July to testing and maintenance so that we arrive in Spain on August 1st as prepared as possible. On the mechanical side, minor modifications and rule-compliance tweaks to the pedal box awaited us, while the powertrain subteam focused on fine-tuning. Meanwhile the chassis subteam had to make some minor structural corrections to the chassis. On the aerodynamics side, we wrapped up the warm-up competition with positive results in both scrutineering and the static disciplines, though there were still smaller components whose completion required hard work in the lead-up to our next competition.
Overall, the team is highly motivated and ready for the main racing season. Building on the lessons learned at Easter, we will stand before the judges much better prepared in both Spain and Germany