stroker
PowerDork
5/16/23 11:11 a.m.
I found some videos on YT referencing "Formula Student". I'm assuming this is FSAE in European parlance? They appear to road race theirs, however, so that make me wonder if it's similar but not the same for safety reasons.
Can a Hive member enlighten me on this?
Yes that's European FSAE. Not sure of any difference in how the events are run.
Yurop version of FSAE, yes.
Events are ran almost the exact same way which allows for teams like Global Formula Racing to exist. https://www.global-formula-racing.com/en/
You might have seen a non-IME (the sanctioning body for Formula Student) sanctioned event for "road racing". Back when I did FSAE at San Diego State there was a "Socal Shootout" event at the nearest karting track where it was run more akin to a time trial but was still multiple cars on the track. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUNV9P2RGRc
Do you have an example of the road racing formula student car?
stroker
PowerDork
5/16/23 12:31 p.m.
In reply to hunter47 :
Truth be told, I interpreted the roadracing part--the video was of a "crash" (actually a spin) on a road course (instead of an autocross course) so I assumed they were roadracing. It didn't occur to me they might be running time trials.
My bad.
The autocross and endurance portions of the FSAE Michigan competition take place on parts of Michigan International Speedway too :)
The cars are much too slow with the restrictor plates and aero to be fast around a track, anyways.
As a past member of an FSAE team, the endurance event is the closest thing to "road racing", but with that being said, there are passing lanes so cars are not actually going wheel to wheel, and there will be around 4-5 cars on a 1 kilometer course, with the total length of the event being 22 kilometers. In addition, the courses are pretty much an autocross course that actually connects to itself, with a way to enter and exit the course. Most Formula Student cars have a wheelbase of 60-65 inches, so they would be way too unstable on a full size track, combined with all too common poor engineering practices would create many dangerous situations. At MIS they have run the endurance event on the infield race track, going to the back straight, or they'll run it just on the back straight. I know some European Formula Student competitions are held at real race tracks, such as the Red Bull Ring.