The TU Brno Racing team from Brno University of Technology has unveiled its new electric single-seater, Dragon e6, in an unconventional setting: the Brno Exhibition Centre. The ceremonial rollout took place on 15 May in the rotunda of Pavilion A. This year’s formula car was built in temporary facilities, and throughout the season the students had to manage without their own workshop, which is undergoing extensive renovation to become the BUT Student Centre. Despite these challenges, they managed to expand the team, redesign the powertrain system, and qualify for international competitions in the Czech Republic, Austria, and Croatia.
This season is a milestone for TU Brno Racing in many respects. The student team, made up mainly of students from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication, and the Faculty of Information Technology at BUT, has grown in a single year from around 50 to more than 80 active members. This expanding team, together with the ambition to open the project up more to the public, led to the decision to move this year’s formula car presentation from the university environment to BVV Trade Fairs Brno.
“We wanted to be closer to people and, at the same time, connect the rollout with other BUT student teams. Visitors at the exhibition centre could also see YSpace, Chicken Wings, Pneuracer, and the Technika Brno Student Photography Club, for example. We didn’t want the event to be only about the formula car, but also about student projects and the university as a whole,” says TU Brno Racing team leader Anna Piárová. The team’s return to the exhibition centre after ten years was also symbolic. “Back then, Dragon 6 with a combustion engine was presented here. Now we have unveiled the electric Dragon e6,” Piárová adds.
A Formula Car from a Container
The new single-seater was built in highly unusual conditions. Throughout the season, the student team operated without its usual workshop, which is undergoing a major modernisation. Production and work organisation therefore had to move to temporary facilities at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Several specialised institutes also opened their workshops and laboratories to the young designers so that the team could successfully complete the season.
“We had to plan much more carefully and worked a lot at weekends. Instead of a grinding room, we used a borrowed storage container to make moulds for composites. During the preparations, we joked that we were building a formula car from a container,” Piárová says with a smile, adding that the solution proved very effective. According to her, the team handled all the limitations better than expected.
The students should receive their new facilities this autumn in the modern BUT Student Centre, which is being built on the site of the original workshop. The centre will provide a base not only for the formula team but also for other student teams. It will include office and teaching spaces as well as, most importantly, a large workshop equipped with the necessary technology.
AI Helps, But It Cannot Replace People
Although this season meant working in provisional conditions, the team also managed to expand both development and testing. A key area of this year’s car is the further development of the four-wheel-drive system, which the team first used in last year’s Dragon e5.
“This year, we focused mainly on the reliability and fine-tuning of the powertrain system. The main goal is to get the car on the track as soon as possible and test it as thoroughly as possible before the races themselves,” explains technical leader Lukáš Krátký, adding that the team has qualified for Formula Student international competitions in Austria, Croatia, and at the Czech Autodrom Most.
The students completed a significant part of the work even before this year’s single-seater was finished. They tested the new inverters, electronics, and control algorithms in last year’s Dragon e5 during the spring.
“We made use of the time while the monocoque and other mechanical parts were being manufactured, and tested every piece of electronics intended for Dragon e6 in the old car,” adds student Dan Šrámek, who is responsible for software and driverless technologies in the team. “The larger number of members also allowed us to focus not only on routine software maintenance, but also on a major reorganisation of the entire codebase. We now have a solid foundation and are concentrating on making the most of the four-wheel-drive system’s potential,” Šrámek says.
The students also use artificial intelligence tools in development, mainly for code analysis and rapid searches for technical data. According to team members, however, AI remains primarily a support tool.
“AI helps us find inconsistencies or analyse parts of the code, but it is definitely not the case that we simply enter a prompt and get a finished result. Our system is far too complex for that and requires human decision-making and experience,” Šrámek adds.
In addition to software, the students also focused on improving the car’s cooling and reliability, drawing directly on experience from last year’s races.
“In Croatia, we struggled with overheating in some units, so this year we changed their placement so they are located in a cooler part of the car,” Krátký adds. The results will be seen at the Alpe Adria competition in Croatia in August. Although the biggest changes took place inside the single-seater, its appearance has also changed to some extent. New competition rules have reduced the maximum height of aerodynamic elements, which required changes to the aerodynamics of the entire car.
| Dragon e6 – Technical Specifications
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The project’s total budget this year is approximately CZK 8 million. “Roughly half of the funding is provided by the university and the faculty, part comes from financial donations from partners, and in-kind donations or software licences that we can use free of charge also play a major role. Companies see the project mainly as an opportunity to work with talented students who gain highly practical experience while still at university,” says Piárová.
The team is also gradually preparing to return to the autonomous Formula Student category. According to Šrámek, however, autonomous driving is significantly more demanding, both technically and organisationally, than the electric single-seater itself. The team is already working on the development of autonomous driving and possible implementation options. The students estimate that real deployment will be possible no earlier than the season after next.
| The TU Brno Racing student team was founded at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Brno University of Technology in 2010. In 2021, the students ended production of combustion-engine single-seaters after building the milestone 10th model, Dragon X, while also presenting their first electric formula car, Dragon e1. TU Brno Racing is the largest student team at BUT. This year, 85 students, mainly from FME, FEEC, and FIT, were involved in the development, production, and operation of the team, with students from other BUT faculties and Masaryk University also taking part. More information about the team is available at tubrnoracing.cz. |