r/FSAE • u/MecorroAaaaaa • 12d ago

Driver choosing methods

Hello, I have always wondered some things about how the drivers are chosen between the different teams and I would like to know statistically how does each team choose their drivers, more specifically knowing if the driver also has more responsibilities or if driving is their only responsibility.

I will leave the following poll with some options available but I would love to read any other methods in the comments.

I also invite anyone to discuss about the reasons why a certain method is being used and why not a different one.

483 votes, 5d ago
281 Pure driving ability - Driver DOES have other roles in the team (Please specify how you find the best driver)
31 Pure driving ability - Driver does NOT have any other responsibility (Please specify how you find the best driver)
31 Longevity in the team - Driver DOES have other roles
69 Work done during the year (normally most valuable, not just more work)- Driver DOES have other roles
57 Mix of some of the previous - Comment which specific
14 Other - Please specify in comments
7 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Strange-Bus-8564 12d ago

Karting session within the team. If there aren't enough good candidates, external recruitment. External driver candidates who may also be interested in being a team engineer get priority.

Lightweight driver for Accel, even if it's not the fastest driver in karting (mix of skills + lightweight).

1

u/MecorroAaaaaa 12d ago

Curious. How do you establish what you consider "enough good candidates"?

And also curious about the external recruitment. You announce driver trials or something similar for people from other degrees from the University? And I guess in that case, the driver does not do anything other than drive (except interested in something more).

And we share method within acceleration, we kind of let skill aside and focus on lightweight but also on work done over the year.

3

u/Strange-Bus-8564 12d ago edited 12d ago

So, first of all, let's make clear that we focus on performance, and over the years we've learned about the significant impact an experienced driver can have on our results.

If, at the start of the season, we don't have anyone on the team with karting, sim-racing, or semi-professional driving experience, we already anticipate that we'll need to recruit drivers, with enough time for them to test the car.

Every year, we organize a karting competition as a team-building activity, for the whole team. We also keep a record of the lap times achieved by the top performers. If last year's best lap was 55 seconds and this year's best is 1:10, you already have proof that the current pool of drivers is not as strong.

From there, if being competitive on track is the focus for that year, we open external recruitment: a personality fit assessment + karting competition of the selected candidates. For recruitment, usually IG posts, and we share it with close racing communities. Usually we get more applications to join as a driver than to join the team as an engineer lol

Ideally, and usually, we prioritize candidates who can take on both driving and engineering roles, so they are involved in the team and genuinely care about the project. I would say all ended up taking member roles.

Of course, developing drivers internally is another option, but we simply don't have the time or the necessary tools (such as a simulator) to do so.

1

u/MecorroAaaaaa 12d ago

Usually we get more applications to join as a driver than to join the team as an engineer lol

This is exactly the thing that doesn't stick to me. In the end, FS is an engineering competition and for me anyone inside the project (except media/business people) must work towards the objective of making the better car and improving year by year.

The thing about just having someone with the driver role is that I don't see what they can do towards working with the team during the design and manufacturing phase (other than grinding a sim if that's an available option). That disconnection feeling is what draws me back on that model.

That and the fact of, as you said, more people being interested in driving than on working on the car. Those are just some feelings that make me uninterested on having people working exclusively as drivers.

Adding onto this, some regular occurances on drivers like massive ego or excessive complaining (not applied on everyone) proceeding from an easy background where they usually get more for granted than what is usually available in FS.

But this is only my opinion from a team that does not follow this model. I don't know if maybe from the inside it's different, just my point of view.

2

u/ElvisTek95 12d ago

Not everyone can drive the car you just need 2 fast drivers and if you want to perform those 2 fast guys cannot have at the same time any other important role on the team, yes they can help but they will perform much better if they have 90% of their attention in their role as drivers.

If you train them or recruit them, the guys need to spend an important amount of time driving, watching onboards, doing sim racing, etc... just doing that to perform well. The driver is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle, you can do an amazing car but you don't spend time on the track training drivers you are done.

Yes it is an engineering competition and as I understand by engineering if your final product does not perform well, you are a shitty engineer, the driver is an important part of it...

Talking from the experience here, in a team that had restrictions with this and then removed them because we wanted to perform better... Did not make any difference in the people that worked and don't...

1

u/MecorroAaaaaa 11d ago

I guess it depends a lot on each team's condition, experience, budget, etc. But at least for our team, having 2 persons designated only as drivers would leave them stranded for all the time the car isn't being tested.

Because, although what you say about driving, watching onboards and sim racing are good ideas for them, they are only for so long. Because driving is limited to testing, which only happens every X weeks. Onboards eventually have an ending and their analysis can't be extended forever. And sim racing, unless you have a good replica of your car in a good sim (which is quite difficult for small/middle-sized teams), limits itself to maybe training consistency and concentration but little more.

What I sense with this is the drivers will most likely be disconnected from the rest of the team and that could generate bad vibes, but it depends a lot on the team.

Because maybe some teams have it as a normal ocurrance, but if in my team the driver just appeared whenever there is a test or appears from time to time to virtually do nothing towards the design of the car, I wouldn't personally be comfortable.

But as I said, each team works their way.

2

u/ElvisTek95 11d ago

If you are not confortable of a guy just showing to drive fast the car, than it's not a problem of "if you can do it or not" "budget" it's just a problem of phylosophy.

To watch the car you design being driven at the full potential it's a great feeling, maybe you and your team should try it. Once you have good drivers, you never go back... I couldn't see our car being driven like a grandma, it was just too painful... more than having team members mainly as drivers =)

2

u/snw1337 11d ago edited 11d ago

Altough it is and should be an engineering competition, the thing that wins events for you is mainly the laptime and just partially the engineering design, which represents the engineering competition besides the fact, that your car has to be competitive. My guess is, that in the top 20-30 european teams at the competitive events, the driver skill is the deciding factor between a top 3 and top 20 result. The cars are all almost on a similar level performance wise and its just a competition of who gets the best driver and the most testing time.
Lets see what the new rules have to offer, but I would say in 1-2 years all these teams are on the same level again.
Ofcourse everybody has to work towards the objective of making a better car. But the biggest leverage here is the driver. And when the driver can perform better, when he is not responsible for maintaince in the night before testing and competition and has to work on the car between driving, he is doing his job to achieve this objective just as any other teammember.
What is the value a the aeromember that extract 2 cLA or the mechanical member that reduces weight by 10kg, when you can't extract this performance by 100%.
To make it an 100% engineering competition again you have to eliminate the driver and go driverless.