FS Hungary Report Day 4
The endurance event seems like it should be a fairly simple event to complete, and supposing you have had months to test the car, it is. However. If you haven’t, you will soon find out what problems the car has. It is for this reason, that the University has historically failed the endurance event. For the 10 years the Formula Student program has run at the University, no car has scored points for the endurance event. With this in mind, the team set about a very thorough check of the car to ensure everything on the car was right before starting the event.
Scott was the first to do his stint in the car, and in the 32 degree heat he showed great pace and consistency, not once incurring any penalties for hitting cones or going off course. Scott then handed over to Chris for the second stint of the event. Chris showed the type of cool head and fast pace that we have come to expect of him, proceeding to set the fastest lap the car had managed in the event. However, Hearts then sank, as the arena echoed to the sound of the Honda CBR 600 engine bouncing off the rev limiter of its own accord. A horrible feeling similar to that of Silverstone began to set in as Chris struggled to fathom if the car was driveable To everyone’s delight, Chris got the car back on course, amazingly only hitting 1 cone in the process. Using nothing but bravery and determination, Chris continued to lap the Circuit, somehow managing to set lap times only 4 seconds slower than the fastest lap time. With the team willing on the stricken car, Chris managed to bring the car home with the engine temperature at a sky high 135 degrees centigrade.
After all the events had been completed, the team placed 6th overall. Although the car had performed well throughout all events, one aspect of the event that was effectively beyond our control was the fuel consumption, for which the cars are scored on after the Endurance event. It is common for teams to run an engine map to save fuel on this event, however we could only utilise the one map we had (i.e. maximum power and torque) which on a 4 cylinder engine can use a lot of juice in comparison to the single cylinder cars. Rather frustratingly, a look at the final results shows that a clean run in the sprint and an average fuel consumption figure would have been enough to secure us 3rd place!
On a brighter note, with the completion of the endurance, the PFK-01 becomes the most successful car produced by Team HARE. The car represents a big step forward towards the team’s development and a great basis for next year’s team to build upon. All that remains is to thank everyone in Hungary that helped us out when we were faced with huge problems; the event organisers, all the other teams that did all they could to help us out and the people of Gyor, despite it being a national holiday! The event as a whole was a fantastic experience, the organisers deserve huge credit for such a excellent first event, the social side and the brilliant media coverage created a camaraderie between the teams that you don’t get at the ‘bigger events’ and we hope to return again next year.
