FEST18

It can undoubtedly be said that FEST18 was a very successful season – one of the most successful, if not the most successful, in the team's history. At the beginning of the year we set ourselves very high goals, which we began to fulfil step by step. As is always the case with prototyping, setbacks and worries arise. The formula development cycle goes from problem to problem. The question is not whether some problem will come, but when and how big. It is important to deal with them quickly and promptly – we managed this well. There were moments when several setbacks piled up and parts broke that you could not even have imagined could break. At those moments the strength of the team showed. Nobody gave up, nobody quit. We simply had to put in even more effort, do more work and act even smarter. The sweat, blood and tears shed and the sleepless nights paid off already at the first stage in Italy, where we managed to achieve the overall win. We were happy about the fast formula car, but even happier about how strong we are as a team. The excellent results in the presentation events reflected this, both in Italy and at the following stages.

From Italy we drove straight to Hungary, where the second stage of the season, FS East, took place. At FS East the competition was even tighter than in Italy. This did not deter us – with motivation sky-high after the overall win we had just had, we again managed to make a very good competition. The reward was second place overall. After FS East there was a week-long competition break. We spent the week off in Hungary, where we tested the formula car again, prepared for the presentation events and set both the team and the machinery ready for battle again.

The third stage took us to Austria, to the F1 circuit in Spielberg. We had not managed to get a start at the Austrian competition since 2014. It is an exclusive competition to which few teams are chosen, but the level of the teams is very high – all the top ones were represented. With the success of the previous two stages we had, in addition to feeling good, also taken on the burden of being favourites. The events went well, we were consistently strong both on the track and in the presentations. Another overall win remained millimetres away. After all the events we were leading, the competitors were already wishing us luck on the win, but in the post-competition technical inspection a small fault was discovered in the safety chain: a switch that must engage when the brake pedal goes to the floor did not engage. Due to earlier pedal adjustment the button had shifted a few millimetres out of place. A fault that gave us no advantage on the track was enough to get a disqualification – rules are rules. An insanely painful and stupid mistake that will probably haunt us for a very long time.

The last week of the competition trip and the last competition arrived. We had already been on the road for five weeks and had reached the competition site in Germany, the Hockenheim F1 circuit. We tried to wipe what happened in Austria from our heads, but at the same time to learn as much from it as possible. We probably did not quite manage that completely. It was visible that both the team and the formula car were getting tired. The long competition trip began to wear us down. The advantage of the Central European competitors, who could go to rest at their bases between stages while we had been on wheels for the fifth week in a row, showed more and more. In Germany we managed to compete at an average level for ourselves until the last event, but then we made a mistake and abandoned the endurance event.

It was time to drive back to Estonia. Having arrived home, we spent half a day in Tallinn and then moved on to Baltic Open, which this time took place in Tartu. Baltic Open is more of an entertainment event, where there are no presentation events and where you can also compete with old formula cars. At Baltic there was a lot of driving, and the young engineers who built this formula car tried driving it themselves too. In an exciting final duel the Czech team managed to beat us. In addition to the winner's trophy, first place at Baltic Open brings the right to organise a stage the following season. Now the team's old formula cars also have reason to wipe the Estonian dust off their wheels next year.

It was a memorable season. The team and the formula car reached a new higher level again. Although at the last two big competitions our result “on paper” was not as valuable as we had hoped due to a little bad luck, in fact that is not the most important thing. Nothing lowers the value of the experience, knowledge and contacts gained from building the formula car, and that is what matters. We also proved that Estonian education, engineering and FS Team Tallinn belong to the world's top.

Big thanks and a bow to all the supporters, with whose accompaniment and help we were able to go through a highly successful season!