Communication

Formula Student was founded with the intention of preparing graduating students for a life in Industry.

What is usually quoted is the…

This year you can meet our Chief Design Judge Pat - known from many famous article concerning engineering design topics - live in our recreation area…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Well, the 2008 Formula year is finished. Last weekend saw the final event of the year, FSAE-Australasia.

Stuttgart dominated FSAE-A finishing with…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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.

Seein…

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…

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…

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…

“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…

Hello all,

60 entrants in FSG 2007! That is absolutely fantastic. FSG is very rapidly becoming the collegiate design competition of choice,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Most Formula Student cars use Mountain Bike Shock absorbers similar to the Fox Vanilla RC Shock shown here.

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…

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…