FSAE Italy 2015 - First part

The team has now been back for a week from the Italian Formula SAE event, in Varano De’ Melegari, held at the Riccardo Paletti circuit. There is a lot of satisfaction and the mood is very high thanks to the 7th place placement in the overall (3rd Italian team) in the combustion engine category!!!

The team also won the special prize awarded by Lamborghini “Best Use of Active Chassis Systems ”, thanks to its flagship product: a semi-active differential (S.A.D.) designed entirely by the team and built thanks to the support of Bacci Trasmissioni Meccaniche. The sacrifices made and the time spent were rewarded by five days full of passion, adrenalin, fear, joy and pain, in an explosive mix that will be hard to forget and that certainly left a mark on each of us.

The experience began with a good dose of optimism and confidence, knowing that we had done a good job and had given 100% throughout the design and realisation process; the technical inspection and the tilt test were passed with ease, both on the first attempt, without having to make any changes. There was a small hiccup with the noise test, but thanks to the use of the DB-killer, the team passed this test as well, and then brilliantly passed the last test that separated it from the dynamic tests, namely the brake test.

A couple of rounds were then conducted in the practice area, both to let the riders get their hands back on the bike a little and to try to find the best set-up for the following days’ races.

In the meantime, the static events took place: the first to face the judges was Amedeo Tesi, who presented the cost report, drawn up by all the team members, to a panel of judges; the judges came out of the box visibly pleased, positively assessing the work done by the team and Amedeo, eventually suggesting his inclusion as a judge for such an event for the next few years, given the passion, commitment and precision with which he tackled the layout and drafting of more than 500 pages!!! Unfortunately, due to small details we did not manage to get into the top 3, but we will certainly take a cue from the advice given next year, in order to be even more competitive.

Then it was the turn of the car’s sub-assembly managers, who presented to an international jury of five people all the work behind the car, explaining in English in front of the car the particularities and strengths of each assembly and component, with particular emphasis on the key features: the limited slip differential and the turbocharged single-cylinder engine. Again, small details did not allow us to participate in the final show to decide the top three positions and thus the winner of that event by a few points; however, the whole team came out satisfied and proud of the fact that a car in its first year of life was liked by the judges, who saw its potential.

At the same time, the two businessmen Lorenzo Tarchi and Francesco Gucciarelli gave a business presentation, in English, before a panel of judges who evaluated the marketing strategy and the various commercial aspects of our car, with the support of a power point presentation.

So let’s look at some numbers of static events:

Final Position Static Events: 5th