Driven
A First-Hand Account of Bronco Motorsport’s European Tour
For any formula racing student team, competing in Europe’s Formula Student (FS) competition circuit is the dream. Hundreds of teams aim to compete, but less than 60 qualify. Cal Poly Pomona’s Bronco Motorsports team was one of those few.
This is a first-hand account of a team that made their dreams come true through sheer determination and will, from waking up before dawn, to traveling to Europe, to dealing with logistical nightmares.
January: The Team Qualifies for European Competition
To qualify for a competition slot in FS, teams must pass challenging quizzes that test their understanding of vehicle dynamics and demand all-around engineering knowledge.
Isaac Haynes, Mechanical Engineering Student and Powertrain Lead (Jan., Cal Poly Pomona): Just to set the record straight, 300+ teams from around the world take these quizzes every year and 56 spots are available. It’s insanely competitive. The fact that we were able to qualify for every FS competition—Netherlands, Spain, Austria and East (in Hungary) is still a crazy thought in my mind and a true testament to the proper preparation our team had last year.
It was honestly a great feeling seeing the whole team there ready to contribute their part to the questions that relate to their system. When we found out we qualified, I started scrolling through the rankings on the website to see our school listed with the top FS universities in the world. Seeing that was utterly brilliant and instilled a pride in my team and country that felt amazing.
“We are going to be in the same paddocks as them, they will be looking at our car and we get to put our car up against the best,” was the thought flooding my mind every time I scrolled through my FS-filled Instagram feed. The first step’s been completed, but the job’s not done.
Sahil Intwala, Mechanical Engineering Student and Vehicle Dynamics Lead (Jan., Cal Poly Pomona): We got to campus at 4 a.m. yesterday to take the FS Italy quiz and 3 a.m. today to take the FS East quiz (Europeans love making it hard for those in American time zones). To take these tests, about 20 of us got together in an unoccupied classroom and prayed that a professor didn’t come in and kick us out while we were taking the test.
It’s not an easy test to pass, especially knowing that you are going against other teams around the world, many of which are comprised of 100+ members, have much larger facilities, and most importantly, more time as they don’t have classes on top of making a car (since making the car is the class).
Months of preparation led up to this. I remember being in this same position two years ago when we worked in a room together on the sixth floor of the library taking the quiz to qualify for FS Austria, but in the end, we didn’t qualify because we were unprepared and disorganized. This year, we took several practice quizzes, answering hundreds of questions. It paid off.
It’s the first hurdle of many, but things are getting real. We might be going to Europe this year.
Cyrille Lao, Mechanical Engineering Student and Acting Powertrain Lead (Jan., Cal Poly Pomona): As a fresh team member who started in October 2023, I feel an immense amount of responsibility of being able to validate my fuel system to make sure it’s in line with the vehicle goals for the BM24 car [a type of formula car] and that we would have enough fuel to complete a full endurance, which runs at about 22 kilometers, or nearly 14 miles.
What I think drives me, and us as a team, is I really want to experience what it’s like to compete in a FS competition where we know the quality of work is elevated. I want to compete in a different country, a different competitive environment where the quality of the race cars is simply better.
David Quiroz, Mechanical Engineering Student and President (Jan., Cal Poly Pomona): When I heard the news that we got into all four competitions, my first thought was we have too many options now. It was exciting but also worrying because we were in the middle of manufacturing the car, which is already hectic when we have just our one annual competition in Michigan. We reasonably came to the decision that we should at least do two of the four we qualified for and that we should go for the most prestigious ones.
Once we settled on FS Austria and East, I knew there was no more playing around—we have a car to make and I am going to put everything I have into it.
Summer: The Chaotic Road to Getting Competition-Ready
Preparing for one national competition is more than enough work in a summer, and now the team was getting ready for two more in Europe.
Quiroz (June, Cal Poly Pomona): While we didn’t qualify for 2023, President Coley [president of Cal Poly Pomona] was excited to provide the funding and resources in the event that we did. When we came back to her with the news that we qualified this year, she had our back. We were so busy preparing our car for competition that it wasn’t until June that we came to her with our plan, but her staff came through for us regardless. The logistics of international travel are hairy, especially when you’re also shipping a race car overseas. None of this would’ve happened without President Coley’s support, so we’re super grateful.
Lao (July, Cal Poly Pomona): I’ve become the acting powertrain lead, giving direction in the shop and trying to get the new powertrain team adapted to the 2024-25 design season. After we DNF’d (did not finish) at Michigan Endurance [a significant portion of a formula competition that tests the reliability, efficiency, and overall performance of the race car over a 14-mile run], due to an oil leak in our powertrain system, I have an obligation and drive to be the best lead I can be.
I want to perform well in international competition, and this is a motivation I have not felt before. Ultimately, I was able to make decisions to get the car to a drivable state and to a state where it was competition ready.
July 17-19: Arriving in Europe for FS Austria
By a minor miracle, the team reached Europe, but a new country brought only new, unexpected challenges.
Quiroz (July 17, Graz): Graz is our home base. It’s a beautiful and charming city with all its little shops and restaurants. TUG Racing (the FS team from Graz University of Technology and one of the top FS teams in the world), graciously hosted us. Seeing their facility and car is a dream.
We had a lot to do but couldn’t do much. The car and our tools were still shipping in and we didn’t have the supplies needed to camp [teams often camp near competition sites due to convenience, cost savings, or logistical reasons]. Needless to say, it was frustrating.
But as I’m driving through Graz, looking at all the greenery, it really gives me appreciation for the opportunities that this school and this club has given to me. This experience has already burned itself into my memory.
Intwala (July 19, Graz): Finding camping supplies was more difficult than anticipated, but the biggest blow was finding out that most of Europe stopped selling E85 [gas comprised of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline] years ago, which is the fuel the car runs on. The closest available E85 station was 15 hours away in France. Luckily, TU Graz sent us some old files on how to make our own E85. We’ve never made our own fuel before, but we didn’t have a choice.
It was scary putting homemade fuel in our car. We had no spare parts if anything went wrong, but when we turned the car on, everyone’s mood shifted from fear to excitement as the engine surprisingly ran smoother than it had in months. We were stoked, high-fiving each other knowing we were back in business.
I was so busy and stressed today that I forgot it was my birthday, but I will gladly take a smooth-running race car as a gift.
July 24–25: The Peaks and Valleys of FS Austria
The first of two competitions the team would be competing in, FS Austria was grueling, but ultimately unforgettable.
Daniel Villasana, Mechanical Engineering Student and Brakes Lead (July 24, Red Bull Ring): Every morning at 6 a.m., German house music blasts through concert-level sound systems. So, when I hear the music, I know it’s time to leave camp and head back to the pits and start working on the car. It’s the second day of competition, and we had a long checklist of items to complete to pass technical inspection, the first major hurdle of any FS competition.
I arrived at Red Bull Ring to see our team crowding around the car and working their magic to pass tech. Responsible for the brakes, I was cutting metal, grinding off excess material from the new brake pedal footrest, and bleeding brakes to ensure they would lock up.
European rules required a lot of changes to be made for our car, so you better have had something to do, or you’d be trampled by the ones working all around the car as we double and triple checked all of our requirements. We worked until we lost all daylight, managing to have the judges approve most of the checklist and leaving the rest for tomorrow. We were completely drained.
When I got a chance to relax and grasp my surroundings, I took time to reflect on the entire day and realized what we as a team went through for this car to drive. I don’t think any of the team members or the process of designing and building the car prior would’ve ever prepared me for the work I had to perform for this competition. Lots of lessons and a lot of reflection to do from each and every one of us, but for now, a nice, peaceful walk back to the campsite.
Intwala (July 25, Red Bull Ring): Being at the Red Bull Ring felt like a dream. It all felt so surreal. This is the same track that I’ve watched Formula One drivers race on TV for years, the same track that I would drive on in racing games growing up, and now I’m standing here with the team I led and the race car we built. After months of dealing with engine troubles, endless logistical problems and sleepless nights, I was standing in a spot I could only dream of and that many thought we would not make it to.
The competition, however, did not bring a stop to the problems. While we made all the major changes to the car to make it eligible for these European competitions, we didn’t catch “unwritten rules” that the scrutineers [judges who inspect and evaluate race cars to ensure they comply with the competition’s rules and regulations] pointed out we needed to fix to compete. These small changes really added up and much of the team slept very few hours these past three nights.
We finally finished the final tech inspection five minutes before it closed, which felt like a victory in the moment, but by that time it was too late compete in the first three dynamic events [competitions where the on-track performance of the race car is evaluated].
But we were lined up for the final and largest event, endurance. It felt as if all eyes were on us. Everyone was eager to see how the only team from the United States was going to perform on the track. Once we started, the car looked great and was absolutely flying, but unfortunately partway through the first lap a safety system accidently triggered, shutting off the car and ending our run after less than a minute.
After all the tireless days it really came down to this? I know how fast this car is and I felt like I disappointed those excited to see us. Can’t do anything about it now though. We really need to take in these learnings because we have one more competition ahead of us.
Haynes (July 25, Red Bull Ring): The past week was one of the most physically and emotionally draining spans of time I’ve ever experienced. But the sound of that R6 engine screaming though the Red Bull arch and around the turns crowded with European onlookers made me feel complete again after a difficult week.
As real-life stories often go, more pain ensued 22 seconds later when our BSPD [brake system plausibility device, a crucial safety feature to ensure braking and power delivery of the vehicle are functioning] tripped due to an improperly sized capacitor and our run was scrubbed before we could even get one lap in. That one probably hurt me the most. It happens to the best of us. All we can do is understand what happened, why it happened and learn to not make the same mistake again. I’ll hold with me those few seconds of glory for the rest of my life. Thank you, FS Austria. I’ll see you again very soon.
August 1: ‘Gutted’ by FS East, but Onwards
The lessons and work in FS Austria led to early success in FS East—only to be undone by the smallest of errors.
Intwala: These past few days have not been as grueling as the FS Austria competition, as most of the changes we made for scrutineering and tech inspection directly translated over. In fact, we were eligible to compete in all dynamic events.
The car flew in the first two events. We got the second-fastest lap time in our class against much larger and prestigious European universities, but post-event scrutineering by the judges saw a few drops of brake fluid leaking. This was enough to disqualify our runs for the events.
The problem was caused by a single incorrect fitting in the brake system. I was gutted. We have one of the fastest cars present at the event, but a problem so seemingly insignificant ruined our results. I had sacrificed my entire summer to get this car working and flew halfway across the world just for a few drops of brake fluid to undo it all. I sat there quietly for at least half an hour just staring at the car in our pit.
The competition’s more or less over for us now, so I’m in front of a beautiful lake with a reflection as crystal clear as a mirror. As I look back on the past few days, I can accept that this is just real life and part of the learning process. I’m still disappointed with the results, but there’s more to this trip than purely competition results.
Before coming to Cal Poly Pomona, I didn’t ever think I would be in Europe with a race car I helped build. If I told this to my high school self, he would’ve thought I was crazy. I made friends with other teams all over the world, teams I have looked up to for the past few years. What I’ve gained from experiencing new countries, making new connections, and getting to this point where I can sit here and write this at all has made this trip a success in my eyes.
While we didn’t get the results I was hoping for, I hope the future team learns from us, comes back to Europe and shows what us Americans are really capable of.