FSAE Driving

 

FSAE Driver Training

Driving ability plays a significant role in the dynamic events at Formula SAE and Formula Student competitions. Most drivers are also engineers without significant experience who have been working on the car all year. Spending the time to train the team on driving principles is worth it even if there’s not much practice time in the actual car.

Developing a Teaching Plan

Teaching the team about driving techniques is important- even for non-driving members because understanding driver constraints is critical to the engineering process. If the driver isn’t comfortable in the car, they won’t be comfortable driving as fast as the car can. There are many resources on websites and YouTube for improving driver technique, and I have an example slide deck below, but the key things to focus on for beginners include practicing where to look, planning driving lines, and building up brake points and throttle application. See my example slides for a bit more depth.

Tuning the car can also become easier with better trained drivers. If it all comes together, the dynamic events at competition are the second best highlight (with passing tech being the obvious best highlight)!

Planning Test Days

Before even packing the truck or trailer, make sure you have a test plan. A test day is useless if you go just hoping to drive some. Create a plan in a document and share it with the team that answers the following:

  • What will be tested that can’t be done in the shop? How will success for those goals be determined?

  • Have all the systems on the car been confirmed functional in the shop? Does the engine start or can HV be enabled? Can the wheels spin with the throttle? Is everything torqued correctly?

  • Will there be any driver training? If so, what are the goals for driver development?

  • What are the contingency plans if the car has technical issues?




Example Formula SAE Driver Training

My driver training slides from my time on MIT Motorsports can be found at this Google drive link. The slides were intended for a presentation and are not standalone, so key points are given without additional detail.

FSAE testing

Further Resources

  • Reach out to local racetracks to see if they’d be willing to sponsor the team with free track/skidpad time or coaching.

  • Reach out to local car clubs to see if they’d be willing to sponsor the team with free coaching from members of their club.

  • I offer virtual driver coaching and can help analyze previous driving videos or offer virtual driver training seminars. More info is on my driver coaching page.