A race against time

Unlike hoverboards and Google’s self-driving car, which have both become synonymous with injuries and accidents, this is an electrical vehicle that isn’t very dangerous.

That’s a bold statement for a state-of-the-art race car. Nevertheless, it’s one that Tom Spoel, the team’s chief engineer, is willing to stand by. “Besides the high voltage, it’s a very quick car and there’s always a chance that the driver could crash,” he said. “Even if there’s a crash, nothing will happen.”

Along with a small army of 57 part-time engineers and his eight colleagues in FSTD’s core team, Spoel has been hard at work on the DUT16 since September. Together they’re racing against the clock to have the vehicle ready in time for three competitions this summer. The DUT16 will include several improvements over last year’s model, the DUT15. The team plans to make it lighter and add a revised wing along with an integrated drive train in each wheel. The DUT15 was able to go from 0 to a 100 km/h in 2.3 seconds but this new car should prove even faster. “We think that with a bit of work we get can get it under two seconds,” team manager Bas Aan de Stegge said.

It’s ambitious goals like this one that have helped make FSTD one of the best student racing teams on the planet. The team, which designs and builds their vehicles in the Dreamhall, was originally founded in 2000. Since then, its members have repeatedly earned top honours at two prestigious international competitions. Prior editions of FSTD won Formula Student UK in 2011, 2014 and 2015 and conquered Formula Student Germany six times between 2008 and 2016. This summer, however, the current team will also be setting their sights on a third competition in Barcelona called FS Spain that brings with it an entirely new challenge.

At FS Spain, the team from Delft will very likely face something they’ve never encountered before: extreme summer heat. “We have summer days here in the Netherlands where it might reach 30 degrees and that’s as much as you’re going to get,” Spoel said. The team won’t know if the car or its battery will overheat until they’re actually on the track in Barcelona. Currently though, they’re more concerned with actually building the vehicle. They plan to have it completed by early May in time for their drivers to begin training at an outdoor space located at the former Valkenburg Naval Air Base.

Driver selection began in early March. The team evaluates potential candidates on their ability to stay cool under pressure and driving skills in addition to their willingness to go on a diet. Even a single extra kilogram could cost them a crucial victory. “The drivers always have to lose as much weight as they can even if they’re a very skilled driver,” Aan de Stegge said.

“Last year, a driver lost 16 kilograms,” Spoel added.