The TAU Racing team returned to Aberdeen last week, after attending the Formula Student UK competition 2019 at Silverstone Racing Circuit. The team are ecstatic to announce that out of the 81 Class 1 teams in attendance at this year’s competition, we have placed 6th overall, 3rd in the UK, and 1st in Scotland. This great achievement captures the hard work and dedication that has been put into the project by all team members, as well as the team’s sponsors and supporters.
The competition started on Thursday 18th July, allowing enough time for the teams to pass scrutineering checks and prepare for dynamic events that took place during the weekend.
Scrutineering is a process where the cars get checked by industry experts in several different aspects such as technical, safety, chassis, tilt, noise and braking. This is crucial as it allows the car to compete on the track and ensure that the car adheres to all Formula Student rules. In this year’s competition, TAU Racing managed to pass scrutineering as the third team out of the 81 present. This only proves the preparation of the team and a well-thought design of the TAU-19 car.
Another crucial part of the competition is formed by static events, consisting of design, cost, and business. These events are used to demonstrate the reasoning behind the car’s design, as well as to prove that there is a demand for the car in the market, and outlining effective ways of turning one-off prototypes to become mass manufactured products. This helps the students to develop critical thinking skills and provides them with a scenario that is similar to working in the automotive industry. The TAU Racing team achieved 14th position for design, getting an outstanding feedback on our aerodynamic and powertrain departments. As a highlight of the design event, our Head of Powertrain, John Forsyth, was being considered for the award of “Best Powertrain” at the competition and was invited to Mercedes High Performance Powertrains.
Our business team have also presented their investment pitch focusing on an experience-based product and international expansion plan. The team received amazing feedback on their confident presentation style and achieved a top 20 place out of all 81 Class 1 teams. Finally, the team did not achieve excellent ranking for cost presentation, however, it allowed us to gain further insight and understanding of the expectations for this event, which the team will utilise in the next season.
With all static events finished, the team began their dynamic events with acceleration, starting on a wet track with our first driver, Joshua Barton. With the track getting drier, both of our drivers managed to improve their times with the best acceleration time of 4.16 seconds on the 75 meter dash, achieved by John Forsyth. This has also been a record acceleration time for TAU Racing and it allowed the team to participate in the final acceleration shootout for the second time in the team’s 10 year existence. The team placed 3rd overall in the acceleration event, improving its previous 5th position from 2017. After acceleration, TAU Racing also took part in the skid pad event, completing two figures of eight in 5.73 seconds.
In order to qualify for Sunday’s endurance event, TAU Racing participated in the 1km sprint event. The TAU-19 car managed to excel again with our very skilled driver James Kell, who achieved 3rd place with an amazing time of 57.133 seconds. This time allowed the team to qualify for the top 10 endurance finalists.
To finish the Formula Student UK 2019 competition, the TAU Racing team was preparing the car to complete 22 endurance laps. After seeing other teams fail this event due to technical failures, the team was feeling nervous with Arran Strutt and James Kell driving during this final event. However, the TAU-19 car proved itself reliable and competitive once more, and was one of the 14 cars to finish the endurance run.
Returning back from the competition, the TAU-19 committee can now take a well-deserved break and give way to the TAU-20 committee, who are excited and full of new ideas for the 2020 Formula Student project. The TAU Racing team would like to thank all sponsors and supporters of the project, as well as the University of Aberdeen and their staff with special remark to the workshop staff and the team’s faculty advisor, Professor Richard Neilson, and the Institute of Mechanical Engineering for organising the Formula Student 2019 event.
Before commencing new academic year, the team will be exhibiting the TAU-19 car at the University of Aberdeen's Female in Engineering event on the 30th and the 31st of July where we will be able to provide more information about the project and the Formula Student competition. TAU Racing will also attend the MG Owners Club annual event at Drum Castle on 4th August. Furthermore, TAU Racing team is pleased to announce that the TAU-19 car will be exhibited at Offshore Europe from 3rd September to 6th September at stand 1B67 with the team’s long standing sponsor - Grampian Fasteners.
To keep up to date with the teams’ activities, visit our website and social media links!