Motorsport is an unforgiving and addicting passion, leaving you always wanting more

It is this knowledge which inspired the team at Monash Motorsport (MMS), a Formula Student team based in Melbourne, to compete in four Formula Student competitions in Europe recently.
MMS’ latest car, M24, is completely student designed, built, tested, and raced, and the team was excited to compete overseas for the first time since 2018 to show the Europeans what Australians can do.
Starting the journey in Karlsruhe, MMS met its host team, KA-Raceing, which had offered to share its workshop.
Becoming quick friends, both teams were out on track almost every day preparing for the first competition at TT Circuit Assen; Formula Student Netherlands.
Competition was fierce with many teams bringing new innovations and well tested cars. However, MMS was able to put down consistent results across the competition, finishing the Endurance race and taking home fifth place overall.
With no time to rest and only one day until the next competition, the team set their sights on the Red Bull Ring and headed to Austria.
Considered the most competitive in the World Rankings tracker and the most fun by the teams, MMS says FS Austria lived up to expectations.
MMS had to push its car to the limit to stay competitive with the other teams, and this intense racing resulted in a mechanical failure halfway through the 22km endurance event, revealing a flaw in the team’s design that they were able to identify and fix before the next competition.
The team then headed to the ZalaZONE Automotive Proving Grounds in Hungary to compete at FS East, with MMS reporting it was a historic moment for the team as this was the first competition that included Driverless events.
Two bolts, a switch and some parameters is all that is required to change M24 from driven mode to autonomous mode, where it drives without human assistance.

When in autonomous mode the car maps out the track using a LiDAR sensor and navigates using a steering motor.
The team completed three out of the four driverless events successfully, however had a DNF in the most difficult driverless event: Trackdrive. 
Securing its first podium in Europe by coming second in the Engineering Design Event, the team was excited to see its hard work paying off.
Finishing the endurance and improving its scores in all static events placed the team in sixth overall in both the Electric and Driverless Categories, out of a total of 32 and 13 teams respectively.
With one competition to go, team morale was high with the goal of finishing the European Campaign strong.
A week of testing and maintenance work meant the car had never been in a better position to compete at the Hockenheimring in Germany.
Eighty four teams and more than 2000 students attended FSG, making it one of the largest competitions in Europe.
MMS reports it put up its best performance yet in the driverless events, being one of only three teams to finish all four events successfully.
Achieving first in the Cost and Manufacturing event, a first in the team’s history, and third in the Business Plan Presentation event, MMS had never been in a better position to go for the overall podium. 
On a soaking Sunday afternoon, the wet tyres were on as M24 headed out to the Endurance track. Through heavy rain the drivers battled through their most difficult race yet.
Purposely designed to test the limits of cars, the FSG track incorporates a notorious “bump” which in turn found the limits of M24. Causing a DNF in the 14th out of 18 laps, the team did not finish the final Endurance.
While this was a heartbreaking outcome for MMS, the team reports it did not overshadow the incredible experiences, friends made, and valuable lessons the team learnt during their journey.

To learn more about Monash Motorsport, visit www.monashmotorsport.com