Brunel Racing's Formula Student Team finished in fifth place out of 72 teams at the first-ever virtual Formula Student competition #FS2020.
The team participated virtually in an adapted simulation, with team principal Alex Slimm and chassis manager Jake Haley giving an amazing performance in the BR-21 racing car, representing the team, the University and Brunel Racing sponsors, BP.
The final scores saw the team finish with a combined total of 719.3 points across all events – this result is the highest Brunel Racing score in the past decade! The full category points and positions achieved were:
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Acceleration: 4th out of 34 teams (73/75 points)
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Skid Pad: 3rd out of 34 teams (66/75 points)
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Cost: 7th out of 57 teams (91/120 points)
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Endurance: 8th out of 34 teams (275/325 points)
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Business: 9th out of 63 teams (97/120 points)
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Sprint: 24th out of 30 teams (43/200 points)
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Design: 34th out of 63 teams (75/160 points)
The Formula Student competition is organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and over 70 global university teams entered the 2020 UK event, which is usually held at Silverstone.
The exciting four-day contest saw aerodynamics manager Catarina Baldaia and powertrain manager Kyran Griffin, plus Jake and Alex take part in the design event. Business manager Jens Bauer took part in the business event and finance manager Zaki Syed took part in the cost event. Jens and Zaki achieved the highest scores in their categories since 2011.
The live racing finals were streamed across YouTube on the Saturday and Sunday with Brunel finishing in 5th place at the qualifiers [even after an unfortunate spin-out], and into the grand final where we came 9th. This placed the team in 5th place overall (just three points behind the winning team)!
Next year, the team of 20 students will enter an electric car for the first time – introducing the BRE-3 model. Alex will be leading the Brunel Racing team for a second year in 2021, focusing on improving the manufacturing and design of the BR-21 model.
Alex said: "I am very pleased with our performance this year and would like to thank all our team members for their efforts in making this year one of our best performances ever. It's been one of the best things I've done at university."
Only onwards and upwards from here – congrats to the whole team!