Pure Dynamics - TU Graz Racing Team on the fast track with IPG Automotive
The students of Graz University of Technology are real race enthusiasts. Four years ago they founded the TU Graz Racing Team that annually builds a new race car to participate in the racing series "Formula SAE/Formula Student" where they compete with other university teams. The TU Graz Racing Team trusts in IPG-KINEMATICS and CarMaker to optimize the kinematics of their race car, and to test its engine in the hardware-in-the-loop simulation.
University graduates are not only expected to attain wide theoretical knowledge during their academic training but also to gain practical experience and so-called soft-skills (e.g. team spirit, knowledge of human nature, organizing ability). In 1981, the racing series Formula SAE was founded to meet these requirements, and in 1997, it was followed by the European version Formula Student. In the Formula Student/Formula SAE, students build a single seat formula race car and compete with it against other academic teams from all over the world. During these contests the students have to prove their all-round talents as the competition is not won solely by the team with the fastest car. The winner has the best overall results of the static disciplines: Construction, Financial planning, and Marketing and of the dynamic disciplines: Acceleration, Skid Pad, Autocross, and Endurance.
Four years ago a group of students from Graz University accepted the challenge and founded the TU Graz Racing Team that, in the meantime, grew up to a student racing group with more than 40 members. Every year the students develop, construct, and produce a new "Tankia" (There Are No Kangoroos In Austria), the name of their race car! In the last season, Tankia2005 had already achieved excellent results and this year the Austrian students wanted to continue the success.
When the team began with the construction of Tankia2006 the members aimed high. The race car for the Formula Student season 2006 should be faster, lighter and more powerful than its forerunner. Could the students satisfy their own expectations? The results of months of hard development and fabrication work definitely says "yes". The Tankia2006 has a respectable 99 hp combined with a light weight of 185 kg. The vehicle reaches a top speed of more than 200 km/h and can accelerate from 0 to 100 within 3.5 seconds. The highlights of Tankia2006 are a monocoque of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), an investment casting rear, and a multi-functional CFRP steering wheel that provides the driver with information during the race.
The future engineers left nothing to chance to achieve this technological masterpiece and applied modern development and testing methods. The engine of Tankia2006 has been widely tested on the dynamic engine test bench before its use in the vehicle. The students identified the best ignition timing and the optimal injected fuel quantity. Furthermore they analyzed the vehicle dynamics by means of hardware-in-the-loop simulation. To simulate the dynamic behavior of the vehicle, the TU Graz Racing Team used CarMaker from IPG. This strategy allowed them to test the engine in a realistic race car environment and to prove the dynamic behavior of the future vehicle before even finishing the fabrication of Tankia2006. The very good vehicle dynamics is also due to a sophisticated chassis that was likewise developed with a tool from IPG. A multi-body system of the chassis was constructed on the virtual K&C test bench IPG-KINEMATICS and afterwards optimized with the aid of the parameters calculated by IPG-KINEMATICS.
The hard development work has paid off! The race car has achieved much success during the 2006 racing season and, to crown it all, the team from Graz was the overall winner at the Formula Student event at the Hockenheimring. The fastest students from Austria explained their success with the great enthusiasm for racing of all the team members, the special team spirit and the close contacts to partner companies.
IPG Automotive supports the TU Graz Racing Team within the framework of the Formula CarMaker program by providing them with free licenses of the simulation programs IPG-KINEMATICS and CarMaker. The support does not end with the delivery of the licenses: race enthusiastic IPG employees are open for every question concerning vehicle dynamics and chassis design. Dr. Andreas Riedel, managing director of IPG, says about the IPG engagement in the Formula Student competition: "The fascination for motor sports connects IPG with the participants of the Formula Student and motivated us to set up the Formula CarMaker program. The response of teams from all over the world is superb and it confirms that we wish to carry on our support for the participants in the coming season."
