SolidWorks Express | September 2006

FH Keil from Germany used SolidWorks to design their racecar and won the Best Newcomer Award for best finish for a new competition entry.

In the first weekend of August, 40 student university teams from 10 nations as far away as Moscow, India, and Australia, converged in Hockenheim, Germany, to participate in the first annual Formula Student Germany racecar competition.

SolidWorks leant a hand to the event by giving students free Student Edition versions of SolidWorks®, COSMOSWorks®, COSMOSMotion™, and COSMOSFloWorks™ software that they can run on their laptops or home computers.

“This way, students don’t have to worry about finding a lab on campus that’s open at 2AM,” says Marie Planchard, SolidWorks director of education and marketing. “We want to make it easier for them.”

Sponsoring formula student teams worldwide
Student racecar competitions are becoming increasingly popular in universities and colleges around the globe. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) started the trend with its Formula SAE event in the U.S, followed by Formula Student, the European counterpart with events in the UK and now Germany. (The UK event is organized by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the German Formula Student is hosted by VDI, and acronym for the Association of German Engineers). Both competitions follow the same rules and regulations.

“We’ve gotten such a demand for team sponsorships,” says Planchard. “We started off sponsoring the SAE events in the U.S. and then we expanded to Formula Student events in the UK. Now we offer SolidWorks to all Formula SAE and Formula Student teams worldwide.”

Oxford Brooks from England won the Sportsmanship Award for helping out the team from Russia.

Around the track in Germany
If you’re not familiar with how these contests go, a description of the recent Formula Student Germany paints a picture. The goal is to conceive of, design, and fabricate a formula-style racecar and compete with the finished product.

Teams build the cars over the period of one school year, which makes SolidWorks software a huge asset. It’s easier to learn in a short period, giving students more time to focus on design. What’s more, integrated COSMOSWorks allows students to check the models before manufacturing.

The actual four-day competition in Germany consists of a series of static and dynamic events. Before entering any of those, however, a car must pass a special event called “Scrutineering” to ensure safety compliance.

Static events include those that judge a car’s overall design and style and include a cost presentation and a business presentation given to a fictitious investor.

The dynamic events are the most heart pounding, where cars compete in an acceleration, a skid pad, and an autocross race. Here, speed is the key component. A separate endurance test of 22 km (14 miles) demonstrates a car’s ability to handle the distance.

The SolidWorks Best Analysis and Design Award went to the University of Windsor, Canada team, shown here.

Winning awards with SolidWorks
Lutz Bettels, the SolidWorks European business manager for education, witnessed the event firsthand. Twenty percent of the teams used SolidWorks to design their cars. Some of notable achievements for SolidWorks users:

University of Windsor from Canada won the SolidWorks Design and Analysis Award for the best use of SolidWorks integrated design and analysis software.

The Best Newcomer Award (for the best finish for a new competition entry) went to FH Kiel from Germany. “They were able to design a fast and reliable car in a short period of time, which is unusual but they were able to do this with SolidWorks,” says Bettels.

University of Windsor, Canada, used both SolidWorks design and COSMOS analysis software to model their formula racecar in 3D.

And for lending a helping hand to the team from Russia, Oxford Brooks from England won the Sportsmanship Award. The Russians had more than their share of bad luck. Barely getting their visas on time make the plane to Germany, the Russian students arrived with a racecar that was unfit to drive built with parts from a motorcycle, which they planned to reconstruct and sell after the race to save money.

“It was a stressful time for the Russians, but they had such a good spirit and strong attitude,” says Bettels. “They worked day and night for three days, and the guys from Oxford Brooks were so impressed that they got in the pits with them for a day and a half and in the end got the car to pass Scrutineering and to drive two laps in the endurance event. It was a great accomplishment for both teams.”

Formula Student Germany was a great success and another example of how much engineering students can learn by getting their hands dirty. You can learn more about Formula Student Germany by visiting the website.