Not meaning to boast or anything :P I've been a member of our Formula Student team at Uni for 2 years now, and as I'm playing a more active role this year, got a chance to drive one of the cars today. Took it to Bruntingthorpe and despite almost boiling our engine due to a fan problem (don't ask!) I got 5 laps round the kart circuit there which was fun.

Very different kettle of fish to a kart (closest thing I can compare it to being a kart racer myself :P). Power delivery is a lot more meaty and where a kart would normally be topping out the thing was just getting going. Obviously suspension makes a difference too. Very composed over the kerbs (you can see me testing them out there ) and it's interesting to get used the sensation of dive and squat. Generally I was very impressed though

As I'm sure you'll be bursting to know.......yes...lfs does indeed compare pretty well. The only thing I would say is that the FSAE car in the game has a hell of a lot more rear end grip than the real thing, but otherwise it seems pretty close. The way it turns in is very similar and the way it will power understeer is also very similar. I just wish our car ran as smoothly as the one in the game!

Nice. It's not a looker though. So, erm, can I have a go?

Drop a Dodge Viper V10 engine in and then we'll talk.

But a cool looking lil' car anyway!

It's plenty fast enough as it is! Even with the restrictor it runs 80bhp and at 220kg it means about 3s 0-60. As I said...it's entered in the same competition as the MRT5 on LFS (McGills Formula SAE car from 3 years ago or so). We run the softest tyre compoud Avon make btw...so grip is very good!

Quote :

Not meaning to boast or anything

Isn't it interesting how people declare their good intentions only to break them within a couple of seconds? Just joking .

No, seriously. I like the Formula Student and am planning to join the local team myself.

Vain

Awesome stuff. Would love to give one of them things a bash, look great fun.

Quite surprised that no small racing series has come out of this concept, or has there? By racing series I mean having various rounds during the year racing wheel to wheel rather than the autocross type tests that seems to be done with them.

Oops.

http://smg.photobucket.com/alb ... age=&imgAnch=imgAnch6

I wouldn't trust a lot of the guys who drive the cars to race wheel to wheel. Most have never done any competative driving before! LOL.

I think it's a shame that there aren't more rounds. It's getting bigger though. There are now German, Italian and Finnish comps throughout the year to add to the various US ones and the one in Aus every year.

Quote from ArosaMike :

I wouldn't trust a lot of the guys who drive the cars to race wheel to wheel. Most have never done any competative driving before! LOL.

And I don't trust people who use LOL unnecessarily. LOL! Because it a) LOL looks really silly and lol b) that's enough of reasons LOL.

Quote from spankmeyer :

Drop a Dodge Viper V10 engine in and then we'll talk.

Hmm, get a skyline R34 engine, stage 2 Hybrid turbo baby ...

But that car looks cool, much faster than the 1.3 ford escort I last drove .

I like the way that thing looks. I think that it'd be neat to have that car in LFS also, to compare.

Anyone else notice that the MRT is underutilized in LFS? Maybe I'll have to change the OCC to MRT/FE1?

Quote from keiran :

Quite surprised that no small racing series has come out of this concept, or has there? By racing series I mean having various rounds during the year racing wheel to wheel rather than the autocross type tests that seems to be done with them.

It is an engineering competition, so in the competion itself it is understandable that attempts are made to minimize the effects of driving. The rules include a (somewhat halfassed) ringer exclusion to that end.

I know several FSAE teams attend local autocrosses in the US, there have been magazine tests, and some teams go to SCCA nationals. For most teams the money and desire to operate an ongoing program is not available.

I'd love to get a shot in one of those, but my Uni doesn't have anything Motorsport-Related, which is a bugger.

Looks fun though! *insert jealousy here!*

Quote from Forbin :

Oops.

http://smg.photobucket.com/alb ... age=&imgAnch=imgAnch6

Proper flatspotting of good tires

Nice car there and I'm sure that is lot of fun driving such thing

Any big car engine is spoiling idea of this kind of car, you have to keep weight down, look engines uden in Radical, that is way to go to get thing move faster, but really many guys can't take even this 80hp machine to the limit as it IS fast and control is required to use that power already.

In real machine, was there less rear end grip at braking, accelerating or cornering ?

There tends to be a bit of power understeer, but generally I was very impressed. I'm only maybe the second or third proper driver to have driven any of the cars, so more often than not setup tends to get overlooked.

its not very loud then. if you took it to bruntingthorpe, the noise limit is 88.5 db, i know this cause i got kicked off when i was down there and took my nc30's can off and did a lap or 2 of the pbtt.

I crapped myself just looking at the thing.

looks pretty mean but must be a cool machine to drive and good luck with your Uni's Campaign next year !

Calum

wow, thats a really cool little car. reminds me of the MRT!

Is formula student where you build the car from scratch? or am i mixing it up with something else?

Formula Student is where uni students design and build a car for Formula Student. So it's made at the uni (with a bit of oursourcing, not 100% uni-built).

The MRT is a Formula Student (or FSAE) car, so it is built to the same (or similar) regulations, and hence looks the same.

The rules are basically designed to keep speeds down, because they think that doing more than 60mph at the age of 20 around some cones must be lethal. Once again, political correctness gone mad, and gives the car the silly proportions.

I've got wheels and a spanner (3/16" I think it is, bit rusty though).

Quote from v4forlife :

its not very loud then. if you took it to bruntingthorpe, the noise limit is 88.5 db, i know this cause i got kicked off when i was down there and took my nc30's can off and did a lap or 2 of the pbtt.

LOL. I think the noise limit must be different for the kart track...well either that or they turn a blind eye. That car really, really struggled to pass the noise limit test at competition which is 110dBA. I think it was 115dBA the first time they tested it too and only got through by adding some more baffles in the can. The measuring technique is very iffy too. You could actually pass the test with an open exhaust (ie just a straight pipe) if you angled it in the right place.

Quote from ArosaMike :

Not meaning to boast or anything :P I've been a member of our Formula Student team at Uni for 2 years now, and as I'm playing a more active role this year, got a chance to drive one of the cars today. Took it to Bruntingthorpe and despite almost boiling our engine due to a fan problem (don't ask!) I got 5 laps round the kart circuit there which was fun.

Very different kettle of fish to a kart (closest thing I can compare it to being a kart racer myself :P). Power delivery is a lot more meaty and where a kart would normally be topping out the thing was just getting going. Obviously suspension makes a difference too. Very composed over the kerbs (you can see me testing them out there ) and it's interesting to get used the sensation of dive and squat. Generally I was very impressed though

As I'm sure you'll be bursting to know.......yes...lfs does indeed compare pretty well. The only thing I would say is that the FSAE car in the game has a hell of a lot more rear end grip than the real thing, but otherwise it seems pretty close. The way it turns in is very similar and the way it will power understeer is also very similar. I just wish our car ran as smoothly as the one in the game!

Awesome, i saw that Formula Student on Fifth Gear, car looks great..Good luck with the races.

All i got to say is BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Who wants university of birmingham :P UCE Powah!!!!!!!!!! LMAO. Id take birmingham over uce anyday really lol.

Nice car