Our story

The Os.Car Racing Team was founded in 2012, with the goal of becoming Austria’s fourth Formula Student team to successfully compete in competitions, based at the University of Applied Sciences Campus Vienna. The year 2013 was dedicated to the development of our first car, the CR-112, which competed at the Formula Student Austria competition in 2014 for the first time.

 

A technical milestone was reached in 2017, when the CR-117 became our first race car, which was equipped with a aerodynamic components. Another special highlight followed in 2018, when our simulations on the CR-118 earned us second place in the “Most Efficient Use of CFD Award” at Formula Student Austria, demonstrating a key trait of our team: We always get the most out of limited resources.

 

Due to the cancellation of the 2020 competition year due to the Covid-pandemic, only a handful of members remained on the team. With a reduced team size, we almost narrowly missed out on participating in the 2021 competition with the CR-120. This made us realize, we had to completely regroup and restructure, if we wished to compete in this and future upcoming competitions. We returned with renewed energy in 2023 for the first full post-Covid competition season, but once again afterwards only a few members remained.

 

Autumn 2023 thus marked an important phase in the team’s rebuilding. Structures and processes were created to ensure the sustainability of the currently growing membership. Not only were new members integrated into, but a significant technical step was taken as well: For the first time, development of a hybrid powertrain began, which would decisively shape the future of our team. From 2012 to 2023, a powertrain based on the engine of a Honda CBR-600 RR, an inline four-cylinder, was used. In 2024, a switch to the KTM 690 SMC R engine, a single-cylinder, took place, to comply with the new requirements for a hybrid system. To achieve maximum engine performance despite the rules mandatory throttling, an electric compressor was used in the intake tract as a hybrid system. This technological transformation quickly paid off: At Formula Student Austria 2024, we won the special award “INNIO Hydrogen Concept Challenge” for our presentation of a hydrogen combustion engine concept based on the current hybrid powertrain.