After the F0711-11 and its team had started successfully into the season with a victory at the Formula Student UK in Silverstone, the team did not have much time left to prepare for the next competition. The few test days were spent ensuring the car’s reliability in the competition. On the 31st July a slightly longer bus drive lead the team to the Red Bull arena in Spielberg, where the Formula Student Austria took place. The competition in Austria is the smallest in which Rennteam participates, at least regarding the number of the participating teams. Yet that makes it so special. This year 21 combustion cars and as many electric cars started in the competition. So there were enough top teams with very fast cars and again and again strong appearances in the static disciplines.
Due to the low number of participants the schedule in the FS Austria is a bit tighter. The day after the arrival the technical acceptance was awaiting the team directly after the setting up of the pit. For reasons of time we only finished the Tilt Table, the Brake Test and the Noise Test the day after. Before the car passed these tests, though, the Design Event and the Cost Event already took place. In Design Rennteam qualified for the finals that took place at a later point in time, together with TU Munich and Joanneum Graz. In the Cost Event the two guys could bring home a good ninth place. In the afternoon the Business Presentation took place, too, in which a very good 6th place was in it for us with only little point loss due to the business idea. A little bit of time remained to prepare the now competitive vehicle for the dynamic disciplines on the Practice Area that took place right the next morning.
As usual Skid Pad and Acceleration were on schedule at the same time. Time management is particularly important here for the available time is easily underestimated due to the few participating teams. In Skid Pad everything went well and the F0711-11 set the fastest time! 1st place! In Acceleration the vehicle struggled a bit with Launch Control. Nevertheless a solid 6th place was achieved. The distance to the 1st place: about twelve hundredths. There was no time to relax, though, because the Design finals took place directly afterwards. Here the team could probably not convince the judges of the vehicle concept as well as the other finalists in those 60 minutes and we came in 3rd place. In the afternoon the competition continued with an exciting Autocross session. The racetrack was completely modified compared to the year before and was really challenging. The drivers achieved very good times and were only defeated by GFR and TU Munich, so they achieved the 3rd place!
On the last day there was the supreme discipline: the Endurance. And with it of course the Fuel Efficiency. Altogether 425 out of 1000 points are awarded on that day. With very fast lap times and even the fastest time in the competition the two drivers secured the victory in Endurance with the F0711-11 and a strong 6th place in Fuel Efficiency. Rennteam won the overall ranking of Formula Student Austria with 933,4 points in total! A very strong performance considering the competitors that came!
Overview:
Engineering Design 3rd place
Cost Analysis 9th place
Business Presentation 6th place
Skid Pad 1st place
Acceleration 7th place
Autocross 3rd place
Endurance 1st place
Fuel Efficiency 6th place
Overall 1st place