This interesting event took place in Hungarian Győr 24-25.4.2012. The main idea was to gather teams registered for the FS Hungary race in August and spend 2 days together dedicated to very beneficial lectures and excursions.

Nine members participated from TU Brno Racing team. In addition to our team, there were also teams from Greece, Estonia, Germany, Hungary and Ireland. The whole two days could be characterized by a very friendly atmosphere. Lectures as well as the accompanying program were presented in English. After all, English is the official language in entire Formula Student competition.

The journey from Brno to Győr took our crew in 2 cars a little more than 2 hours. But without navigation we would still wandering through the metropolis of north Hungarian. On the first day (Tuesday) program began at 14:00 in building shaped as Wankel engine. The Program was led by the Dean of local technical faculty Barna Hanula PhD, who has years of experience in the automotive industry. After the opening came a presentation about a dynamics of high-performance engines from Dr. Jörg Ross. Afterwards Rennteam Uni Stuttgart introduced their team, which holds the last three years worldwide 1st place in the Formula Student. Their presentation was focused on construction and discipline of a racing team. Then we were transported by bus to a nearby factory Audi. This excursion last for 1 hour and we could choose what we want to see in the factory. One of the options was to look at the assembly line (complete assembly line of vehicles), but also on the engine production line. Audi Motor Hungaria Ltd. employs over 8,000 workers, who produce models of TT, TT Cabrio, TT/RS, RS 3 and A3 Cabrio. Its dominant feature is the production of engines for whole concern VW. This is the largest engine plant in the World. Upon arrival from the factory, we passed on the last presentation focused on strategic role of motorsport in automotive companies. During the evening we were trying to find accommodation in heavy raining. GPS often betrayed, so we wandered around town a few tens of minutes. In the end everything turned out well and we stayed in the centre of Győr. Accommodation was not cheap, but breakfast was included and we slept very well – after a couple of Czech beers.

The next day program began at 9:00 with Nicolas Reader presentation, who talked about his beginnings in motorsport. Nowadays he owns the company Raeder Motorsport GmbH with his younger brother. Presentation was followed by hybridization and electrification in motorsport from Dr. Peter Schöggl. Paradoxically, one of the most interesting for me. Mr. Ulrich Beretzky then presented a very good lecture on the development of diesel engine for Le Mans series, concretely Audi R8, R10 and R15, which win these races. From the 12-cylinder gradually bacame a 6-cylinder („downsizing“). Mr. Beretzky is convinced that over the next years F1 will run on a special diesel. After that came the lecture by university students in Győr, who are working on their own single-cylinder engine since 2008 specially for the Formula Student. In next year they intend to engage in competition with a complete car – I think they will be strong competitors.

Followed desired lunch and we went to the closest possible restaurant. As the menu – plum soup and gyros. The proper combination of diarrhea. Fortunately, we survived in good health and able to return to the continuation of the program – 7th order lecture. Volker Strycek advised us how to manage a racing team. After this lectures we divided into groups (workshops), in which we could take a closer view to the creative activity of developers. I chose a workshop titled Layout process of a new racing engine. Norbert Gatzka led this group, who himself designed and constructed a single-cylinder engine for speedway motorcycle racing. Mr. Gatzka has experiences in development of engines from BMW and Husqvarna. During the lecture he showed the engine model in Catia, but also all the calculations in excel format. He brought a complete engine, which was dismantled into individual parts.

The final presentation was led by Dr. Wolfgang Demmelbauer-Ebner, who is head of engine development at Audi Hungaria. He talked about Formula Student support by Audi and gave valuable advice for university graduates applying to large automotive companies.

Engine Symposium Győr 2012, we liked a lot and therefore we will participate in the next year.

Written by Tomáš Guláš, Marketing and Management Leader. Translated by Tomáš Macháček, Suspension team member