CAT08e durante el endurance en el circuito de Montmeló

ETSEIB Motorsport is a

motorsports Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interde ...

that represents the School of Industrial Engineering of Barcelona (ETSEIB) in the

Formula Student Formula Student is a student engineering competition held annually in the UK. Student teams from around the world design, build, test, and race a small-scale formula style racing car. The cars are judged on a number of criteria as listed below ...

competition. The team designs and constructs

open-wheel cars An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

to compete globally against other university teams.

Vehicles

CAT01

The 2007–2008 season was the inaugural season for the ETSEIB Motorsport team. To be officially recognized by the school, three teachers were assigned as project coordinators to support the team's legitimacy. The team designed and built a car to compete in

and named it CAT01. It was taken to the Formula Student competitions organized at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

and the

Hockenheimring The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it has hos ...

; at Silverstone, the CAT01 finished 53rd out of 72 entries, while it finished 52nd out of 78 entries at Hockenheim. The results were poor compared to those of teams who finished before them, but were deemed positive as it was the first year a Spanish team finalized dynamic tests.

CAT02

The second car, CAT02, was created during the team's second season in 2009. As the team could only reuse a few parts from CAT01, almost all the components were new for the season. The team had sixteen members, with a majority of the team returning from the previous season. The CAT02 improved the

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

by building a self-supporting structure constructed of

honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic Beeswax, wax cells built by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. beekeeping, Beekee ...

aluminum plates to allow for a more streamlined design. The vehicle's weight was reduced to by using lighter materials for components such as the

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

suspension

control arms The Control Arms Coalition is a campaign jointly run by a coalition of over 100 organisations including Amnesty International, IANSA, Oxfam International and Saferworld. The campaign has been active since 2003 in calling for an international Arm ...

. The team planned to compete in three competitions, improve

static analysis Static analysis, static projection, or static scoring is a simplified analysis wherein the effect of an immediate change to a system is calculated without regard to the longer-term response of the system to that change. If the short-term effect i ...

results, and complete dynamic events. However, time constraints hindered the team's performance; they were not ready in time to compete in the first race at Silverstone, and also could not complete dynamic tests in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In the latter two events, the CAT02 placed 23rd out of a total of 39 entries and 62nd from a total of 78 entries respectively. It won two static analysis awards—a second-place style award in Germany and a third-place

cost analysis In Production (economics), production, research, retail, and accounting, a cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something or deliver a service, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one o ...

award in Italy.

CAT03

ETSEIB Motorsport's third car, the CAT03, participated in the 2010 season. The team grew to 25 members. The goal to reduce weight remained—while the end product had a similar weight to its predecessor, the chassis' rigidity was improved with steel tubing. The main improvement over the CAT02 was the

suspension system Suspension is the system of tires, tire air, springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels and allows relative motion between the two. Suspension systems must support both road holding/ handling and ride q ...

, where the same technology was used despite problems with the use of adhesives on steel tubing. After several tests, the team was able to eliminate problems from previous years. The CAT03 entered three races in Germany, Italy and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

; results were comparatively better to previous seasons, especially in Italy, where the CAT03 finished in twelfth place.

CAT04

In 2011, ETSEIB Motorsport's fourth vehicle, CAT04, was constructed. The goal for CAT04 was to improve its reliability and performance. Initially, the team's strategy was to create a direct evolution of the previous model without significantly changing the chassis design. They focused on redesigning areas that caused the most problems with the previous car; more new components were built than in previous years to reduce the car's weight by . That season, the team participated in three competitions. In

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, they finished 19th in their class and won a cost analysis award. In Germany, the team finished in 21st place.

CAT05e

In 2011, ETSEIB Motorsport replaced

internal combustion engines An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...

with

electric propulsion Spacecraft electric propulsion (or just electric propulsion) is a type of spacecraft propulsion technique that uses electrostatic or electromagnetic fields to accelerate mass to high speed and thus generate thrust to modify the velocity of a sp ...

. The new car was called CAT05e, with the "e" referring to its electric powertrain. The objectives of the 2011–2012 season were to design, build, and prepare an

electric car An electric car, battery electric car, or all-electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one or more electric motors, using only energy stored in batteries. Compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric cars are quie ...

—a challenge for the 25 students, who had no previous experience with electric race cars. As a result of the change in powertrain, the team intended to reduce weight by 20 kg. Two independent motors were used for better traction and stability. That year, the team participated in three competitions. In Germany, problems arose from insufficient testing, but the team took second place in cost analysis. Results improved in Spain, where the team finished in eleventh place. In Italy, they finished in ninth place, and an acceleration test yielded a time of 4.4 s.

CAT06e

CAT06e, ETSEIB's second electric car, was developed during the 2012–2013 season. 35 students were involved in the new electric prototype. The plans for the CAT06e was to refine the previous model and improve both reliability and performance. The CAT06e was ETSEIB's first car to incorporate aerodynamic elements. The team focused on areas which had caused more problems in recent competitions while redesigning and optimizing other parts. More components were designed and manufactured in-house, including the carbon fiber

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

and

inverters A power inverter, inverter or invertor is a power electronic device or circuitry that changes direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). The resulting AC frequency obtained depends on the particular device employed. Inverters do the opp ...

. As in previous years, ETSEIB Motorsport participated in competitions at Germany, Spain, and Italy. At Hockenheim, they placed 24th and won the gold medal in Cost Analysis. In the second competition, Spain, they won the gold and bronze medals in Efficiency and Cost Analysis respectively. They placed 16th in Italy.

CAT07e

During the 2013–14 season, ETSEIB Motorsport built another electric car: the CAT07e. The goals for this vehicle were to reduce the vehicle's weight and improve its

and electronics. The chassis, like the CAT06e, consists of a fibre monocoque with a tubular steel subframe. The team participated in three events during the season: Germany, Spain and, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The first competition was held in Germany, where the team could not participate in the dynamic events but scored 24th overall. A couple of weeks after, the team travelled to the Czech Republic and placed third in the overall standings due to taking first place in the Business Plan and Cost Analysis category and second place in Design. Finally, the team participated in the fifth Formula Student competition held in Montmelo Circuit,

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, and scored high in the static tests, such as taking third place in the Business Plan category.

CAT08e

The CAT08e is the fourth electric car built by the ETSEIB Motorsport. It included the design and construction of the first integrated carbon fibre monocoque within the Spanish Formula Student teams. Its wheel size was reduced from 13 to 10 inches, and a more powerful engine was installed. Due to the lack of time needed to test the CAT08e in Germany, the team was only able to participate in the static events, taking 23rd place overall. At the end of August, and after performing the necessary changes and adjustments on the car, the team participated in the sixth Formula Student Spain competition, where the team placed third in the Business Plan Event and were able to complete all the events. ETSEIB Motorsport was proclaimed the best Spanish electrical team.

References

{{reflist

External links

Página oficial de ETSEIB Motorsport

Página oficial de la Formula Student del RU

Página oficial de la Formula Student de Alemania

Página oficial de la ETSEIB

Página oficial de la Formula Student de Catalunya

Vídeo promocional del equipo
Engineering education Polytechnic University of Catalonia Spanish auto racing teams