23. February 2016
Pat's Corner - Back to Basics
I have just returned from Formula Student India, where the importance of re-covering the basics became obvious. We forget the churn of students through Formula Student and often the basics are forgotten when new teams attempt to...
20. April 2015
Pat's Corner - The Money Tree
I regularly get asked by teams how they can get more sponsorship. No team ever had enough money regardless of their budget and as Formula Student cars get more sophisticated, so the cost of competing increases. My usual...
12. December 2014
Pat's Corner - Communication with Judges
Communication Formula Student was founded with the intention of preparing graduating students for a life in Industry. What is usually quoted is the 'finishing' of young engineer's education by giving them a 'real' project to...
02. August 2014
Pat's Corner Live @FSG2014
This year you can meet our Chief Design Judge Pat - known from many famous article concerning engineering design topics - live in our recreation area on the FSG event site. Pat’s Corner live is the best possibility to discuss...
22. July 2014
Towing Your Trailer Safely
In April 2006, a team from the University of Mankato in Minnesota, attending FSAE in Michigan, lost control of their trailer in a cross wind and crashed into opposing traffic. Three students were killed and several others...
16. July 2014
Some of the Issues a Team Faces When Designing for FSG.
It is now 20 years since I saw my first Formula Student event, FSAE 1994 at the Pontiac Silverdome in the US. I was on a business trip in the USA and attended as a spectator. Pontiac Silverdome where the FSAE competition was...
10. June 2014
Pat’s Corner - Formula Student Tyres for Dummies
I had a phone call today from a team member who wanted to talk about tyres. He made the point that there is a lot of tyre information out there, including the data from the Tyre Testing Consortium, but little to tell you what it...
10. March 2014
Pat’s Corner - Bill Mitchell, Rules & Engine Choices
I had a timely reminder today that it is a long time since I wrote a new blog article. I guess getting involved with FS India and FS Russia has distracted me, but FSG is still my primary Formula event, so here...
03. August 2013
Pat’s Live Corner starts today
Meet Pat in his corner @recreation.area in the FSG forum Saturday 14.00 – 17.00 Sunday 10.00 – 12.00 and 14.00 – 16.00
05. March 2013
Formula Student – Education or Motorsport?
In my life before Formula Student I was responsible for the technical area of CIK Karting, so I still maintain a passing interest in that sport. So last night I was reading the local Karting News. A couple of recent news items...
02. November 2012
Pat’s Seven Deadly Sins of FS Design
In my last blog, I mentioned that some ‘beginner errors’ are creeping back into the designs we are seeing from some very experienced teams. I will consider the following list as ‘deadly’ sins because they are likely to lead to a...
08. October 2012
The Summer of 2012
Well, the summer is finished and the FS season is over for another year, so it is time to review the highpoints of the year. FSG was another huge success. In order to reduce the workload on the staff, the night enduro for...
04. August 2012
Pat’s Corner Live
Today we have another first at Formula Student Germany: Pat’s Corner Live. All teams are invited to come by for advice from Pat Clarke. Feel free to bring along parts or a computer. A flat screen is available to display any...
18. April 2012
How the Judges Learn about this stuff
Warning! Historical stuff! I am often asked where I learned about this race car design stuff. Students want to know if they can learn the same way. The simple answer is ‘No’ because times and places have changed and we must...
20. March 2012
Pat's Corner: Understanding what you are trying to achieve
Time for another column. I have been busy over the last few weeks writing my share of a new FS/FSAE book that will hopefully be published in time for FS UK in August. The book is being published by Racecar magazine in the UK and...
16. January 2012
Pat’s Corner
Well, 2011 has passed into history, so we are all a year older and hopefully a year wiser. I wish all teams around the world, the very best wishes for the New Year 2012. Whether you are building a FSC or FSE car, or a hybrid car...
03. June 2011
Testing Times
The first major event of the FSAE/FS season has passed with Oregon State/GFR winning the FSAE event at Michigan International Speedway a couple of weeks ago. From my perspective the Michigan event was the best ever. This was...
13. March 2011
How to make a correct design and layout of your brake system?
It has been brought to our attention by one of our design judges that there is a very useful paper by prof. K.H. Bill on the complete layout and calculation of the brake system of a Formula Student race car. Here we would like to...
26. December 2010
Pat’s final corner for 2010
Well, 2010 is almost finished, cold weather has spread over Europe and hopefully we have all been good little children and Santa Claus has been kind (he brought me a new DSLR and zoom lens) all the better to record ‘Design Error...
02. December 2010
Chassis Stiffness and Compliance
In a recent email exchange with my fellow Chief Design Judge Steve Fox, the subject of ‘compliance’ came up. Steve wrote the following comment and it prompted this latest Tech Column. Compliance is something that… Their CADs...
10. July 2010
Steve’s Box (of tricks)
A guest article by Steve Fox, Chief Design Judge, FSG. Pat’s overheated keyboard needed a little cooling down time. So until his new liquid cooled keyboard comes in, I agreed to contribute a little something to keep you all...
28. June 2010
Pat's Corner – Design Reports
As the Design Reports for FSG 2010 come in, I am reviewing them with mixed feelings. Some are good, very good! And some are, well, not so good. I know I have stood on this soapbox many times and have actually published (with...
08. June 2010
Pat’s Corner – Safety
It has been a little while since my last column, due primarily to work pressures, but now we have FSAE Michigan out of the way, I can concentrate on FSG again.Congratulations to Oregon State University on winning both Design and...
15. November 2009
Pat's Column - Car set up
Apologies to all for the lack of a column over the last few months. Insane work pressure has kept me away from home for 7 of the last 9 weeks. Last week had me in Adelaide where I witnessed the finish of the Solar Challenge. It...
06. May 2009
Pat's Column - Space-frame Chassis
I have never made any secret of my preference for space-frame chassis in FSG. This preference is not because of some nostalgic feeling, but for very pragmatic reasons. The thing I like most about a space-frame structure is that...
14. April 2009
Pat's Column - Relay Racing
Time for another column as we enter the Student Formula season, and the new Formula One season as the Brawn GP cars will start from the front row in Melbourne later today. It looks like an interesting season. I was invited to...
26. January 2009
Pat's Column - January
Well, 2009 is here and we are in the count-down to FSG in August. As Birgit has already reported, the available registrations filled up within 8 seconds when the registration server and nearly 40 teams were unable to register. ...
24. December 2008
Pat's Column - December
Well, the 2008 Formula year is finished. Last weekend saw the final event of the year, FSAE-Australasia. Stuttgart dominated FSAE-A finishing with 961 points from an available 1000 to finish a very successful year on a very high...
08. October 2008
Tempus Fugit
Hello again. Well, Summer vacation is over, the leaves are changing colour and the European FS season is finished. A new academic year has started and teams should be starting to think about their next car. Stuttgart emerged as...
12. June 2008
Design Judging Stuff
Here it is, June already, with only one month to go until FSG. May saw the running of FSAE in Michigan and we must congratulate the winners there. Western Australia, Stuttgart and TU Munich stood on the podium, shutting out the...
16. April 2008
Risk = Hs x Hp
As we enter a new season of Formula Student competition, it is probably a good idea to talk about safety. Yeah, I know you guys are invincible, can stop bullets with your teeth and are totally impervious to injury. Truth is,...
28. February 2008
Pat's Column - February
Another month means another column, welcome back to Pat's Corner.I guess the most important that happened in the last month was the log jam that occurred when registration opened for FSG. The popularity of this event meant it was...
16. January 2008
Pat's Column - January
Firstly, welcome to 2008. My best wishes to all for a prosperous new year and I look forward to catching up with you all in August at Hockenheim.Seeing as I am currently on a short vacation, this months article will be a bit...
12. November 2007
Pat's Column - November
Another month passes by and congratulations are again due to Stuttgart for their victory in Italy. This is a noteworthy achievement for a team in their second year. Three events in 2007 for two wins and a second at Formula...
08. October 2007
Pat's Column - October
Well, FSG 07 is finished, congratulations to Stuttgart, and it is time to start planning for next year. The first thing when planning a new project is to read the rules. There are always subtle changes, but for 2008, some...
23. April 2007
Pat's Column - April
Hello again, one month closer to FSG and with FSAE at Detroit only a month away. Good luck and best wishes to all the FSG regulars who are competing in the USA this year. We wish you well and hope you bring the Neil Schilke...
22. March 2007
Pat's Column - Rod Ends in Bending
“Rod ends in bending”. How many times have we heard that phrase? Teams are told regularly that it is a design feature that must be avoided and there is an unwritten rule at all Formula Student or Formula SAE events...
26. February 2007
Pat's Column - February
Hello all, 60 entrants in FSG 2007! That is absolutely fantastic. FSG is very rapidly becoming the collegiate design competition of choice, especially in Europe. Long may it be! Another month has passed. It’s hard to believe...
14. January 2007
Pat's Column - January
Hello everyone. It is time to start planning for the next FSG competition, and so welcome to my first column for 2007. Firstly, I would like to offer everyone all the best wishes for a successful and happy new year. I will...
16. April 2006
Pat's Column - April
Hi everyone, Sorry for the delay since my last column, but I have been really busy at my ‘real’ job. With Easter being here, I have time to sit down and write some more for you. As you can imagine, I get requests for technical...
11. January 2006
Tyres
Last month I promised I would talk about tyres. The choice of tyre is one of the fundamental choices that should be made at the very first stage of design planning. Every facet of the car performance is reacted through the four...
11. January 2006
Pat's Column - January
Welcome again to Pats periodic ramble. The holiday season is all over and a new year has begun. Best wishes to all teams for the new season, and lets make FS Germany 2006 the best FSAE or FS event in the world. FSAE-A was...
30. October 2005
Pat's Column - October
Hello again, There seems to be a Formula Student or FS event every month these days, and as I write this column the Brazilian event is being run and the Australian event just over a month away. Best wishes to all...
30. October 2005
Dampers (Shock Absorbers)
Most Formula Student cars use Mountain Bike Shock absorbers similar to the Fox Vanilla RC Shock shown here.
06. September 2005
Overview for new Teams
This document is in no way an instruction sheet on how to design and build a car for Formula Student Germany. It is intended as an advisory document for new teams to allow them to build that all-important first car and avoid some...
06. September 2005
Introduction to Pat´s Corner
Hello, I have been invited by the organisers of FSG to become a Technical Advisor to the teams involved. Part of my responsibilities will be to write a regular Newsletter bulletin article. A little introduction is in order. I...
