regenics Debuting at the Formula Student Electric on the Hockenheimring Circuit
Regensburg, 08th August 2011 – From 02nd to 07th August, the University of Regensburg team participated for the first time with an electric racing car in the international contests on the Hockenheimring Circuit. In doing so, they not only scored some points for the ranking, but also, and most importantly, gathered some significant experience and impressions.
More than a hundred teams and over 2,700 students made the event of the Formula Student Germany the biggest ever event since this Formula series was introduced in Germany. The participants comprised 25 nations among which also India, South Africa, or Ecuador. One of them was also Team regenics from Regensburg University.
The team around Crew Chief Andreas Stolze first of all had to pass a technical acceptance test called scrutineering. This is a check whether in building the vehicle all safety-relevant specifications were complied with. For instance, only if the high voltage system insulation is flawless, the car has proved to be sufficiently protected against humidity through a rain test, or the car’s stability in situations of high transverse acceleration is ensured, the racing car will be allowed to participate in the comparative contests at all. But also the drivers have to show that even in full racing gear and with the seat belt buckled they are able to get out of the car within five seconds in a critical situation. These technical checks were passed by the Regensburg students without any complaint.
Then, unfortunately, a defect in the electronic system prevented them from participating in the dynamic contests such as a long-distance test with energy efficiency measurement, the skid pad, ort the acceleration test. Head of Engineering Franz Pfeilschifter was disappointed: “Our team is rather technology-focussed. This is why we had hoped to gain a lot exactly from the dynamic contests. We would have liked to show how efficient our car has become.” Florian Fritsch from the sponsoring FG.de Group of Companies challenges the team: “We are committed to the issue of electric mobility ourselves, and we do have two racy standard vehicles with an electric drive. Whenever there is a chance to do so we will gladly compete with regenics in a contest to see how their racing car proves its worth against our cars.”
Due to the failure to participate in the dynamic contests no points could be scored there. Therefore, only the points scored in the static contests contributed to the final mark. Nevertheless, the papers given on Engineering Design, Cost Analysis and the business plan were so convincing to the jury that it still awarded rank number 20 out of 28 teams after all, inspiring the team with some confidence for the end of this season and the preparations for the next one.
