Event Season 2026 Recap
See all the failures and records the FT26 lived trough.
The FT26 is called “Unchained” because, after many years of using chains for our powertrain concept, we are finally freeing ourselves from them. For the 2026 season, we switched to an all-wheel drive, with wheel-hub motors and gearboxes. How successful this switch was is shown at the competitions we attended: FS Switzerland, FS Czech, FS Germany and FS Poland.
We are thrilled to have set multiple FaSTTUBe records, including wins at the prestigious FSG competition and our first overall victory.
The first event of the season took place in the beautiful Swiss mountains. It was a very special event for us because we finally made significant improvements to the autonomous system of our car. Driving driverless is a difficult discipline that most Formula Student teams are unable to master. Throughout the years, we have been working on our self-driving system. However, the last two years, we were unable to demonstrate it in competitions due to technical and time constraints. That’s why we were really happy when we managed to complete an acceleration run.
Unfortunately, a brake disc failure the day before the most scored endurance discipline interrupted our celebration. We worked through the night to get the car on the track again but ran out of time.
Despite this setback, we had other reasons to celebrate at the awards ceremony.
At our second event FS Czech, we competed against many more teams. We once again qualified for the Cost Report Finals and impressed the judges with our business plan in the corresponding finals. Our off-track performance was spot on too, we won the official flunky ball tournament.
Our unchained beast also delivered on the track. Initially, we had issues with the steering compliance and encountered some unknown electrical error messages. Still, we put down amazing times in the dynamic disciplines. We beat our FaSTTUBe record with a time of 3,5s at 75m acceleration. The whole team was excited for the endurance event once again. This time, we actually managed to complete the entire endurance race. There were some issues with the accumulator overheating due to cooling system problems, but we were proud to finally prove that the FT26 delivers. Achieving a top 10% ranking at the highly competitive FS Czech event is a remarkable accomplishment!
The most prestigious Formula Student competition is held at the Hockenheimring. 80 teams move in their pits at the paddock and compete on the track.
We tried once again to perform driverless runs, but unfortunately, the car did not stay on track, so we had to abort each attempt. We did not overcome the bad luck in our second autocross attempt where the suspension broke. With the help of spare parts from other teams, we fixed the issue overnight and pushed to the starting line of the endurance. However, we experienced another suspension failure on the other side, and there was no time to fix the issue before the start. Therefore we unfortunately weren’t able to compete in the endurance discipline again.
There was still one last thing we could hope for: we qualified for the Cost Report finals once again. Learning from the previous finals, we were prepared to put on an amazing performance that would convince the judges.
The last event in Poland was a bit smaller once again. But this time, our bad luck finally left us alone. By fixing potential weak points, such as switching from a carbon to a steel suspension, we reliably delivered incredible performances. We proved that we are the fastest on the slippery skidpad track and the second fastest in the acceleration and endurance.
The statics were amazing too. We made it to the finals in the Cost Report and Engineering Design categories. We won both with a significant lead over second place.
There was so much to celebrate at the award ceremony, but the room got quiet when the winner of the event was about to be announced.
“The fastest tubes in the world: E13 – FaSTTUBe!”
It’s the first time in the 20-year history of FaSTTUBe that we’ve won an event overall. What a performance! What an end to the FT26 “Unchained” event season!
