Formula student
The Dart Racing Team of the Technical University of Darmstadt is an official member of the Formula Student SAE. Formula Student is an international construction contest that encourages students to construct, built and drive their own racing car, framed in professional teamwork.
Taking part in this contest, we are able to permute our creativity, ideas and conceivability defined by the official rules of competition. These rules include safety and technical regulations as well as the “students-factor”.
This means, that all team members have to be students and not yet “professional” engineers.
The work results of constructing and building the car will be quantified in different races. Additionally the quality of the construction, the cost planning, the selling concept and the fuel consumption are important items of the overall standings.
The Formula Student takes place worldwide and the rules of competition are internationally founded, except of some smaller differences. The overall standings, and therefore the overall winner are determined by the so-called static and dynamic events with different percentage distribution (see diagram).
Before taking part in the events is possible, every team must pass different tests. This includes a security check of the construction („Scrutineering“), a break test (see diagram), a noise test and a petrol test.
The static events consist of an „engineering design event“, a „ Cost Analysis Event“and a „Business Plan Presentation“. In the engineering design, experienced engineers pass their expert opinion on the car and discuss with the students about construction solutions. In the “Cost Analysis Event” the team presents the total costs of the car, the lower, the better it is and during the business plan presentation the students demonstrate their selling concept and their pull strategy under real conditions.
As well as static events, dynamic events consist of different tests, which are designed to rank the self-build student-car in regard of the competition.
During the acceleration-event, it is essential to get the fastest time on the track, which means reaching the highest acceleration.
Going through the “Skid Pad” means that the drivers have to steer the car through an “8”. This test measures the side – acceleration by setting a time- and mistakes - ratio .
The “Autocross event” is the qualification for the final race. In this event acceleration, side-acceleration and driving skills combined deliver the final result and give a good impression of the car features.
The final race is the “Endurance Event”. This is the “long-distance-race” of 22km. After half of the distance the drivers change and the judges eye up the engine. This is the most critical part of the whole race, because the engine is switched off and back on again. A test like this is challenging to the abilities of the amateur constructionists, because here you easily see problems in the motor management of the car.
Additionally to the official events, there are different side-disciplines like a “Style Award” (best car design), the “automotive lightweight construction event” and the “best dynamometer performance award” for best engine-performance.
