Our student Formula racing team has scooped an impressive fifth place in an international race beating 75 other teams.
Relentless Team Bath Racing finished with an overall points tally of 716 out of 1,000, despite blowing an engine during a dynamic event.
The four-day event saw Relentless Team Bath Racing rise from strength-to-strength and tackle problems thrown their way.
The team are ecstatic to be returning to the UK after a successful competition in California.
During the first two days of the competition the team was evaluated for the cost, design and business presentation for their car. The vehicle also underwent technical inspections to ensure its safety and compliance with the rules.
Team Spokesperson Kenny Tan said: “The first few days of static tests went really well, with the team being placed for the first time ever in the finals for design. We eventually finished third which is a huge achievement for us.”
Days three and four saw the start of the races, with the team entering a largely untested car. Due to the time constraints placed on the team to ship the car out to the US, Relentless Team Bath Racing lost ten days of testing time and ran the car without much set-up work done.
Kenny added: “Despite the fact that we had flown across the Atlantic and had less set-up time than many of the other teams, our car performed very well.”
This stage of the competition involved an autocross event; a timed competition where drivers navigate one at a time through a temporary course marked by traffic cones, rather than racing on a track with multiple other cars.
Driver Jason Linden-Tahinci blazed through the track with an extremely fast lap time of 69.4 seconds despite having to yield to a red flag caused by another car spinning off.
This lap was chalked off and the team was allowed two new laps to set a good time – the first of which ended with a spin and 81 second lap time.
Kenny said: “Our second lap of the autocross turned out to be the car’s last race of the day. An engine blow-up halfway through the lap wrecked our chances of achieving a decent result in autocross. We scored seven and a half out of 150 in the Autocross, meaning we tied in 38th position.”
That wasn’t the only result in jeopardy. With the endurance event to go on day four, there was a great deal of work to do to repair the car. The team had to attempt an engine swap in less than four hours.
Having shipped a brand new Aprilia RXV55 engine to America along with the car, the team worked tirelessly on the changeover, and by 9am the next morning the vehicle was up and running again.
Both drivers of the Endurance event posted consistent times – lapping in the 66-67 second range, placing the team in fourth position.
Kenny said: “The team did extremely well, competing in America for the first time and coming away with a very strong finishing position.
“The event gave us a fantastic opportunity to act as a team and the design judges were particularly impressed by Bath’s ‘new year – new car – new team’ approach rather than the concept of evolution favoured by American teams.
Driver Jason Linden-Tahinci blazed through the track with extremely fast lap times.
“The spirit of a new team developing a new car each year is one that the team believes runs true to the nature of Formula Student; bringing new and aspiring engineers to the fore and allowing them to be fully creative.
The team is now better prepared than ever for Formula Student UK. Team Principal, Thomas Yates, said: “We’re so ecstatic with how everything went for the team! Fifth in California, we are out for the win. The UK event at Silverstone takes place in July and our rivals should watch out!”
Dr Kevin Robinson, Academic Supervisor to the team said: “The team has worked incredibly hard to get the car ready for this event, over and above their academic studies, and I believe they have gained a lot from this experience which will benefit them in the future.
“Entering the California event was intended to be a ‘dress rehearsal’ for the UK competition at Silverstone in three weeks time, but it quickly became apparent that the team was doing extremely well despite minimal preparation.
“They came very close to pulling off something incredible – the engine blow-up cost them second place overall – but the team can be still be very proud of what they have achieved, and head to Silverstone with confidence.
“No British team has ever won the home event – it is now our ambition to change that.”
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