An energy budget is needed to understand endurance. Energy efficiency is as important as mass, power, aero, mu. Spend energy as efficiently as possible to generate speed.

• Comparing Laps

• Scatter Plots

• Everything Shows In Braking

Modeling tires and calculating how fast you can go around a corner is a bunch of 8th grade math.

Do lighter racecars go faster?  Does mass even matter?  Should a mass target be a key design goal?  Low mass is often taken to be a virtue in FSAE/FS racecars, and often chosen as a design strategy for improvement in performance.  But does low mass really pay off? 

• Engineer a strong battery lifespan

• EV Efficiency is as important as mass, downforce, drag, power, and mu.

• Create tools for drivers to manage energy

• Add regenerative braking later

In the time it takes to read this sentence, design finalists are capable of presenting data from the same day’s Autocross, along with analysis of which assumptions the data validates or invalidates, how it fits with all their other testing, and what the next steps are to continue improving the car and drivers. They do this for everything, all year.

The very best drivers can go up to but not over the maximum lateral capability during braking and corner entry. As they smoothly come off the brakes, the lateral limit increases due to both the friction circle, and more balanced loads front/rear.

How robust do driver controls really need to be? Never underestimate the strength of a scared driver.

Different processes for calculating and measuring brake temperatures for pad selection.

Definitions of limited slip differential types and performance, focusing on yaw moments due to combined cornering and acceleration or braking.

A highly optimized brake system properly managed by the driver allows longer wide-open throttle times, shorter brake zones, and higher average cornering speeds. This is how we reduce lap times.