The Competition: Formula Student

It’s been a while but I’m back with more from my small Eurotrip.

The event kick started with engines roaring and motors spinning. Wherever you look, you could see just cars. The statics started off where all the teams presented their car alongwith the various reports which the competition required and simultaneously whichever teams passed scrutineering were allowed to go for the dynamic events which included skid pad, acceleration and endurance. The event was full of crowd with people of countries from all over the world. I went and stood beside the endurance tracks and watched the cars racing by, some roaring and some silently (both combustion and electric).

We weren’t that lucky to compete in the dynamic events due to some technical failures in the car but we got to learn a lot from all the teams over there. We participated in the statics though. The experience was something that I can guarantee that all of us who were there will never forget.

During our stay in Hockenheim, all of us slept in tents in the camp-site which was fun. People talking about other people and then realizing that the guy he was talking about is popping his head out from one of the tents and giving him a “I’ll kill you” look.

Breakfast everyday used to be apples and energy drinks from Mercedes and Porsche stalls. We had our dinner at a place called “City Grill” every night. The first day I tried something called “Yufka”. It was horrible. So from the next day it was just pizza or burger or fries. We also filled our tents with food stocks from “Penny’s”, a mart where you get everything to eat in really cheap prices. We spent 4 days in Hockenheim amidst cars that I could only dream of seeing; BMW i8, Porsche 918 Spyder, Tesla cars, Corvette, etc. There were teams playing games at night in the campsite, games that I saw for the first time in my life. During the third day of the event, another event started in the same ring which was some American muscle car event. All funky cars, modified with everything possible showed up, even many biker gangs were there; everything was like we see it in movies.

The best part about Hockenheim was its weather. The cold breeze hitting your face whenever you are out in the open makes you feel so refreshed. One night I stayed up late till 6 am working with some of my friends in the pit. While I was coming back from the pit to the camp-site which was a 15 minutes’ walk, I couldn’t feel my hands even though my hands were deep inside my jacket pockets.

The day the event was over, MAHLE threw a grand party in celebration of the event. They gave away the prizes to the top 3 teams in bot combustion and electric and then the party started. There were drinks, sandwiches, burgers, etc. People asking out random people as if they knew what was happening but in reality had no clue about it. People even exchanged t-shirts of their teams as a remembrance of the event which was an amazing way to show respect to the competitor. Some people realized that they had exchanged t-shirts the next morning when they woke up.

After the party was over, people returned to their camp-sites where the after-party started. Teams playing games against other teams. The games were related to drinking which is hard to explain in writing, so I’ll skip through it.   

So all in all the event was an excellent time for all the people over there. We got to meet new people from across the globe, make new friends and come back with a hell of a story to tell.

The next morning we shipped the car back and then the main trip started. Our whole team split in 3 groups. My group consisted of 6 people. When we had made our itinerary, we kept a buffer day for the competition but as everything went as planned, the competition got over as it should have and we were left with an extra day. Our bus was supposed to leave from Heidelberg the next morning and it was 12 pm by my watch then. Calculating the expense of visiting Stuttgart, we decided not to go as it would kill our budget. So we decided to leave for Heidelberg and decide what to do there on the way.

 

Wait for the next blog for the rest of my trip.

Enter -> Germany

Okay, so where were we? Yes, VENICE. Probably you guys would be wondering how some of our friends landed in Venice. There was a mishap with the flight seat numbers and so some of them couldn’t be accommodated. Hence, they were given flight tickets to Frankfurt via Venice because that was the earliest flight they could take to Frankfurt. They arrived at Frankfurt around 4 hours later.

So, landing in Frankfurt, everyone was really excited about the 17 days ahead of us in a completely new country. We got our luggage and then decided on how to reach the hostel that we had pre-booked. We went to the train station thinking we’ll get a train. But what do you know….everything over there is in German. You try to ask people, they don’t understand English properly…..once in a blue moon you meet a guy who understands English. Luckily we got an Indian family who helped us out with ticket vending machine and got us tickets. The trains are amazing over there. The first sight of Frankfurt city when the train came out of the subway was really great. There was a huge canal that we crossed. It was beautiful. The cars in Germany---there are no words to express it. You look around yourself and you can see just Audis, Volkswagens, BMWs, Mercs, etc everywhere. I even got to see some familiar Suzuki cars over there life Swift, Wagon R, Zen,etc.  We changed our trains from Frankfurt Central. We were looking around everywhere when suddenly I noticed our hostel’s name written somewhere. So we got down at the next stop which was Galluswarte. This was the place we stayed in for the next 4 days.

Checking in the hostel for the whole team took a long time. Then we went to our rooms and took rest as all of us were really tired. After sometime our friends from Venice also joined us in the hostel.

The next 4 days went on with team meetings and work as we prepared for our car to arrive from India. We also did a lot of surveys for some components which we required during the event and so some of us had to go and buy components. The first day out in Frankfurt was kind of fun. We had no idea where to go for components and also no idea how to reach various places as we had to change a lot of trains to reach various locations. Luckily the locations were narrowed down by a little help from a senior of ours. We roamed around shops hoping to find something but in vain. Most of the shops were closed by noon as it was a Saturday. Finally we took a tram to a mart named “Hornbach”--The biggest mart I have ever been in. From a small screw to a big lawn mower, you will get anything in there. We got what we needed and then came back to the hostel. So eventually we spent the whole day out. The next day went with frequent visits to Hornbach as we required more components. One morning we were in the reception of the hostel and looking out the window I saw a Merceded SLS AMG park right in front of our hostel. Everyone was really excited seeing the car. For me, it was a hell of a sight. This car is among one of my favourite cars. Everyone started clicking pictures. The driver inside realized the craze among the youngsters outside his car and revved the accelerator hard--that sound "My oh my".

Finally our car arrived from India and we worked on it for a day and then we sent it to the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim where half of our team had already reached to receive the car. There were 7 of us left in Frankfurt. It was 4 pm by my watch and we had to reach Hockenheim by 6 pm as there were some registration formalities to be taken care of. We had to rush to the Galluswarte station. We had booked cheap tickets beforehand and so we weren’t worried about the fare. But good things don’t happen always. By the time we reached Frankfurt Central to catch our train to Hockenheim, our train had already left. So we booked 7 tickets to Hockenheim which was a connecting train via Manheim. We reached by 6.30 pm.

As soon as we got out of the station, we saw the cars there and we understood that it was not at all like Frankfurt. There were vintage cars. We were lucky enough to get a lift in a vintage Merc all the way to the racetrack. Being from a right hand sided driving country, it felt pretty weird to see the guy driving sitting in the left seat. We reached the campsite, paid the amount necessary and then keeping our luggage immediately ran to the racetrack. It was around a 2 kms walk from our tents. It was late but the registration for all the teams took a long time and so we weren’t that late. The drivers’ names were registered alongwith the technical head of the team.

All of us were filled with immense motivation seeing other teams. The cars that some of the top teams had- you could just look at the cars and forget everything else. When I looked at one of the cars, I was like “Really, this is built by students!!!”. The European teams have a wonderful way of going to different competitions. They have their own truck, and by truck I mean a huge Mercedes truck where they have their workstation and the car and they roam around Europe going to various events throughout the season.

The next 4 days were spent in the pit or in the campsite, either working or sleeping.

I’ll write more about the event and also about the rest of the trip in my upcoming blogs.

Hope you guys liked it.

Abroad for the first time!!!!

Back with a totally new blog and a wonderful experience. 

It’s a craze among everyone to go abroad atleast once in their lifetime, get to meet new people, know their life styles, etc. But very few people actually get to live it. I was lucky enough to join “Team Ojas” which gave me wonderful experience of making a formula electric car and also give me the opportunity of going to EUROPE. Yes, Europe; the trip of a lifetime and that too with friends. We represented our university in the Hockenheimring in Germany.

The trip started off by taking a “traveller” bus from our university to Chennai International Airport. Everyone was really excited about the trip as it was the first time abroad for many of us. We boarded the Qatar Airways flight at around 5 in the morning. It was such an amazing flight with a hell lot of movies, TV series and songs collection and also a lot of additional features.

 The flight took off at around 6. Excitement rushed through my veins when the flight was picking up speed in the runway. The flight journey was awesome with our next stop being DOHA (UAE). Being tired from the previous night out, I fell asleep in the flight and only woke up when the flight was landing DOHA and what I saw outside my window was simply amazing. The DOHA airstrip is right next to the sea. So you can imagine what the scenery was from my window.

Our connecting flight to Frankfurt was 2 hours later. So we walked from one side of the airport to the other side for the next flight. Words will be less to express how huge the Doha airport is. With horizontal elevators and trams running inside the airport, it’s just something you don’t get to see always. After the security check in we had some time to kill. There I bought a cup of coffee for 4 €, it was no longer rupees anymore. Then it was time for us to board the flight for Frankfurt. We boarded and then got to know that some of our friends didn’t board the flight as there were some seating issues. The flight took off and some of our friends were left at Doha. The flight from Doha to Frankfurt was a 6 hour journey. I saw some movies, listened to the songs, had food, etc. The moment we landed Frankfurt we got to know that our friends who were left in Doha were given a flight to VENICE. I was like “WHAAAAT!!”.

Stay tuned for more about my small Eurotrip J