Spectacular Start to the first Formula Student season
The Ka-RaceIng team passed their first Formula Student event at the Hockenheimring with flying colors. The students from the University of Karlsruhe reached 10th position for the overall results and were nominated as the best newcomer team. One of the guarantees for the success was their very professional approach towards chassis development.
The Formula Student competition at the German Hockenheim inspired once again more than a thousand participating students and numerous race enthusiastic spectators. 54 teams from all over the world came with their self-constructed race cars to meet the strong international field. Like at all Formula Student events, it was not simply the fastest car that beat the competition but the car with the best results in the so called "dynamic and static events". Within the scope of the "dynamic events" the students had to perform driving tests where the accelerating, cornering and endurance ability of their vehicles were judged. At the "static events" the cars were proven with regards to their safety, construction and cost calculation.
Thus, Formula Student vehicles have to be real all-rounders and the Formula Student regulations pose high requirements. Every season the teams have to build a new race car that has to meet particular characteristics: The vehicles must have a maximum 610cc reciprocating piston engine as well as sufficient crash and roll-over protection. Hence, all vehicles at the Hockenheimring had to pass a technical approval before participating in the competitions. Only those that could satisfy the judges were allowed to go on the track. This test especially frayed the nerves of the newcomer teams in the Formula Student. Do we meet all technical requirements? Are we allowed to show the potential of our race car? These or similar thoughts might have been in the mind of many participants.
The first day, the stress of this approval could also be seen in the faces of the students from the University of Karlsruhe. But after a few small changes to the car they were admitted as the second team in the competition. Thus, the solid project, time and cost management of the Ka-RaceIng team paid off. Stephan Wagner, team leader of marketing, tells us: "We have reduced the technical possible to the technical useful. Only in this way could we adhere to our strict schedule." And the result tells its own tale: The yellow race car drives with radial wheels and a 86 PS Honda motorcycle motor that was the third strongest motor of the event at the dyno test bench. The vehicle has an adaptive motor control and is, thanks to the sandwich-construction of the automotive body shell, very light but stiff and firm enough to secure the driver.
The professional development approach of the students is impressive. In order to evaluate the drivability of the vehicle before the fabrication and to determine the important parameters early on they have performed comprehensive vehicle dynamics simulations. Like many other teams they have used the advantages of the Formula CarMaker program because it gives free access to the simulation programs IPG-KINEMATICS and CarMaker. In the opinion of Andreas Wagner, the man in charge of the chassis construction at the Ka-RaceIng team, both tools are very useful for the development of Formula Student cars. "The IPG package has the advantage of open interfaces. This allows adapting it flexibly to the working environment of a Formula Student constructor." He furthermore thinks that the short training period is a crucial factor for the effective use of the software products. "Because of the very short development times it is not possible to have a long training period. CarMaker and IPG-KINEMATICS can be understood easily and intuitively. They are the optimal tools for Formula Student teams," says Wagner.
For this reason the double wishbone axle with push rod system was completely designed and tested at the virtual K&C test bench IPG-KINEMATICS. "To get an insight into the relevant vehicle dynamics parameters we used the tool to analyze the complete axle kinematics in their stationary and transient behavior. The elasto-kinematics were also inspected in order to be able to react to possible variances," tells the leader of the chassis team. Afterwards the axle kinematics were transferred to the CarMaker models and the driving behavior was tested by virtual test driving with CarMaker.
The effort has been worth it. At the Formula Student event at Hockenheim the students from the University of Karlsruhe reached a great 10th place for the overall results and thereby became the best newcomer team. "That exceeded our expectations," says Stephan Wagner and adds proudly: "The team is still comparatively new and I am sure it can improve in the future. Even this year's car has more potential." Saying this he is certainly thinking of Italy where the next big Formula Student competition will take place on September 21-23. IPG will keep the fingers crossed for the Ka-RaceIng team!
