Formula Student UK 2015 - Competition Report

Hard work from the team throughout the year allowed development and manufacture to progress rapidly, resulting in an almost completely finished car being delivered to Silverstone race circuit in July. Upon arrival the only work required was minor set-up tasks and cosmetic finishing, allowing the core team to focus on the forthcoming static judging and presentations.

Full Blue performed very strongly in the static events at competition, massively improving our design and costing scores compared to previous years. The judges praised our cost-effective design and practical component choices.

With the FBR15 in such a complete state coming into competition the team was one of the first to enter the technical scrutineering process, where the car is thoroughly examined to ensure every component meets the technical and safety regulations. Unlike in previous years, this began as a very simple affair. The scrutineers found no major issues with the car, and the few minor objections were rapidly corrected by the team.

Just as Full Blue was ready to enter the endurance event on the final day of competition, we stumbled at the final hurdle. The newly introduced noise restrictions had caused huge issues for many teams this year at Silverstone, and we too discovered the exhaust of the FBR15 was slightly louder than the new regulations allowed. Despite our best efforts, as torrential rain brought the final days running to a close, we were unable to alter the exhaust system to bring our car below the threshold.

Despite this setback, Full Blue Racing finished the competition in our highest ever position, coming 54th out of 96 teams.

At summer testing the FBR15 managed many dozens of kilometres of successful running, and we start the new year in good spirits, confident we can build on our successes to improve even further with the FBR16!

We would like to thank all of our sponsors for all of their help and support, without which Full Blue Racing could not exist. We would also like to thank all of the workshop staff from the Engineering Department, whose hard work and advice is invaluable in making the team a success.