Formula Student

Finally Done

7/19/07 19 °C

10 Months of my life went into this project. I pushed back my thesis, cut down the social life, shortened the world travels and even lost sleep. You would think I would know by now the amount of work a project like this takes...and I did. This is the 3rd time I have done a university car project! I guess I know what I like to do.

My role on the team was a "technical communicator" but my duties were pretty much project management. I worked with planning, technical documentation, the overal design, testing, and tons of other things. I had my hand in most things since I was the only one on the team to build something like this before.

In 10 months 27 of us designed and built a race car. We took it to England and competed against 69 other teams from all over the world. We placed 12th and came home happy. It was an intense competition and a great end to a year.

Check out our website for more details: http://web.student.chalmers.se/groups/formula/joomla/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Here are some pics.

We did lots of testing in the month leading up to the competition. I hate electrical gremlins.

To get to England we took an overnight ferry. Lots of fun on the super windy deck.

We redefined the meaning of car camping.

Part of the competition is an acceleration event. Here is Kris lined up for the start.

With cold tires and excessive wheel spin he still put in a 10th place run hitting over 60 mph in 4 seconds.

I got to drive in part of the competition. I drove in qualifying but not the final race.

This is the start of qualifying. You get 2 shots to set a fast lap on a track you have never driven before. Here is our other driver after his run returning to the pits. I was up next.

My buddy Ciaran was there and he snapped this picture of me driving back to the pits.

We finished all the events and were happy with our 12th place overall finish. We were the highest finishing scandinavian team and E85 fuelled car. Go team!