Blimey
What a scorching start to the season, in more ways than one. Fifty degree track temperatures undoubtedly played their part in some of the drama at the opening race of the F1 season in Albert Park, Melbourne (it can’t have been a nice environment for the drivers, bundled up in layers of flame-proof clothing and sitting just in front of one of the world’s most expensive hot-air producers) but I think it’s safe to say that the banning of electronic driver aids (like engine braking and traction control) had the biggest effect.
Anyone who was expecting the same old, same old (like me) would have been pleasantly surprised; the excessive temperature and the lack of traction control making the start especially exciting, as no-one, except perhaps for Lewis, was in the position you’d expect them to be in. Having put his McLaren convincingly on pole on Saturday, Lewis Hamilton proceeded to lead the race from start to finish, but behind him it was a very different story.
I would imagine that Max Moseley won’t be too happy with the race, as there wasn’t all that much overtaking, but with drivers still trying to come to terms with their cars there was certainly plenty of action; five drivers out by the end of the first lap were followed by most of the rest of the field across the 58 laps, to the point where only six cars managed to finish the race out of the original 22. Both Ferraris failed to finish, but because of the way the points system works Raikkonen collects a single point. Massa, in the other Ferrari, collected David Coulthard in spectacular fashion and then a few laps later was out himself. Timo Glock had the biggest crash of the afternoon - actually becoming airbourne at one point - but thankfully walked away relatively unscathed.
Sebastian Bourdais, making his debut for Torro Rosso, was on for fourth before his Ferrari engine gave way, but still manages to score points, whilst Alonso - back in the Renault after his unhappy season at McLaren - was able to capitalise on the misfortune of others to finish fourth.
The first race of the season is always a little different from the rest, as it’s the first time the cars have been run together on a level playing field, but hopefully Australia will show the way for the rest of the races; Lewis taking the wins and the rest of the field squabbling over the remaining points. Roll on Malaysia in a week’s time.
Formula Student 2
For a little background on the Formula Student project, check out my post from April.
I’ve just done a Google search for “Sussex Formula Student 2007″, as I wanted to see if I could find any details on how the Sussex University team are getting along; perhaps their webcam would be functioning, so we could watch the build, etc.
What I found out, though, is that my previous post on the subject comes up top of the list and there’s nothing anywhere to indicate what’s happening with the Sussex team at the moment.
If you’re part of the team and want to send me a link to a site where people can check out your progress, please do. If there isn’t a site and you’d like me to update people on your behalf, again let me know and I’ll be happy to do it.
The competition is drawing near and it would be great to find out how things are going.
Formula Student - not as successful as it could be?
I wanted to put a link here to the University of Sussex Formula Student webcam, but at the moment it appears not to be working; this could be because the UniSus Formula Student car is not working. Recent testing has proved to be problematic to say the least. (If the camera - or indeed the car - starts to work, I’ll update the post.)
But what is Formula Student I hear you ask (or at least I think I do - or perhaps the medication is wearing off). It’s the British equivalent of an American competition - Formula SAE- that aims to promote understanding of, and participation in, automotive engineering amongst university students, by getting them to build and then compete a single-seater racing car.
The premise of the competition is that the students are preparing a prototype car to present to a multinational car company. They have to design the car (within limitations laid down in the competition rules), build it, finance it and also present the car. The idea is that - as an elective project for engineering students - Formula Student will give participants the chance to put into practice the theory that they learn in their lectures.
My experience of Formula Student is third-hand; a friend of mine is a research student at Sussex, and is writing a thesis on the Educational Worth of Formula Student. A thesis which I’ve been dragged into as editor. In addition to this, in 2003 I went to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where a number of the more successful teams - including that of Brunel University - were showing their cars and looking for sponsorship.
On the face of it, Formula Student seems like a good idea; as a non-engineering type of guy, I think I’d jump at the chance to be involved in a competition such as this. But in practice it seems that the competition suffers for several reasons.
First is timing; the competition takes place in July which is exam season. If you’re studying hard for your degree and you’re also involved in a non-credit project, which are you going to drop when time gets short?
Second is the fact that it is a non-credit, elective course. There is no incentive to complete the course, no tying it in with the curriculum, no credits gained towards the degree.
Third is the lack of support that some teams have to suffer with. Some universities - Bath, Leeds and Brunel have good reputations here - integrate Formula Student very well and the team has the support of academic and technical staff to get the car to the competition and make sure it does well when it gets there. Other universities do not have this support - whether because of a lack of resources or lack of interest from staff - and this indifference transmits itself to the team.
A number of papers on this subject have been submitted to the SAE: Integrating Formula SAE, Project Based Learning and Culture, and the just published Culture, Money and Space and are well worth checking out.
What I’d like to see is Formula Student made an integral part of the Engineering curriculum, with faculty committed to helping their students get through to the competition where they successfully complete all the events (are you listening Sussex?:-)). Until then, it’s really not worth the effort.
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