Combustion Car wins at Austria and Germany, Electric Car makes Debut
2011-08-12 | FS Austria and FS Germany | Samantha Egge
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.
