Term tuesday: scrutineering
A WEIRD JARGON THAT EVEN NEW RACING FANS CANNOT UNDERSTAND! By Jericho Wilyan First of all, welcome to our blog! From now on, every Tuesday I will be writing a blog about engineering terms. The topics may not always relate with Formula Student but aren’t we all here for learning! So, this week we kick start our blog with Scrutineering! Now we all have been hearing this term since the first time we follow motorsports. I heard the term scrutineering when I was still 10 years old and back then I was puzzled by it. So, what is scrutineering and why it is important for not only the car but also the drivers. According to the dictionary, the term scrutinise means to “examine very carefully” and in our sport, it’s doing exactly what it means, to examine if the cars and the drivers comply with the rules and regulations that have been set by the event. Furthermore, the goal of scrutineering is to ensure that the car is safe to compete and to ensure fair play. But now you may be wondering, what is happening during the scrutineering? So, here is what usually happens Making sure that the car complies with the technical regulations Usually, the car is checked by a team of scrutineers (sometimes known as race officials) to ensure that the car meets the technical regulations. The first thing that the scrutineers check is the safety of the car. The driver’s harness, warning lights, and extinguisher need to be rules compliant. Moreover, The scrutineers also partially remove some bits of the bodyworks to inspect the car thoroughly. Afterwards, they thoroughly examine the dimensions, power unit, the weight, and the wheelbase of the car to make sure that it complies with the rules. Checking if the drivers are eligible to participate Not only the safety of the cars needs to be checked, but also that of the drivers! The drivers will need to present a valid driving license (also their racing license when applied) and every piece of equipment that they use in the competition. For example, equipment such as helmets and racing overalls need to conform to the competition regulations. THE CAR IS ALSO SCRUTINISED AFTER EACH SESSION After each session, the car is also scrutinised by the race officials. The car will be put in parc fermé and will be put under scrutinisation to make sure that the team did not cheat or made any other modification before and/or after the session. Things that the race officials check are the car’s weight, fluids such as fuel and oil level, and the electronics. preserver-spaces=”true”>WHAT HAPPENS IF THE CAR OR THE DRIVERS CANNOT PASS THE SCRUTINEERING? Well, it is quite simple; they cannot compete in the competition. For the reason that, if either the car or the driver doesn’t comply with the rules, not only they are endangering themselves but also others. We don’t want to see a car falling apart during a competition, right? I also find a good video by FIA WEC to give you the idea of what happens during the scrutineering click it to watch! So, after reading this you now have a better understanding of scrutineering is and what happens during the scrutineering. In one of the paragraph, you may notice a term parc fermé. It sounds very French, isn’t it? Also, it seems awfully familiar to us, but do you know what it is? Stay tuned next week where I will be talking about parc fermé! Until then stay safe and be healthy! References: https://www.lemans.org/en/news/scrutineering-how-it-works/6466 https://www.fiawec.com/en/news/what-is-scrutineering/5152 https://www.motorsportuk.org/volunteers/scrutineering/ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/scrutinize
Term tuesday: Parc Fermé
AN UNUSUAL TERM THAT SOMETIMES CONFUSED NEWCOMERS By Jericho Wilyan We heard it all before and also from my blog last week. “car needs to be in parc fermé after qualifying session”. But what exactly is this term? It’s a French term but we don’t really know what exactly it is unless we ask our knowledgeable friends or the internet. So, let’s get cracking because this week we will discuss everything you need to know about parc fermé! THE MEANING OF THE WORD As I mentioned before, term parc fermé comes from French which means “closed park” which is exactly what it means on the event. The car is put in a closed and secured area in the paddock and engineers cannot change any settings or do major modification to the car. An only minor modification is allowed such as adding fuel, tyre changes, or changing the front wing height. Essentially, cars in this area must not be touched by anyone without the express permission of the race officials. Teams are not allowed to make major alterations between the qualifying session and the race, so there is no qualifying and race setup WHAT HAPPENS IN PARC FERMÉ? According to the FIA rule book, the purpose of parc fermé is to allow race officials to weigh the cars and check whether the car is still complying with the rules. After the qualifying and the race, the race officials usually check the engine oil level, the weight of the car, and other liquids to see if there is an anomaly or major difference between spec of the car before and after the race. For example, in 2005 F1 San Marino Grand Prix, Jenson Button’s car was found to be 4.99kg underweight after the race on parc fermé, turns out his car is using an illegal fuel ballast to gain advantages. So, what do you think? It’s simple right? Parc fermé is a closed park where cars are not allowed to be touch without permission from the race officials and when you are allowed, you can only make minor modifications. That’s it for this week’s Term Tuesday, stay tuned for next week because we are going to discuss horsepower and torque! Take care and stay healthy folks! References: https://maxf1.net/en/parc-ferme/ https://www.f1technical.net/news/21724
Interview with Jasper
By Sanne Hulder Last week I had an interview with Jasper at the workshop from the Hanze Racing Division (HARD). Jasper is a first-year student of the three-year Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Program who joined the team earlier this year. He joined to take on an additional challenge during his regular education program. Jasper and Mark discussing in HARD’s workshop ‘IN A NORMAL ENVIRONMENT AT SCHOOL YOU GET TO WORK WITH 15 COMPONENTS, HERE YOU CAN WORK WITH AT LEAST A THOUSAND!’ Jasper took an interest in working on a racecar through his studies in Delft, where they have a Formula Student team as well. By then, Jasper didn’t have enough time to join the team, but since he started studying in Groningen he found the time and decided to join HARD. What Jasper likes most is the hands-on practice while working on race cars. ‘In a normal environment at school you get to work with fifteen components, here you can work with at least a thousand!’ Besides that, he has fun working in a competitive environment as he wants in order to build the best possible race car. FRONT-WHEEL SUSPENSION SYSTEM Jasper is currently working on the sway bars and end links for the car’s front suspension. The sway bars ensure that the vehicle’s roll is controlled during cornering, by transferring load from one wheel to the other. As shown in the picture, the rockers rotate during suspension travel, which moves the end links, actuating the sway bar. Jasper made sure to set up the end links in the correct orientation, to prevent components from binding during suspension travel. With our computer software, we were able to test the placement and actuation of the components in advance, allowing us to install them correctly on the car on the first try. 3D render of the front-wheel suspension system Thanks to this experience, Jasper can learn competencies that his program doesn’t teach, and perfect the skills his program does offer. In this way, HARD helps him to further develop his mechanical engineering expertise by creating a competitive but friendly environment while having the goal of building together a racecar. SOCIAL CONTACT DURING COVID-19 In the current COVID-19 time, it is still nice to have social contacts in a safe environment. The team is very excited about building the new car, even though the workshop is working on a maximum capacity of 5 people. Due to this restriction, a lot of online communication is being used which works reasonably well. Efficient planning is used to ensure the workshop is never over the safe capacity while it encourages members to continue with the racecar’s development.
About formula student
Founded in 1980 at the University of Texas in Austin as Formula SAE, today Formula Student is one of the most prestigious academic motorsport competitions in the world, with the goal of generating competent and proficient students on engineering, organisational, and communication and marketing role through a novel and innovative year-long project. Moreover, the students have the unique opportunity to apply the knowledge that has been gathered from their studies to research, design, produce, and build their very own racecar. THE COMPETITION With over 819 teams from more than 40 countries from around the world, the competition took place in some of the most renowned race track in the world, such as Hockenheimring in Germany, Silverstone in the UK, Assen in The Netherlands, and much more. To win the competition, the team needs to gain points from two separate events. The on-track “dynamic events” and the off-track “static events”. With the maximum achievable of 1000 points, teams from around the world compete with each other to be the best of the best. STATIC EVENTS THE STATIC EVENTS CONSIST OF A DESIGN EVENT, BUSINESS PRESENTATION, AND COST EVENT. In the Design event, the team needs to present the car along with all the necessary documentation. The judge will assess the car based on the documentation of the design, so simply showing up with a great car is not enough! The judges will put emphasis on the team’s ability to design, build, refine and validate, and understand their own car. In the Business Presentation event, the team needs to present a comprehensive business plan to the judges, as they are trying to convince an investor to invest in the car. The presentation needs to convince the judges that the car can meet the demands of the amateur weekend driver. Also, the presentation needs to pay attention to the marketing, manufacturing, and product appeal aspect when presenting the car. In the Cost event, the team needs to show a printed copy of the Cost Report. The higher the cost, the lower the score and vice versa. DYNAMIC EVENTS THE DYNAMIC EVENTS CONSIST OF SKIDPAD, ACCELERATION, AUTOCROSS, AND ENDURANCE. The Acceleration event measure how fast the car can go within a 75-meter straight line. It is simple, the fastest one wins! The Skidpad event objective is to measure the car’s ability to corner within a flat surface on a figure of eight layout. Sometimes the event is performed on a layer of water. The Autocross event tests the car dynamic ability in a one-lap sprint. Two drivers are given two attempts to tackle the course. The test demands the manoeuvrability and handling of the car as it will perform a manoeuver such as slalom on a tight course whilst not hindering other competing cars. The Autocross event will test the car’s combine performance of acceleration, braking, and cornering. One of the most challenging events is the Endurance event. This event will test the car’s endurance and fuel or battery consumption for 22km. There is a mandatory pitstop at the midpoint where the team needs to switch driver. No refuelling/recharging or repairs are allowed during this event and the car must start and stop using its own power. The team must finish the Endurance event to gain any points from the test for Efficiency or Endurance. The events demand high reliability and consistency from the car and the driver.
Together, we build a racecar
Since the team was founded in 2010, HARD has grown from a group of people who love racing to a racing team that builds race cars, which participates in the worlds biggest Formula Student competitions. Our members come from all over the world, bringing their cultural wealth and knowledge to our strong and diverse team.
HARD begins with the info campaign!
That special time of the year is here…HARD is looking for new team members to join the team 2020! Before we will start with the interesting recruitment campaign that the members of the communication department have created, the info campaign will take place… We know that you want to know a little bit more about us before you join, that is why we advise you to start to follow our social media accounts- Instagram @hanze_racing_division , Facebook- @hanzeracingdivision and our Linkedin account- Hanze Racing Divison-HARD ! On these platforms and also at our new website’s blog section- you will be able to find out more about our team, our goals and also the main purpose of why do we exist! To recognize this campaign, search for the layout that is in the pictures below! Of course, the posting is not going to be the only thing that we will do…It’s even better- we will have online racecar events and online Q&A session with the team! We believe that you don’t want to miss out, follow us and join the team #JoinHARD2020 ! 🙂 We hope that you are excited as we are!
Launching our new website!
With the help of Wildsea, HARD is proud to announce the launch of the new website! After four months of HARD work and dedication… Hanze Racing Division is proud to announce the launch of the newly designed website! Our aim was to provide a website that is user-friendly, faster, and easier to navigate. The new website is designed with the philosophy of dynamic and sleek. But, of course, keeping in mind that it should offer an immense experience to the users. As Hanze’s top Formula Student team, we want to provide all of the needed information of the team to its audience and the prospective HARD members. Furthermore, we also want to present the finest aspect of our teams to our current and prospective sponsors with the new website. We hope that our sponsors are pleased with the result! We also want to establish new relationships with potential sponsors. The new website offers a new sign up form for prospective members, so it is easier to join the team at any given moment and platform. It also offers a new feature of sponsor sign up form for companies that is keen to embark on a thrilling journey with us! We would also like to thank our amazing members who gave their time and effort to design our new website from scratch. Also, we want to thank our proud sponsor Wildsea for sponsoring and helping us design the website! Check them out, we highly recommend!