FaSTTUBe Team Interview

Amira Tamam

Introduce your team briefly

FaSTTUBe stands for Formula Student Team of the TU Berlin and team spirit, ambition, gasoline, and electricity in the blood. Since 2005, nearly 80 students have been building new racing cars every year with which they participate in Formula Student design competitions throughout Europe. Today, FaSTTUBe is bigger than it has ever been before; we count a staggering number of up to 100 members, building an electric driverless car.

Tell us about your team’s history with Formula Student

It all started in 2005 when a group of young engineering students wanted to participate in a so-called Formula Student Event. Driven by the motivation of making a self build car drive, they started with the most basic but functioning car. Over the years, they managed to grow the Team and find likewise thinking students. Further improvements were made, and the first complete aero kit was fitted in 2015. Following this trend, the Team experimented on how to increase the engine power resulting in fitting their first Turbocharger to the Engine. Besides working on the combustion car, FaSTTUBe started developing their first electric car in 2018, therefore building 2 cars every season since. It didn´t stop there, and a third member was added to the family – 2019, the birth of our first Driverless car. And now we are combining all of that knowledge in our new FT22 which will be an all electric Formula Student race car with driverless capabilities.

What does joining Formula Student Netherlands mean to you? 

Last year we had an amazing time at Formula Student Netherlands. Coming in at 2nd place Overall with our FT20c combustion car it was our most successful event ever. We still remember our car being raced around the track at incredible pace by our driver. From the trackside you could see the enormous amount of grip the car had on the endurance track. We could only imagine the fun our driver must have had in the car. That’s why we are incredibly excited to return to FS Netherlands and drive once again on one of the best tracks in Formula Student. The weather could be more reliable this time.

What are your main goals for this year? 

As we have never had the pleasure to see one of our electric cars drive at a Formula Student Event our main goal is to participate in all dynamic events. It will be interesting to see how our new concepts perform at a real FS Event.

What made you think of/choose FSN?  

FSN has a great community, has the most fun track to drive on and has the best competition among other teams. Especially the quality of the feedback we have received so far at FSN has made us prioritize it over others. 

What makes you different from the other teams? 

We are one of few teams that managed to build three cars with one Team! Furthermore this year we had to make the decision with a heavy heart not to build another combustion engine race car. However, to honour the history of our team, this year we are the only European team to participate in an event in the USA in addition to the European events.

What is your most significant achievement in Formula Student so far? 

There were many achievements so far, and it is tough to tell which one is the biggest. Although, finishing three cars under a worldwide pandemic could count as one of the biggest so far!

One of our greatest achievements was to master the last two seasons 2020/2021. We managed to complete three race cars during a worldwide pandemic also we managed to participate with all three in Formula Student events.

Our combustion car, the FT20c, has been the most successful car in the history of FaSTTUBes, and last year we won 2nd place overall at FSN.

Do you think there are any positive outcomes for the competition from the current situation? 

Since the events could not take place in the summer of 2020 and only to a limited extent in 2021, we are now even more looking forward to a competition like the one that took place before the pandemic. We have learned to appreciate even more how special the competition and the Formula Student community is.

What can the Formula Student organising bodies do to help the struggling teams due to the recent events? 

The biggest problem we and other teams are facing is rising prices and much longer and unreliable delivery times. Formula Student events are what we work towards all year, but they are also one of the biggest costs we have to plan for. Later payment and lower cost overall would definitely help some teams through these times.

You can follow FaSTTUBe Team for more updates and news on their social media platforms:

Instagram: @fasttube_tuberlin

Facebook: @FaSTTUBe

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Fasttubeengineering

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fasttube/

Website: https://fasttube.de/

We look forward to welcoming the team to the track!