In May, at the FSAE Michigan competition, FEST10 attracted a lot of attention from judges and competitors due to its finishing quality, attractive design and various solutions. The car’s potential was also very promising in the first two dynamic tests, where it achieved 4th place in acceleration out of 120 registered teams and 9th place in the skidpad event. Overall, this ranked them 4th before the autocross and endurance. However, during the sprint race engine problems started, which rapidly intensified, causing the third cylinder to stop working. Despite the problems, the team managed to finish in 24th place.

When the engine was dismantled, the cause of the failure was found to be a broken valve that had damaged the cylinder, piston, and cylinder head. As a spare engine was unavailable, the team worked all night to try to repair the existing engine as best they could. Thanks to several unconventional solutions thought up on the spot, we managed to get the engine running and the car made it to the starting line exactly one minute before the end of the endurance race. Although the car was damaged and had been performing relatively well, it was only possible to complete the first half of the race. After the driver change, the car could not be started without external assistance, so the race was over for us. Overall, the team achieved 40th place out of 120 registered teams.

Looking at the overall results, the team’s efforts can be positively evaluated. The start of the season wasn’t the best, but leaving the engine failure aside, the car’s ability was still something to be happy about. The mood before the competition in Great Britain was also positive. Indeed, the speed demonstrated in America was present at Silverstone, but this time the technology held up, and FEST10 rose firmly into the top dozen in almost all disciplines.

In summary, the 7th place achieved in an international competition with 76 participants took us to where we had only dreamed of reaching a year or two ago!

In August, the Nordic and German formula student cars were invited to compete on home soil. The 10-participant event Baltic Open was held at Rapla kart track and ended with Estonian twin victories (FEST08 also participated), and the parade of formulas in the center of Tallinn and the opening ceremony at Freedom Square were also memorable.