Drove proud into Barcelona

Team Spark, a group of students from the University of Iceland’s Faculties of Engineering, recently came back from Barcelona after a rewarding participation in the international competition for university students to design, build and market a racing car. The team reached most of its goals in the competition, including driving the race car TS18 Garún on the track at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Around 40 students from various departments and programmes within the Faculties of the School of Engineering and Natural Sciences designed and built the racer TS18 Garún, which was unveiled at a University ceremony last summer. The work behind this endeavour is tremendous and team members were thus accredited for part of it in their studies at the University of Iceland.

A team from the University of Iceland has taken part in the international design and racing competition for University students since 2011, always placing emphasis on electrical and environmentally friendly design. This year was no exception. The design of an electric car requires considerable more work than the development of a car running on petrol, as the demands for electric cars are stricter for participation in Formula Student. Team Spark made considerable changes on the primary vehicle structure, and the team succeeded in making a monocoque construction. This is a type of construction in which the outer body carries the major part of the load. This is the first time this has been done for a car in Iceland.

Team Spark went to Barcelona with the racer mid-August, and Formula Student Spain took place in Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya between 21 -24 August. Almost 80 teams were registered, thereof 39 with electric cars. They were all judged by the design of the racer and performance on the track; but to get on the track the racer had to pass several tests.

Marín Lilja Ágústdóttir, managing director of Team Spark, says that the team achieved most of their goals in the competition. "We managed to make a monocoque and the car passed through the mechanical tests with flying colours. The electricity has, however, always been our weakness, and it took us three days to pass the electrical tests. After we passed them it was smooth sailing through testing of the descent angle, rain and breaks; ensuring us the right to participate in the driving part of the competition," says Marin. The team completed two out of four parts of the driving competition and ended in 34th place. The team, however, received their prize in the end as they won first place for the best team spirit.

Team members agree that participating in Formula Student was extremely informative, and Marín said that the helpfulness and friendliness of other teams had been invaluable, especially during the difficult electrical testing. "Now that we are back in Iceland we have to decide upon a team for next year. Those who continue are looking forward to the next competition and will begin recruiting immediately for a new Team Spark," concludes Marín.