LIVE - FS Czech Competition Blog
Short summary
A real roller coaster of emotions. We started the competition quite well with having only minor fixes for battery and mech scruti and even managed to pass them the next day. So everything went quite well until we had to go into high voltage on the electrical scruti… A problem in the battery was found which meant we lost our sticker again and had to do fixes.
Luckily, we managed everything still just in time to participate in all events on Wednesday. So we did our skidpad run (which was a first in the history of FEB) and went straight to autocross after it. During autocross we found out that we only had 2 motors working and during our run 1 of these 2 fell out, meaning we set our lap driving with only one motor and loosing drive in our first run as well. Trying to figure out what the problem was, we changed some settings which could cause the issue and trying again. This time we completed the autocross (also a first in the history of FEB) without loosing drive but still only had 2 motors running. With only little time left we had to try to fix the motor issues and do an acceleration run so we could get the maximum amount of points possible. With only 10 minutes remaining, we managed to get everything working again and went for our run. 2 very good runs saw us cheering, but going 0.3 over the power limit meant we got a DSQ for both runs… The mood was mixed, the team was on one hand quite frustrated and sad with the DSQ but on the other hand, we wrote history by already driving everything here on our first competition.
On the last day, endurance waited. Because of the quite slow (what did you expect with only 1,5 motors) run in autocross, this meant we had to start as one of the first. And so we started. Carefully managing the battery to make sure we would finish, everyone was on the edge. And so we did, with a smooth driver change and a lot of list-and-coasting we managed to finish an endurance on our first competition!
Already being very happy with what we achieved, things got even better for us during the prize ceremony. Because of being so careful and a lot of lift-and-coasting, we were quite efficient with our energy and managed to grab 3rd place for efficiency and getting a trophy back home. If that was not enough, we managed to become 6th in the overall standing with over 500 points in total!
A very good start to the season, now let’s try to take this even further!
Scruti Status
Mech Scruti
PASSED
Battery Scruti
PASSED
Elec Scruti
DV SCRUTI NOT PASSED
Rain Test
PASSED
Tilt Test
PASSED
Brake Test
Manual
PASSED
EBS (Driverless)
WILL NOT BE DONE
Thursday 31/07
16:32 – Truck arrives
16:35 – Start loading the truck
18:23 – Truck loaded and leaves to Czech!
Summary
Nothing too crazy, just loading the truck 🙂
Sunday 03/08
7:00 – Meet and leave for FS Czech!
12:23 – Lunch break
18:34 – Arrive, setup the tents and pits
19:02 – ESO & ASR registration
20:25 – Dinner
21:42 – Team briefing and chill
Summary
Long day of driving. We setup everything and get ready for the competition
Monday 04/08
07:00 – Wake up and breakfast
08:01 – Get to the pits and start working
09:24 – Driver registration
10:32 – Battery Scruti started
10:39 – Mech Scruti started
11:59 – Back from Mech Scruti. 2 minor fixes that need to be done
12:02 – Lunch
14:41 – Going back to Mech Scruti
14:48 – Back from Battery Scruti. Did not pass everything yet, we’re applying for a new scruti slot
15:24 – Passed Mech Scruti!
16:39 – Passed Battery Scruti!
18:10 – Dinner
18:32 – Going to Elec Scruti
20:04 – Back from Elec Scruti. Couldn’t finish low voltage, some fixes needed
21:52 – Team Briefing and chill
Summary
The team spent the day progressing through multiple scrutineering stages. Mechanical checks were passed in the afternoon, followed by success in battery checks. Electrical scrutineering started late in the day but wasn’t fully completed, with some fixes still pending. The day ended with a team briefing and downtime.
Tuesday 05/08
07:00 – Wake up and breakfast
08:01 – Get to the pits and start working
08:05 – ASR Briefing
08:30 – Elec Scruti
11:06 – Low Voltage Scruti passed!
11:26 – Back to Elec Scruti
12:01 – Lunch
12:50 – Passed Elec Scruti!
13:20 – Business Plan Presentation
13:50 – Back from Business Plan Presentation
16:44 – Going to DV Scruti
17:40 – Back from DV Scruti, EBS buttons are out of surface envelope. We can’t fix it here without having to do mech scruti again which gives a risk of not driving manual as well so the team voted to not drive driverless on this competition 🙁
18:00 – Dinner
19:39 – Tilt Test done
20:39 – Rain Test done
21:00 – Team Opening Ceremony
22:20 – Debrief & Flunky ball team selection
Summary
The day kicked off with electrical scrutineering, where we cleared both low and high voltage checks — a great boost to the team’s spirits. Our business plan presentation also went great! Then the mood shifted in the afternoon during DV scrutineering when we discovered the EBS buttons were out of the surface envelope. Fixing it would’ve meant redoing mechanical scrutineering and risking our manual driving eligibility, so after some tough discussion, we made the call to skip the driverless category this competition — a hard pill to swallow. We wrapped up the day with tilt and rain tests, joined the opening ceremony, and ended on a lighter note with some fun team activities.
Wednesday 06/08
07:00 – Wake up and breakfast
08:01 – Get to the pits and start working
08:05 – ASR & Driver briefing
09:00 – Cost & Manufacturing
11:30 – Going for manual brake test
11:55 – Manual brake test passed
11:58 – Noise test
12:00 – Lunch
12:02 – Buzzer only reached 65db (need 80db), going back to the pits to fix it
14:06 – Noise test passed!
14:43 – Going for a testdrive on test track
16:00 – Prepare ED
18:43 – Dinner
21:00 – Debrief
21:30 – Official Flunky ball tournament
Summary
We started the day with briefings and then headed straight into the Cost & Manufacturing event. By late morning, we aced the manual brake test, but the noise test threw us a curveball — our buzzer only hit 65 dB instead of the required 80 dB. After some quick pit work and a bit of team ingenuity, we passed the re-test in the afternoon. With that sorted, we hit the test track for a shakedown run and then prepped for the endurance event. The day closed with dinner, our debrief, and the highly anticipated official Flunky Ball tournament.
Thursday 07/08
07:00 – Wake up and breakfast
08:01 – Get to the pits and start working
08:05 – Driver & ASR briefing
09:00 – Engineering Design Presentation
10:10 – ED went well, now preparing the car for events this afternoon
12: 15 – Lunch
12:20 – Small testrun
14:07 – Acceleration first run Lander: 3.87 but too much power
14:26 – Acceleration second run Lander: 3.85 and valid!
15:35 – Skidpad 2 runs of Lander: best time of 5.31
16:07 – Skidpad 2 runs of Lucan: best time of 5.25
17:40 – Acceleration 2 runs of Lucan but no improvement
18:00 – Dinner
18:30 – ED Feedback
18:45 – Prepare car for tomorrow
21:01 – Debrief and chill
Summary
After the morning briefings, we kicked things off with our Engineering Design presentation, which went smoothly and left us feeling confident. The afternoon was all about track action — a quick test run, then onto acceleration where Lander clocked a 3.87 on the first run (too much power) and a valid 3.85 on the second. On skidpad, Lander’s best was 5.31, while Lucan shaved it down to 5.25. Lucan also took two acceleration runs later but couldn’t beat the earlier times. We wrapped the day with dinner, feedback from our ED session, and prepping the car for tomorrow before winding down with a relaxed debrief.
Friday 08/08
07:00 – Wake up and breakfast
08:01 – Get to the pits and do last fixes on the car
08:05 – Driver briefing
09:54 – Going to the test track to test setup for autocross
12:00 – Lunch
14:10 – AutoX first run Tiësto: 1:16:98
14:33 – AutoX second run Tiësto: 1:17:08 (Missed one corner)
16:02 – Going in queue for second driver run
17:11 – AutoX first run Natanael: 1:18.38 (Pronto Natanael: s🅱️innala)
17:20 – AutoX second run Natanael: 1:12.23
18:03 – Dinner
19:30 – Team photo
21:10 – Debrief & chill
Summary
We spent the morning making final tweaks to the car before heading to the test track to dial in the setup for autocross. In the afternoon, Tiësto kicked things off with a 1:16.98 on his first run and a slightly slower second after missing a corner. Natanael’s debut run included an unexpected spin, but he came back strong with a blazing 1:12.23. After dinner, we gathered for the team photo, then closed the day with a relaxed debrief and some well-earned chill time.
Saturday 09/08
07:00 – Wake up and breakfast
08:01 – Get to the pits and do last fixes on the car
08:05 – Driver briefing
Waiting for updates…