The InVentus Team of the University of Stuttgart really hit a home run with the victory of the Ventomobil at the Aeolus Race in Den Helder. A little while after the big show, we have spoken with Jan Lehmann of InVentus about the impressions of the team and their future plans.Club of Pioneers: Congratulations on your victory in the Aeolus race! How does it actually feel to drive the Ventomobil, after having toasted its success? Jan Lehmann: The Ventomobil has always been fantastic to drive, and with this success behind it driving is naturally even more enjoyable. We had a great team, with the support of a lot of volunteer helpers and sponsors. Golden Moment: The Ventomobil at the Aeolus RaceClub of Pioneers: How did the race transpire exactly?Jan Lehmann: On the two race days (Thursday and Friday), all the teams were actually supposed to compete against each other once. But it didn't turn out as smoothly as the race management had hoped. Even on the day before the race, you noticed that every team was still occupied with screwing things together. The development period was simply too short for all the teams. Accordingly, we were only able to hold three of the planned six races on the Thursday, and we had technical problems ourselves. In the FIRST race, our bicycle components failed in 35 km/h wind, just ONE meter after the finish line. We repaired the gear mechanism in a flash, and were able to race again shortly afterwards. We then immediately set the speed record. 1.2 km in 3 minutes 13 seconds. Our driving speed was around 64 % of the wind speed.
There was a lot less wind on the second day (15 km/h). Most of the cars didn't even race, which was a real shame! We had a lot of room for movement in terms of our transmission because of our bicycle components, and we were able to cover the 2km track well. Our closest competitor on this day was the Danish team (DTU). In the race to decide everything, they even got out to a lead of around 10 meters over us. Alex was driving, and Niko was riding next to him on the bike, giving directions. 100 meters before the finish, the track went slightly uphill. We were able to change down and get more power from the wind. The Danes didn't have that option, and we pulled past them in the last second. It was absolutely thrilling!Club of Pioneers: What was the secret of your success? When did you become aware that you were better than the others?Jan Lehmann: I think the fact that we won was a result of a number of factors. In technical terms, the variability of the transmission and our low weight, thanks to the carbon-fiber frame, were certainly decisive advantages. But another decisive factor was definitely also the great team that we had, with all the helpers who put so much time into the project. The cooperation ran very well from the beginning, and I think everyone had fun being involved.
On the first day we, the Dutch team and the Danes kept bettering each other in terms of maximum speed. It wasn't until late in the afternoon, when no-one else had achieved our record of 64 %, that we grew more confident. But then the technical problems emerged, proving that our enthusiasm was somewhat premature. Really, it wasn't clear who had won until the presentation ceremony, and accordingly it stayed exciting for us right to the end.Club of Pioneers: You were also victorious in other categories. For what did you receive awards?Jan Lehmann: The use of a lot of carbon-fiber fetched us the prize for most innovative construction, and our media relations, in which you also supported us so well, won us the prize for best media relations.Club of Pioneers: Time was of the essence in preparation. How did you still manage to develop a chassis?Jan Lehmann: Yes, that really was tight. It wasn't until the last weeks that we decided that we still had enough time for a fairing. First, we had the idea of building the fairing from Plexiglas. We were able to do that very quickly, but in the wind tunnel it turned out to be impractical. At the same time, Dr. Würz seized on Alex's idea of using the fuselage of a glider for the fairing. Following talks with the glider manufacturer Schempp-Hirth, we had the external shell of a one-seater glider within two days, and only had to adapt it to our vehicle. Club of Pioneers: After the race, you ran into an unexpected windfall – what happened there?Jan Lehmann: Prior to the race, Prof. Gustav Winkler, a very friendly and open-minded Emeritus professor at the Flensburg College of Higher Education, had declared a prize for the team that drove faster than half the wind speed. He was, and remains, convinced that it is very difficult to reach this target, and accordingly offered the incentive of 1000 euro. Despite the initial conviction of all teams that this prize would be very easy to win, in the end only three managed it, and even then only just. ECN (The Netherlands) with 51 %, DTU (Denmark) with 53 % and InVentus with 64 %. For next year, in turn, the Dutch team announced a prize of 1000 euro, being for the team that achieves more than 100 % of the wind speed!Club of Pioneers: What will happen to the Ventomobil now and what are your future plans?Jan Lehmann: The cup we won is a challenge cup, which means that it must be defended again next year. So in the next few weeks, Alex, Niko and I will be looking for research project and thesis topics which we can implement for the 2009 Aeolus race. There are already enough exciting topics regarding improvements and even completely new designs, so everyone can look forward to seeing what InVentus brings in 2009!
Finally, I'd like to thank everyone involved once again for the fantastic support for the project. You did a great job!!