Joanneum Racing Graz Team Interview

Amira Tamam

* Introduce your team briefly.
Joanneum racing Graz was founded in 2003 and currently consists of 70 team members. Our members come from a wide range of different studies at U.A.S. Graz. We will attend this year’s FSN competition for the first time ever, with jr21 being our latest and last race car with a combustion engine.

* Tell us about your team’s history with Formula Student.
In 2004 we participated in our first Formula Student season. Since then, we have built a new race car nearly every year and celebrated ever since, be it a podium place or just glad to have the chance to participate at an FS competition. Our last season in 2019 was special for us: we managed to win FSA and FSEast for the first time, especially FSA which takes place in Austria, our “home ground”. In the Formula Student Combustion ranking, we are currently ranked 4th among the European teams and 14th in the world. It makes us feel very proud and we are glad that we could learn so much from our alumni. In the past years, we could also participate in overseas competitions such as FSAE Michigan and SF Japan, which was a unique experience in itself.

* What does joining Formula Student Netherlands mean to you?
This year will be our first time participating in FSN and we are very excited and looking forward to this new challenge. It will be a new track, yet another country we as a team have never been to and a chance to gather experience in this new environment.

* What are your main goals for this year?
Our biggest yet most challenging goal is always to win. We set goals for our new race car, such as pushing lap time even further, increasing reliability, increasing efficiency and at the same time reducing the overall weight.

* What made you think of/choose FSN?
We wanted to try something new, push our boundaries and prove ourselves on a new stage.

* What makes you different from the other teams?
The strong collaboration between students from entirely different studies – from automotive engineering to journalism and public relations – is one of our biggest strengths. We have a strong team spirit and the determination to always go further, which is reflected in our motto “Never Stop Pushing”.

* What is your biggest achievement in Formula Student so far?
In the 2019 season, we were able to win two competitions. Holding 4th place in Europe and currently being the best combustion team in Austria are some of our biggest achievements.

* Describe your car in three words.
Fast, Fabulous, Weasels

* How did COVID-19 affect your team and how did you deal with it?
It had a huge impact on us as a team and our workshop was closed for several months. In order to keep the team spirit high and not to lose motivation, online team events and workshops were organized. We kept recruiting new people for the team. Soon after the lockdown ended last year we were allowed to work again in our beloved workshop. Although, we had to follow strict COVID-19 regulations. With strong precautions taken, we ensure a safe working environment for ourselves.

You can follow Joanneum Racing Graz for more information and updates on their social media platforms
Facebook: joanneumracing
Instagram: joanneumracinggraz
LinkedIn: joanneum racing graz
Twitter: joanneumracing