Team Starcraft, the Formula Student Team of the TU Ilmenau participated in the international design competition Formula Student Netherlands in the week of July 5-9, 2021. At the TT Circuit in Assen the team competed with its new race car, the TSC-6E-R, against 28 other student clubs in the Electronic Vehicle category. Although it could not participate in any dynamic disciplines, Team Starcraft achieved 18th place overall with the static events alone. And the next competition is already waiting: From July 26 to August 1, the team will compete at the Formula Student Event in the Czech Republic.
Report
Hoi Assen! Team Starcraft at the Formula Student Netherlands
More practice, more knowledge, more fun, more team: Under this motto, students at TU Ilmenau can discover a world in Team Starcraft that goes far beyond the normal everyday study routine. Since its foundation in 2006, the student association has set itself the goal of developing racing cars for Formula Student in order to compete successfully in international competitions against other university teams from all over the world.
The approximately 50 committed students in Team Starcraft, who belong to a wide variety of disciplines ranging from mechanical engineering and automotive engineering to electrical engineering and media management, can thus practically apply the knowledge they have acquired during their studies and gain experience in an interdisciplinary team.
"In motorsport, progress and adaptability play a major role alongside reliability," explains Christian Wyrwich, Technical Manager of the team. "For this reason, we have been focusing on purely electrically powered racing cars since 2011 and have also been developing autonomous systems for our vehicles since 2017." The special feature: Except for a few purchased parts, all vehicle components are developed in-house. "This allows us members to demonstrate our competencies and skills and continuously develop them further."
Finally back on the race track
One of the competitions in which the students prove themselves every year is Formula Student Netherlands, which has been inviting teams from all over the world to the race track in Assen in the Combustion and Electric categories since 2017. Back in February, the TU Ilmenau team qualified for this year's event by taking a rule quiz in which they had to answer various rule and technical questions to a time limit, thus securing themselves a starting number.
After the event in the Netherlands in 2020 had to be cancelled due to the Corona pandemic, this year's event took place with fewer participants and numerous security measures, but still as planned. The ten members from Team Starcraft represented not only their club on site, but also the TU Ilmenau. Accustomed to the changeable weather in Ilmenau, even the continuous rain could not keep the team from preparing for the disciplines.
TSC-6E-R: Put through its paces
For Team Starcraft the event started on Monday with the participation in the Accumulator, Electrical and Mechanical Scrutineering, which has to be passed for the participation in the dynamic events. Here the judges check all safety relevant parts and functions of the race cars. While the Electrical Scrutineering could not be completed in Assen due to time constraints, slight deficiencies were already apparent during the assessment of the accumulator, which had to be reworked.
In the second round, the Statics, for which the team had already qualified in Ilmenau by participating in the so-called Online Statics, the team explained the business background and concepts of prototype construction to the judges in the context of cost and maufacturing directly on the car. At the same time, work on the battery was in full swing. It turned out that a battery cell had blown up: "We can't repair a problem like that on site at the event," explained Christian Wyrwich. "That's why, in the end, we made the difficult decision in the team to leave early in order to devote ourselves fully to the preparations for the Formula Student event from 26 July to 1 August in the Czech Republic."
18 of 28: The business plan was convincing
Although Team Starcraft was not able to qualify for the dynamic events in the end and had to leave early, it achieved 18th place overall in the Electric Vehicle category and was thus able to hold its own against other teams from all over the world. The club scored particularly well in the presentation of its business plan, which brought about its ultimately good placing. "The bottom line is that we are satisfied with our performance and are already looking forward to competing with a moving car at the next event," says organisational manager Felix Wiegand.
Team Starcraft at the Form Student Netherlands
