Acceleration and Skidpad

The first day of racing began with a thorough check of all critical components as well as an analysis of the weather. The morning was supposed to stay dry but rain was expected in the afternoon. The team began with the two acceleration stints of the first driver and then switched suspension and aerodynamics setup to the cornering discipline skidpad. In front of the majestic hills of Spielberg, both drivers completed their runs and AMZ managed to set the second best time of the day.

Autocross

In the afternoon, the weather became the focus of the team strategy. It was difficult to estimate when and how much it would rain so AMZ decided to let their first driver set a baseline early on. The second driver was then set in the queue just at the right moment: a few minutes before the rain started. The best conditions of the day enabled a phenomenal performance of both car and driver. The rain developed into storm that lasted for several hours which secured AMZ’s two second time bonus ahead of the team in second place: Karlsruhe.

Endurance

On the last day, the ultimate test for the repaired powertrain - the 22-kilometer Endurance – was bound to push all components to the limit. Any tiny weakness could lead to a failure. For this reason, the students spent a portion of the night looking for ways to maximize the reliability and performance of pilatus. Final changes to the control system were validated on the practice area before the battery was fully charged for the Endurance. In the early afternoon the time had come: pilatus started off and set competitive lap times from the very beginning.

Award Ceremony

The second part of the Award Ceremony dispelled any uncertainty: first place in the main dynamic disciplines Endurance and Autocross and a second place in the Skidpad discipline. Despite the quicker lap time, pilatus needed less energy in the Endurance than its main competitors. Hence, the team was awarded the first place in the efficiency category. The second place in the Engineering Design Event underlines the good engineering practice of the Swiss students, but still allows for further improvement. The sum of these awards led to the most important prize of the event: AMZ won the Formula Student Event in Austria ahead of the teams from Karlsruhe and Stuttgart!