Students from the Brno technical school have put together a new formula, it should drive better than the last one

Dragon e4 will now go to three races of the international Formula Student series. With him, the team wants to break into the world’s top twenty again. 300 universities participate in the competition. At first glance, the Dragon e4 does not differ much from its predecessor. This year, the students focused on the development of parts that are hidden under the hood. They have a fundamental influence on the driving characteristics of the single-seater.

“We would find the biggest improvements in the software and internal systems of the formula. We have built in recuperation and also torque vectoring, which is used to improve driving characteristics by controlling the cornering moment,” Tomáš Velfl, head of the technical section of the TU Brno Racing team, told Novinkám.

In layman’s terms, when going through a corner, a different force acts on each wheel, and thanks to torque vectoring, the algorithm calculates and balances the difference between the wheels based on the speed and turning of the steering wheel in order to ensure an ideal passage. In other words, the Dragon e4 will really cut corners.

We would find the biggest improvements in the software and internal systems of the formula

Change can bring big results. According to the designers, going through a corner can be up to seven kilometers per hour faster, which is a noticeable difference in races. Another innovation is recuperation, which allows the electric formula to reuse energy that would otherwise go to waste.

“Regeneration is the generation of energy during engine braking, when we return the energy back to the battery. It should have the greatest benefit in the Endurance discipline, i.e. endurance riding on a twenty-two kilometer course. Until now, we had to reduce the power towards the end of the race so that the battery could last. Now we can hopefully achieve the best time,” said team boss Marek Viktořík.

Thanks to the news, the team believes that it could defend and perhaps even improve the 15th place in the category of electric cars, which it obtained last season. At the same time, BUT students have been devoting themselves to the development of electrical formulas for the fourth year, while foreign competition has a considerable lead. The TU Brno Racing team was founded at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the BUT in 2010. In 2021, the students stopped the production of single-seaters with an internal combustion engine when they produced the anniversary, tenth Dragon X model.

Since then, they have only produced electric single-seaters. In addition to engineers, students from other faculties also participate in their creation. Computer scientists and electrical engineers are behind many improvements to the formula.

“We take everyone who is interested in motorsport and wants to work. We also do marketing and other things related to the running of the team ourselves,” added Viktořík. Students also secure finances for operation. Roughly a quarter of the eight million dollar budget is paid by the school, the rest by sponsors.

The Dragon e4 weighs 170 kilograms, its top speed is 120 kilometers per hour, and it can accelerate from zero to one hundred kilometers in three seconds. Three circuits await him. In July there will be races in Austria, in August at Autodromo Most, and right after that the Formula Student Germany race.

Student formula from Brno technology in the world’s top twenty electric single-seaters

AutoMoto

“The main thing is not to break them.” Racing motorcycles and formulas built by CTU students drove around Prague

AutoMoto