| Greetings, Berkeley Formula Racing partners, sponsors, family, and friends! We are proud to share this year’s post-Competition newsletter, a walkthrough of our incredible week in Michigan. |
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| Our performance this year was highlighted by 2nd in Autocross, 2nd in Efficiency, 2nd in Endurance, and our third consecutive year as Design Finalists. These strong scores vaulted us to 3rd Overall out of 115 entered teams, by far the highest Berkeley Formula Racing has ever placed in its 23 years of history. |
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| Context for Manufacturing, Assembling, and Testing B24 This year, UC Berkeley made major moves to reduce its liability for potential student injuries. Certain activities essential to Berkeley Formula Racing’s success, such as use of our machine shop or power tools at the garage, the ability to test our car at the Richmond Field Station, and the ability to use our own truck and trailer, were all at one point or another revoked by the school. Our chassis was required to be welded on campus during shop staff working hours, engine dyno use required supervision, and paint booth taken down. All of these new, evolving constraints provided a multitude of unprecedented challenges in manufacturing, assembling, and testing B24. |
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| These new rules forced us to make the absolute most of our testing opportunities. In late April ahead of our May 4th departure for Michigan, the team spent 48 hours continuously at our testing site in Alameda one weekend and two full days and nights the following weekend. This rigorous final phase of the testing program was driven by our need to perform as close to perfectly at Competition as possible, with a huge focus on reliability. With two years of heartbreaking DNFs in Endurance in mind, we recorded a totally unprecedented 200+ kilometers of testing mileage across March and April, and successfully completed six consecutive full length endurance runs in the final two weekends. |
| Wednesday, May 8 |
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| We started the week off on the right foot with an early tech line spot. After our first pass through tech, there were only a couple of minor changes to make. We applied the tech inspectors’ feedback and waited in the re-tech line, once again getting lucky and into inspection for a second time before the first day’s end. Incredibly, B24 passed static technical inspection on the first day of competition! We weighed in at just 371 pounds, making us the lightest car with an aero package and the second lightest car at the event. |
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| Thursday, May 9 |
| Thursday started early for us as our Design presentation was during the first time slot of the day. Overall, our presentations went smoothly and we were optimistic we would make Design Finals for a third consecutive year. Tilt, Sound, and Brakes technical inspection would follow, with a midday break to deliver the Cost presentation. The heavy morning sky finally let loose midday leading to an unrelenting afternoon rain, which, paired with winds and temperatures twenty degrees colder than the previous day, made for miserable conditions. |
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| Tilt was a breeze as expected. We were thrilled to pass Sound on the first attempt for the second year running, benefiting from more experience with muffler setup and tuning. With the rain beating down, wet tires were required for Brakes tech. Initially wanting to keep our wet tires as fresh as possible for the chance of a wet Endurance, we were hesitant to use them to lock up for Brakes tech and considered leaving the track in the early afternoon. Luckily, we were able to source a used set at the Hoosier tent to run just for Brakes tech. Like Tilt and Sound, we passed Brakes on the first attempt. By the time we made it back to the hotel that night, the news broke that we were Design Finalists, prompting a late night of studying for our presenters. |
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| Friday, May 10 |
| Friday was a long day, featuring Acceleration, Skidpad, Autocross, and Design Finals. Our schedule was tightly packed as we ambitiously aimed to get every driver practice runs for their respective events. We achieved this goal and made positive setup tweaks as a result of these practice runs. |
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| Our Skidpad and Accel runs went solidly, with points scores closely matching last year’s performance. An accel time of 4.992 despite a blip in shifting reliability, the only misshift of the whole week, was just .063 seconds and 1.2 points shy of last year’s run. A Skidpad time of 5.403 was enough for a 11.3 point increase over B23’s score. |
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| An exceptionally long flat-out section of the Autocross course virtually guaranteed that a heavier more powerful car would have the advantage, but we still set the 2nd fastest time 1.9 seconds ahead of 3rd. Although our onboard camera malfunctioned, only recording audio, we do have footage from the Autocross spectator area here. Achieving 2nd in Autocross meant our Endurance starting slot would be towards the very end, crucially earning us minimal traffic on Saturday. |
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| Applying lessons learned from last year’s challenging Design Finals appearance, we felt far more comfortable answering most judges’ questions, earning a raw score 25 points higher. Having spent so much time studying and practicing for Design Finals, this was a huge reward. We are eager to apply this year’s lessons to score even higher with B25. |
Saturday, May 11 |
| Saturday is the most important day of Competition. Out of the 1000 points available across all events, 375 points are up for grabs on Saturday between Endurance and Efficiency. Finishing Endurance is an enormous accomplishment that we have come agonizingly close to completing the last two years. Our rigorous preparation this Spring reflected our collective will to ensure this year we would complete the entire 22km Endurance run in Michigan. |
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| Our first stint went smoothly, save for a couple times our car had to navigate stuck or stopped cars in the tightest section of track seen in Endurance in years. Crucially, we were incredibly attentive to the order of cars released and the instructions of the Endurance event workers, avoiding the 120 second procedural infraction penalty that effected so many other teams towards the end of the Endurance run order. The driver change at halfway went as planned, although a tired starter motor required some diligence to get us going again, we were on our way into the second stint. This is an important threshold as it guaranteed we would score Efficiency points. |
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| Our late slot in the run order meant that in the second half of our Endurance run, we experienced precisely zero traffic. One of the challenges we faced too late in our testing to effectively redesign in time for Competition was our fueling system’s susceptibility to momentary fuel cut outs induced by sloshing in the tank at approximately 75% of the way through a full Endurance run. In order to mitigate this set back during the run, our drivers engaged in aggressive fuel saving techniques, ultimately using only ~80% of the fuel we typically burned in a practice endurance run all the while keeping a reasonably quick pace. Slowing the pace even more on the final lap to ensure minimal fuel starvation, we made it across the line to finish Endurance! |
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| The significance of us finishing Endurance cannot be understated. In all 17 of BFR’s competition appearances prior to 2024, the team is credited with just 5 Endurance finishes and one Overall top 10 placement. The amount of hard work put in this year to ensure our program was reliable and quick is impossible to truly put into words. We wrapped up both Endurance and Efficiency in 2nd place, netting us the highest points of any team on Saturday. |
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| Placements of 63rd in Presentation, 53rd in Acceleration, 48th in Cost, 19th in Skid Pad, 7th in Design, 2nd in Autocross, 2nd in Endurance, and 2nd in Efficiency cumulated in 814 points and 3rd overall, comfortably besting the team’s record of 741 points and 8th overall set in 2014. We additionally placed 3rd for the Cummins Sustainable Power and Performance Excellence Award. |
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At Last, Thank YOU! |
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| Berkeley Formula Racing owes this historic year to the countless sponsors, partners, friends, and family who support us, and the hardworking team members who were so dedicated to our success. We are endlessly grateful to each of you for being a part of our community and doing your part to earn this incredible result. 2025 is going to be a fun one! GO BEARS!! |
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