GFR Starts the '12 Season Strong

What a summer it’s been. After a great '11 season, Global Formula Racing hopes to continue that for the upcoming season and now work resumes in earnest. The team is recruited, with new seniors and their projects selected, testing plans are being made, and design work has officially begun in both Germany and the US.

The seniors, under the direction of dedicated technical leads, have already come in with some very innovative ideas and are now working diligently to continue the success of GFR. As per usual, the existing car design will undergo careful scrutiny as work  begins to field a new and improved car this season.


Testing and driving days for the '11 combustion car in the upcoming weeks will prepare the groundwork for this season’s design and will be the first chance of the season for drivers and members of the team to drive one of these high performance vehicles.

The business and marketing team is has started off the year working late nights to assemble this year’s updated sponsorship package with some new perks to offer our returning and prospective supporters.

We look forward now to a busy and productive fall and winter as we finalize our designs and begin to build.

So stay tuned, Global Formula Racing is just getting started.

Combustion Car wins at Austria and Germany, Electric Car makes Debut

Global Formula Racing comes back strong at the remaining European competitions, Austria and Germany, this month. The combustion car claimed its 3rd victory in 3 years at Austria, and finally claimed its first place overall at Germany. The electric car placed 4th at Austria and a 3rd place at Germany. The car with wings and its electric twin were proud of their places at both competitions, especially since Austria was the first competition where GFR brought an electric car.

At the Red Bull Ring in Austria GFR was finally a full team with both cars being represented. The week started off rough with the electric car having brief difficulties getting through electric scrutineering. Both cars placed poorly in the cost presentation, but received 2nd and 7th in the business presentation for combustion and electric cars respectively. There was hope still for a good finish. Although neither car was put through to design finals, Global Formula Racing was looking to the dynamic events.

After doing well in skidpad and acceleration, the combustion car burned up the autocross track with a time of 53.34 seconds. Rochester Institute of Technology, the second place car, was 2.4 seconds behind. It seemed the wings worked, and continued working all the way through endurance. Every lap the car made impressive times, ending with a time of 22 minutes 25.41 seconds, earning GFR 1st in endurance. High Octane Motorsports which placed second was roughly 2 minutes off the pace. After such an impressive performance, the combustion car won its third 1st place finish in a row at Austria with 844 points, beating the next team by 70. The eCar placed 14th in autocross, and was 3rd out of the electric cars. Despite showing promise during autocross, the car ended up having battery problems and could not finish endurance.

Their success at Austria made the Global Formula Racing team hungry for more as they got ready for Formula Student Germany. With 103 cars at Germany the competition was going to be fierce, and the skies were threatening rain. Both cars began the week struggling to get through scrutineering, and that seemed to set the pace for the beginning static events. During cost analysis and the business presentation the team did not do so well, placing 15th and 32nd for the combustion car and 4th and 8th for the electric car.  Design helped fix the growing point gap, with the combustion car finally succeeding with a 1st place finish while the electric car earned 6th.

As the dynamic events began, the points were looking pretty close and GFR had a lot of ground to cover. The electric car displayed its power during its first place 75 meter acceleration run with a 3.73 second time, but the combustion car was not as quick placing only 29th. The very wet skid-pad proved difficult for both cars, placing 44th for the cCar and 10th for the eCar. To finish well at FSG both teams needed to have a successful autocross and endurance, and the cCar delivered. For autocross they had a 50.58 second 1st place run with a 2 second gap on TU Fast, RIT, and Oxford Brooks Racing. During the first lap of endurance, GFR claimed the fastest lap of the day. The rest of endurance the car flew through the track continuing to keep the pressure on, earning 1st place and getting 2nd place in fuel efficiency. GFR finished with a time of 1300.92 seconds, despite having to slow down after the driver change because of an issue with the engine warning display lights. The electric car was not so lucky for their night endurance. With nearly an inch of water on the ground, the track was slick and the car was having difficulties cornering at high speed. GFR’s eCar managed to earn 7th place, despite having traction issues. During the award ceremony it came down to the last. The results were close, but the combustion car finally earned its first place overall at Formula Student Germany. The walls of the ceremony tent shook with the screams and excitement from the Global Formula Racing team, especially with the eCar ending up with 3rd place overall.

To see results from Formula Student Austria go here. These are the combustion and electric FS Germany results.

To watch the FSG combustion endurance go here.

GFR, the only Aero car at UK, places 15th

Global Formula Racing competed at their first European competition, placing 15th out of 79 teams at the Formula Student UK competition in Silverstone. As the only team with a full aero package at the competition, GFR was turning heads and carrying high hopes for a good finish.

The team started the beginning of the week strong, placing fourth in cost, ninth in acceleration, and eighth in skidpad. With these top ten results the team was looking forward to placing well at competition, but ended up on a rocky road. After placing 15th in business presentation, the same presentation that earned GFR third at Michigan, and then placing 10th in design the team was a bit shocked. This was the first time they had been out of the top two for design in eight competitions.

Despite this, the only aero car at competition had two events left to boost their score; autocross and endurance. The car roared through autocross, putting down impressive times of 58.890 and 56.830 seconds. As the team was trying to get our second driver onto the track we were quickly running out of time. The announcers exclaimed shortly after this, “Not sure what the point of GFR having another run [. . .] because they are so far in the lead, they are unassailable.” Despite not being able to complete all four runs, our second time earned the team 1st place and a 2.4 second gap to second place.  This sort of advantage was nearly unheard of.

After competing so well at autocross the team was looking forward to Sunday’s endurance runs. Since they were the fastest in autocross they were going to be running last out of those who competed in Autocross, however this time there was a high chance of rain. The forecast did not disappoint either. The team watched as clouds brewed throughout the day, switching between pouring rain and sunshine that quickly dried the track out. With the varied conditions, the team was apprehensive of what sort of conditions they would be granted.

Finally as it was time for the GFR car to take the track there was water covering on the track, but you wouldn’t have known that from the impressive times put down by the car. As the fourth car out on the track, the team was trailing impressive competition such as TU Munich, University of Bath, and Chalmers University of Technology. Before the first driver change GFR had passed each of them, and was looking to have a quick endurance time. The intercom blared that we were about 3 seconds faster than TU Munich, our next fastest competition. The car with wings was flying.

As the car came in for the driver change, GFR’s hopes for a good endurance disappeared. The battery was dead, and unable to restart to finish the last half. Something simple like this provided a strong reminder to the team about double-checking everything before going out on the track.

Now with FSUK behind them, Global Formula Racing looks towards FS Austria and FS Germany during the next couple weeks. The combustion car will not be alone for these competitions though, being joined by its electric counterpart. The team has high hopes for these competitions, and hopes to defend their reputation.

To view the Formula Student United Kingdom results go here.
To watch the team compete in autocross go here.

GFR takes 13th at FSAE California, looks to Europe for improvement

Global Formula Racing finished 13th overall in a field of 61 from 8 different countries at Formula SAE California at Auto Club Speedway. Read more for details about the competition and what is still ahead this season.

In an effort to become the first Formula SAE team to win both U.S. competitions in the same season, Global Formula Racing suffered a mechanical failure during a major event at FSAE California and fell out of title contention. Still, the team left Auto Club Speedway with awards and a respectable 13th-place in the 61-team field.

GFR and eventual winner Ecole De Technologie Superieure (ETS) took charge of the competition by the final day, Saturday, June 18. The new aerodynamics package, complete with front and rear wings and an undertray – the first full package in the team’s history – was working well.

GFR took 1st in Autocross, 2nd in Skid Pad, 6th in Cost, 11th in Acceleration, and 11th in Presentation. The team, then without wings, had finished behind the University of Kansas in Autocross at FSAE Michigan, but this time the wings propelled GFR to the top spot – Kansas finished second. The cGFR11 also saw a 0.300-second improvement on its Skid Pad time, and it suffered less than a 0.100-second addition in Acceleration despite the increased drag.

ETS had also taken 1st in Acceleration and placed consistently at the head of the field. Both programs were set to face each other, along with the University of Bath, in the Design Finals that evening, but Endurance – worth the most points -- would likely determine the victor.

The team hit trouble immediately and survived one slow lap before they pulled off the track. For the second consecutive year, despite design fixes, a stub shaft popped from the car’s differential, and they could do nothing.

That evening, following the heartbreaker, GFR went to Design Finals and finished 2nd, behind ETS. It was the eighth competition in a row they finished in first or second in Design. The team, however, was hoping for the win.

“ETS is a good team, and they beat us in Design,” GFR captain Jeff Delany said. “My hat goes off to all the ETS team. They showed up with a great car and a great team. A loss in Design, however, gives us great motivation to improve, and improve we will.

“I think that not being able to finish Endurance was a hit in Design, but we have our fix. I feel the car could not quite prove itself, and everyone took the failure very personal.”

The team still has three competitions remaining on its 2011 calendar: Formula Student (UK), FS Austria, and FS Germany. The car and team are in northern Oregon (USA) to complete aero testing before the shipment to DHBW-Ravensburg (GER) on Monday. People have wondered about the new aerodynamics package: Will GFR come to Europe with wings, or not?

“If the results are what we expect, we will be able to get a bit more stability in those high speed sweeps,” Delany said. “People can expect to see wings and an undertray in Europe on the cGFR11.”

Europe also poses a different challenge. GFR will travel to competition with two cars – one combustion-powered and one with an electric motor, the first in the team’s history. But the team has thankfully gone through many test sessions (and two competitions) and is not concerned whether or not the cCar is a winner. It’s always a development process, though.

“Now that we have directly gauged our performance against official clocks and competition, we have a good idea of where we are at,” Delany said. “We learned where a couple of weak points still exist. We know that we still have a bit more tuning to go and will find a bit more speed. Most of all, our aero package has seen a competition and we can now better judge the cost and benefits of it.

“We have a huge task in Europe defending two cars, but we also have a great team up to the challenge.”

The competition results can be found here: FSAE California Results

For more detailed team coverage, follow Team GFR on Twitter and Facebook. Get into the action!

Also look for the team's mini documentary, out later this summer, produced by Oregon State University Marketing.

Roll-Out of the new GFR - Global Formula Racing presents the new race cars

On Friday, 27th of May 2011 the curtain was drawn and the red veil was lifted. The Global Formula Racing team presented their new race car for the season 2011 for the first time to public, sponsors and technophiles.

Both the electric car of the DHBW Ravensburg in Germany and the combustion car at the OSU in the USA were unveiled. Team members and professors explained the main improvements and the way the cars work. Moreover, they gave a brief summary of the past season and a prospect for the coming season.

Finally, everyone who was interested had been invited to take a close look at the car for checking out how the car is built and how it may work. Meanwhile, there has been plenty of interesting and informative conversation between the team and sponsors and technophiles where experience and issues were interchanged.

We all thank you a lot for your great confidence and support and we are looking forward to a successful and exciting season 2011.

More pictures of the roll out can be found at

Roll-Out

1st place in Michigan

“Take a look at the championship trophy in our case,” Global Formula Racing’s senior captain Jeff Delany said during a team meeting, weeks before the national competition. “We have to take it back to Michigan. Now, I don’t know about you, but I want to return to Corvallis with that trophy.”

His words were both a motivational boost and a cruel realization for all involved with Oregon State University’s Formula SAE program.

The first year as GFR – the collaboration with the Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg (DHBW-RV) in Germany – came and went, and the first year as reigning Formula SAE National Champions was going to close just the same, unless they repeated.

In three decades, only the University of Texas at Arlington and Cornell University had won two years in a row.

The Beavers and their German brethren traveled to Brooklyn, Mich., to meet the challenge, and they succeeded.

By Saturday evening, they were named FSAE Champions, and they will hold the trophy for another year.

Their win in 2010 was dominant, but this year’s was even more so.

GFR won the three most coveted trophies, including Engineering Design, Endurance, and of course Overall. They also collected a handful of top-10 awards for various events. Unofficial calculations have GFR around 90 points ahead of second-place Technical University of Munich.

The University of Wisconsin was the closest American competitor, behind third-place University of Stuttgart and fourth-place Technical University of Graz. Munich was Formula Student UK’s 2010 champion.

“That margin of victory is like an NFL team winning 54-3 in the Superbowl,” said OSU’s faculty advisor Robert Paasch. “We won overall in static and dynamic events; that’s all there is (available to win). Nobody does that.”

The car itself is a slight evolution of the 2010 vehicle. Some teams are forced to make drastic changes from year to year, but GFR put most of its efforts into analysis.

“One of the big worries was if design would hurt us, and it didn’t,” Delany said. “We had more knowledge about the car – still obviously had a very solid concept. We just knew more about it, and it helped us.”

Despite making what looked like minor visual changes, the students in Corvallis and Germany spent thousands of hours on the project – shaving weight and tweaking designs, since last September.

They brought their work ethic to Michigan; they were the first of the 100-plus teams through technical inspection and handled the schedule like veterans.

“The one thing that really strikes me again and again about this team is their professional approach,” Paasch said.

“These guys and girls are the most professional on the track, too. They’re also the hardest-working.

“They were there (at the track) when the gates opened in the morning, and they were there working at night. They didn’t (relax) until Saturday night.”

Paasch left Michigan International Speedway a winner, as well.

He was awarded the 2011 Carroll Smith Mentor’s Cup by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), which recognizes the most outstanding Formula SAE adviser.

“It’s kind of a lifetime award, in that once you’ve been given this award you join other awardees in deciding who else gets to join this club,” Paasch said. “It’s the highest honor.”

He and Thomas Nickel, who helps oversee operations at DHBW-RV, were responsible for the birth of the collaboration – the first in the series.

“Dr. Paasch is an outstanding adviser, so it’s well deserved,” Delany said. “He’s there to point us in the right direction. He gives us control, but he’s still there to guide us. He’s just a great leader, overall.”

Formula SAE Michigan was for many teams the only competition on their calendars, but GFR has four venues remaining: FSAE California, Formula Student UK (England), Formula Student Austria, and Formula Student Germany.

They also manufactured a second car, one powered by an all-electric motor.

 Following FSAE California, June 15-18 in Fontana, they plan to compete in the combustion and electric categories in Europe.

GFR will be attending OSU’s annual Engineering Expo, this Friday at the Kelley Engineering Center.

Anyone interested can see the car up close – even sit in it – and talk to the team.

Written by: Anthony Casson

GFR at "Perspektive Technik 2011“ in Ravensburg

Last Friday the Global Formula Racing (GFR) Team participated at the „Perspektive Technik“, a technical experience night in Ravensburg. Between 6 and 11 p.m. the students presented three cars from previous seasons in front of DHBW Ravensburg and they were happy about the response.

Adults, students and pupils who were interested in technical topics came to the presentation and many of them took turns sitting in one of the car just to try it. The students who represented the team answered questions about technical details. With enthusiasm, they explained the functionality of the cars, and the technical, organizational complexity that characterizes the project.

Many of the pupils had already learned about the students’ studies and wanted to know how more about the development of GFR . The students were able to share their experiences, to talk about the structure of the team and to explain a single season’s activity.

The most important thing was that the students could share their technical enthusiasm with visitors, and they could communicate a picture of the team from an insider's perspective.

Live Endurance Broadcast

Listen to the live broadcast of FSAE Michigan's Endurance event (Click for Link)

Link for live broadcast

The Global Formula Racing Team from the DHBW Ravensburg campus Friedrichshafen got awarded with the with the science and transfer prize by the city of Ravensburg. This prize was assigned the third time and proves the connection between city and DHBW.

“The township appreciates the the DHBWs’ support for our economy,” mayor Dr. Daniel Rapp said at the award show of the prize of 1000 EUR. About 20 percent of the industy in the region of Ravensburg is part of the automotive branche. In thes respect it fits that the Global Formula Racing team is awarded this time. Mr. Rapp attested the DHBW “best prospects in the Bolonga process.”
With the mayor taking place in the dynamic bolide, it’s absolutely proven that the right receiver for the award is found. Moreover, the teams’ statistics speak for themselves. The GFR team has won three out of six races in the past season 2010. Anyway, there are up to 120 teams which compete in the Formula Student. The Cars don’t have to be just fast, but the students have to satisfy the judges also in a constuction competition and they have to provide a buisness plan. One key to success was the cooperation of the German team with the Oregon State University. At the Lake Constance and overseas, two similar cars were built. In telephone and video conferences, know how was shared and developed. The international cooperation has obviously  quickened the progress of the project.
But after the season is before the season: At the moment, the sixth generation of students work on a new race car. Their aims aren’t less enthusiastic than their predecessor because they start with a second, electric car in the Formula Student Electric. Prorector Prof. Dr. Martin Freitag certified  all generations a “incredible enthusiasm”.

Combustion Car becomes one step closer to Competition

Over the course of two days, students from OSU and DHBW-RV brought the clear-coated carbon shell of the combustion car (cCar) closer to life. With 12 DHBW-RV students added to the group in Oregon, the assembly process progressed quickly.

With 12 DHBW-RV students added to the group in Oregon, the assembly process progressed quickly. The car is rolling and ready for electronics and the remaining internal components. We plan to have the cCar ready for testing by this week.

Oregon Society of Automotive Engineers came to the OSU shop on April 12 to see the rolling chassis and present the Formula and Baja programs with a check. OSAE have supported the program for years, and for that we are truly grateful.

Spring Break 2011

Perhaps it’s not the most glamorous of environments, where sweat, grease, metallic bits, and carbon dust coat the walls of our racing shop with smells many people might avoid. But it’s Spring Break at GFR, and it’s where we finish some of our best work.

With competition just over a month away, we’re in a fast-paced mode trying to complete our combustion (cCar) chassis – with any remaining time used for testing. Each year, we push to have a “rolling chassis” finished by the end of Spring Break at the Oregon State campus. The challenges of designing two very different vehicles this season, along with a few radical developments, have forced us into another fast-paced building mode.

Come March 28, one of the two carbon monocoques will be finished and ready for full assembly. The two halves of the cCar have been bonded and set – only minor detailing remains. It’s not a complete vehicle, but it’s getting closer.

“While having a rolling chassis is a great milestone, we try to concentrate on what really matters, which is a running, testable car,” senior Trevor Takaro said. “Often we find that we'll be more productive overall if we focus on the running car deadline and let the rolling chassis happen when it does.”

The Spring Break week, while often dreaded, is a time for members to come together. It’s one of the rare times we can work almost nonstop. As might be obvious, our “break” really isn’t a break at all.

“The worst part is probably the physical effects of all the time put in - not sleeping enough, consuming lots of energy drinks and smelling cutting fluid and acetone all day,” Trevor said. “It's been something we've improved greatly in the last few years, is not concentrating so much of the work on this one week. Progress is better and people are healthier and happier when we keep reasonable 12-16 hour days during this week.”

Embracing the atmosphere is a challenge. The reward, however, is big. Months go by looking at computer screens and printed drawings of the designs. Now the ideas become reality, and all the elements begin to take shape.

It’s also an easy place to stay motivated. The shop sounds and feels like a tight-knit club – a technical family.

“Socially it's pretty fun too, everyone is working on their projects together, the shop is full and everyone's having a great time,” Trevor said. “It's also a good opportunity to help other people out and work on part of the car that's not your specialty, to expand your knowledge and skill set.”

We’ll continue building the cars in the coming few weeks. Follow updates at Global-Formula-Racing.com, and on our Facebook and Twitter pages – facebook.com/TeamGFR, twitter.com/TeamGFR.

Our official launch of the cCar is April 29 at Oregon State University.

The Passing of Our Biggest Fan

Mentors motivate, offer advice, and push people to be better individuals, both at home, at school, and at work. Unfortunately, great mentors are uncommon, and Oregon State University lost a wonderful mentor in Steve Adams.

On January 5, OSU’s School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering’s (MIME) machining lab manager passed away due to complications from pneumonia. It was heartbreaking news to his family and everyone he worked with and taught since his arrival in 1997. He began as the Mechanical Engineering shop manager, and then became the machining lab manager when the School of MIME was created in 2007.

He was also one of the biggest supporters of the university’s flagship engineering projects, Formula and Baja Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The two flagship engineering programs have reached success at domestic and international levels, including a current No. 1 world ranking (FormulaSAE) and multiple national titles (BajaSAE).

Each team relied – and continues to rely on – on the school’s manufacturing resources, and had the two teams been without the famed MIME machine shop and Adams, the shop’s “father”, the team history books might have been written differently. Adams was the driving force behind the machine shop’s development.

“I remember when his vision was to extend the shop to what it is today; he was so passionate about it and so proud of it,” Head of the School of MIME Belinda Batten said. “He’s just been such a wonderful part of our program.”

Sometimes a project requires a leader who holds his ground and calls people out when they make mistakes or don’t live to high standards. Adams did all he could and then some to get the machine shop to where it is today – a state-of-the-art facility. Students laughed about his hard personality, but it was only a façade.

“Pretty much everyone knows Steve as the really rough, grumpy old guy in the shop,” Thomas Burgess, an engineering student and one of Adams’ shop employees since 2008, said. “And that’s very true. But one thing I noticed about him from working for him for a long time is that’s what he was because that’s what the shop needed. It really needed someone to yell at people and keep them in line; it’s a dangerous place. Steve did that job well.

“Once you broke through his grumpiness and started taking everything as a joke when he said it, he was hilarious.”

Burgess talked about Adams’ sense of humor around him and Kayla Johnson, a fellow assistant.

“At one point he came over to us with this serious look on his face, kind of with his rough voice and said, ‘Do you know what time it is?’ And we’re like like, ‘Um, it’s 2:30, Steve’, (he said) ‘Nope, it’s cookie time!’, and then he handed Kayla five dollars to go over to Dutch Bros. Coffee and buy us cookies.”

Adams came to OSU after having taught at the middle school, high school, and community college levels. He said in an interview in 2002 that he was feeling burnt out. Lucky was OSU that he didn’t end his teaching career.

"I was planning to leave teaching behind,” Adams told OSU in 2002. “But then I accepted this position with the challenge of providing hands-on experience to mechanical engineering students at OSU, at first on a temporary, volunteer basis, and the interest level in it was just so high that we've expanded the program to something much more elaborate.

Few people in the College of Engineering have an effect on every student that comes through their respective department, but since Adams first succeeded in making ME 250, an introductory machining course, mandatory for all MIME students, he has acted as mentor for most of the students.

"Teaching kids this bright and enthusiastic, who really want to learn and enjoy the program so much, is just so rewarding," Adams said.

GFR in first place in the world ranking

The Formula Student World Team publishes a ranking of all Formula SAE and Formula Student programs after each competition. The list shows the cumulative score of the last six events in which the teams participated.

Many different factors affect the ranking calculation. Events are worth points, some worth more than others; the time since the competition took place also affects the calculation. The current procedure mostly disregards financial/geographic advantages and disadvantages.

The ranking shows the development of the team’s abilities as well as the consistency of their performance. In addition, the first 10 teams in the list have the opportunity to register for events in advance, which gives them a decisive advantage in a competition when spots are limited and a large number of teams try to register.

We are proud to announce that DHBW Ravensburg of the Global Formula Racing team achieved first place in the latest list.
So we used the chance and registered during the early registration day on the 10th of January for Formula Student Combustion in Germany, which will take place in August 2011. We will start with the starting number "21" and are looking forward to this event.

The Top-10

01. DHBW Ravensburg
02. U Monash
03. U Michigan, Ann Arbor
04. IT Rochester
05. U Yokohama National
06. U Osaka
07. U Oklahoma, Norman
08. TU Darmstadt
09. U Maryland
10. AUS Zwickau

Progress and teamwork

Since the restructuring of team GFR last October, much work has been done with regards to preparation for the new season.

In contrast to the previous years, GFR11 will compete with one electric car and one combustion car.The development of an electric car has unique challenges and demands the best effort of the whole team.

After an large number of work hours, workshops and meetings, we have developed concepts for both vehicles and started the manufacturing of essential parts.

A large number of parts are in production to ensure that both cars can be assembled and tested by March, as was laid out in the team time schedule.

In order to reproduce the successes of the previous season, all sub-teams have been working hard.

Milestones for the sub-teams:
Suspension

• Program development for track time simulation
• Creation of new designs for the purpose of reducing the weight of the car by up to 40%
• Calculation and verification of the durability of the sidepods for the extra weight of the ecar
• planning and organising of  test days
• We gained the ZF-Racetrack