After the Arrabona Racing Team and the SZEnergy Team, the SZEngine student racing team held its usual design freeze event at Széchenyi István University. The name refers to the fact that this is the point in the calendar in vehicle development where the design phase is frozen and the manufacturing and assembly process starts. This will be accompanied by a presentation where sponsors, invited guests and members of the press will be able to find out what the team has in store for the coming season.

The participants gathered in the reception hall of the Internal Combustion Engines Department (including students from the newly formed Formula Student team of Óbuda University, who came to Győr at the invitation of SZEngine) to listen to the team members' briefing.

The team members gathered in the ground floor reception room of the Internal Combustion Engines Department to listen to the presentations.
(Photo by Péter Bradics, SZEngine)

Before we were introduced to the new products, Dr Csaba Tóth-Nagy, lecturer in the Department of Internal Combustion Engines, gave a welcome speech. He explained that he had been following the work of the team since the beginning and was impressed by the path the team had taken since then.

"I've realised that there are two fundamental secrets to your success," he said, exciting his audience. "One is that you operate with an enthusiasm that I see in very few places. The leaders have a vision that is good to connect with. Another is that you have developed a system where knowledge can be passed on to the next generation.

I was there at EVO1 when you couldn't put the parts together during production, and now you are able to even win a competition. It's great what you're doing," he said in a tone of praise, addressing his words to the students.

According to Dr Csaba Tóth-Nagy, SZEngine has come a long way in the past decade (Photo: Márton Horváth)

Construction Manager Balázs Hajas then summarised the past year in a nutshell for SZEngine. He said that last year the team had made significant modifications: the basic engine has been changed, the main reason being that the new design is more powerful than its predecessor. Although there were fears about how the new technology would perform in the real world, the results were reassuring, with top 10 finishes in Formula Student Austria and top five finishes in Formula Student East in several events.

"The engine tested well, there were no complaints about performance or reliability, and it held up well in the races. That's why we didn't plan any major modifications. We tweaked one or two components and optimised the system. We are confident that this will allow us to improve on last season's results," said the construction manager.

Balázs Hajas said that, as last year, they will be testing their engines in the Hungarian, Austrian and German Formula Student races.
(Photo by Márton Horváth)

After the introduction, Maximilián Deák gave some technical details. According to the associate construction manager, several components of the engine, such as the crankshaft and the connecting rod, have been optimised. After all, the original KTM base engine used as a prototype was designed for motorcycles and thus factory-built for a long service life - in contrast, in racing, the components have to withstand far fewer running hours and therefore do not need to be as robust. This has allowed them to save considerable weight.

It is also worth mentioning the modification of the intake system.

"Basically, we made some minor changes. The big thing, however, is not this, but the introduction of a new production technology. It's completely innovative and we're going to test it for the first time in Formula Student," said Maximilian Deák, before going into further detail. "The laminating tool for the airbox will be made from a soluble support material. We'll laminate the carbon layers onto it and then simply wash the backing material out, so we can take the part out in one piece," said the team's associate construction manager.

It was Maximilian Deák’s job to share the technical details with the audience. (Photo by Péter Bradics, SZEngine)

SZEngine's longer-term plans were also discussed at the event.

It was revealed that the team is planning a new crankcase for the 2023 season, which will save a significant amount of weight, almost 30%. This will be achieved using a technology that is also not commonplace, such as three-dimensional metal printing.