It was decided to continue developing the newly completed FEST09 car, which was made possible by the car's successful and competitive overall concept.
It was decided to continue developing the newly completed FEST09 car, which was made possible by the car's successful and competitive overall concept. The action plan included thorough development work and extensive analysis of numerous assemblies and solutions, with the aim of optimising detail solutions and exploring new ideas for weight savings and better performance. Whereas in previous years the team had spent the first half of summer bringing the new formula car to competition readiness, the different approach allowed it to concentrate more than before on competition performance in the summer of 2010. The plans included taking part in two major competitions (Formula SAE Michigan in the USA and Formula Student Silverstone in the United Kingdom) and organising the Baltic Open competition.
At the FSAE Michigan competition held in May, the car, which had in the meantime been renamed FEST10, attracted a lot of attention from judges and competitors with its finish quality, attractive design and many solutions. The car's potential in the first two dynamic events also proved very promising: in acceleration 4th place was driven among 120 registered teams, and on the figure-eight SkidPad track 9th place. Taken together, the dynamic events gave 4th place before the sprint and endurance. In the sprint event, however, quickly worsening engine problems arose, as a result of which the 3rd cylinder stopped working. Despite the problems, a 24th result was driven.
When the engine was taken apart, the cause of the fault turned out to be a broken valve, which had also damaged the cylinder, piston and cylinder head. As no spare engine could be found, the team worked all night, trying to repair what it had as well as possible. Thanks to several unconventional solutions devised on the spot, the engine finally started and the car reached the start exactly a minute before the endurance event closed. With the damaged engine, yet showing quite good speed, the first half of the race distance was completed, but after the driver change the car could no longer be started without outside help, and the run had to be abandoned. In total, 40th place was achieved among 120 registered teams.
Looking at the summer's results, the team's efforts can be assessed entirely positively. The bitter retirement at the Michigan competition in May was not the best possible start to the season, but setting the engine failure aside, there was still reason to be glad about the car's capability, and spirits ahead of the competition in the United Kingdom were positive. Indeed, the speed demonstrated in America was there at Silverstone, but this time the machinery held up, and FEST10 rose firmly into the top dozen in almost every event.
In total, 7th place among 76 participants at the international competition took us to where we had only dreamed of getting a year or two earlier – we are now breathing down the necks of the best in the world!
In August the Nordic and German student formula cars were invited to compete on home ground. The Baltic Open event, with 10 participants, was driven at the Rapla kart track and ended with an Estonian one-two (the first-built FEST08 car also took part), and the parade of formula cars in downtown Tallinn and the opening ceremony on Freedom Square were also memorable.
