Author Archives: admin

  4. Looking ahead

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    Induction week at Herts is two weeks away but the new team are already hard at work preparing for the next Formula Student season! Parts of the car are already being designed, with the hope that a basic rolling chassis model can be achieved by the start of term in three weeks.

    For the car this year, the team are looking to implement several changes including moving from a single cylinder to a twin cylinder Honda CBR500. With this change we hope to increase the power and reliability of the engine to improve our results in the dynamic events. We also plan to do a mass analysis of the car to reduce weight wherever possible and minimise the impact of changing powertrain which is expected to add approximately 20kg to the overall mass of the car.

    Many parts are already in manufacture and we hope to have the majority of the car made and built by the Christmas holidays so we can get out testing as soon as possible and refine the new powertrain!

  6. The new website is live!!!

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    Following on from our fantastic launch, we have some more great news! Our new website it live as you can probably tell! We’ll be updating it over the coming weeks in between preparations for FSUK!

  7. Formula Student UK 2014

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    FSUK 2014

    Hi everyone! As you may be aware, our first competition is now over!! We had an amazing time at Silverstone, finishing 17th overall out of 98 universities from 38 countries and were the first team in Formula Student history to downsize their engine and still finish every event in the space of one year!

     

    Whilst I was there, I was put in charge of all media updates, most of which went on Facebook and Twitter. However, I recognise that not everyone has access to these media platforms so I have written a summary of my daily blogs on here too.

     

    But first, the official results of the competition for UH Racing:

    Business Presentation – 39th place

    Design Presentation – 28th place

    Cost, Manufacturing & Sustainability Presentation – 28th place

    Acceleration Event – 37th place

    Sprint Event – 32nd place

    Skid Pad Event – 38th place

    Endurance & Fuel Efficiency Event – 13th place in Endurance / 8th place in Fuel Efficiency

     

    An overview of each day of competition is provided below:

    Day 1

    Today was a very hectic day for the whole team, loading the car at the university and sending it to Silverstone to be unloaded and built ready in time for scrutineering. Turning up at the track, we were greeted by the pit boards that had been provided for us courtesy of Grand Design Systems and pleased that they had been able to add that extra touch of professionalism. The finishing touches to the livery were also completed and as you can see from the photos, we will be looking really good for competition!
    We walked down the pit lane to scrutineering, which unfortunately is always a long queue. However, the sun was out so everyone had their shades on (or managed to get some freebie sunglasses from one of the sponsors of the event) while we waited. As there are only 4 people allowed in this area, the rest of the team had a long wait which we utilised well J Time ran out for scrutineering today, but we only have Noise, Tilt and Brake test to do tomorrow before we can officially be declared to go racing!
    All the teams gathered at the end of the day on the National Straight for team photos, which hopefully will be published by Formula Student website at the end of competition.
    Tomorrow we have all our Static events as well as the rest of scrutineering so we will try to keep you all updated about our busy day!!!
    And here’s to hoping that the rain will stay away tomorrow as well!

     

    Day 2

    Today was a very hectic and packed day for the team with scrutineering being carried out and all of our presentations happening within hours of each other. It was also chucking it down with rain this morning, so it was a very wet session.
    The first thing that happened this morning after the driver briefing was the car being pushed back to scrutineering to pass Safety checks. After this, we were able to pass Tilt test and Noise test in quick succession! Unfortunately, we had some issues that arose during brake test and ran out of time but we will be back at the head of the queue tomorrow getting that final test passed! Then we are officially qualified to take part in competition.
    Over at the Static events, we had Richard and Ross complete the Business Presentation at 1.15pm and they did very well. Then we had Design Event at 4.30pm with Sam, Ross, Tom H, Sophie, Adam G and James Sm taking the lead of the event and others stepping in for support. Straight after that was finished, we had Sam, James Sm, Matt R and Matt R-E take on the Cost Event at 5.30pm. A massive thank you goes out to these guys as they spent a lot of time preparing and working hard on their presentations!
    So tomorrow is all about the car and what it can do!! Main events for the day are Acceleration, Sprint and Skid Pad with the first set of team presentations in the evening.
    Photos have been taken throughout all the events of this weekend so they will be uploaded Sunday night before the photographer forgets (hopefully!)
    Thanks to everyone for their comments and well wishes!!! It is much appreciated.

     

    Day 3

    Today was all about the dynamic events aka actually going racing! However, teams do not race against each other but against the clock. This allows for all the cars to be able to compete fairly against each other on the track. Electrical cars compete directly with combustion engines as well, making for an interesting competition!
    We first had to pass the final element of scrutineering: the brake test. Yesterday, we had a lot of problems getting through the test due to unforeseen issues arising but today we passed it first time this morning! With all scrutineering passed, we were cleared to race.
    We took on Acceleration first, where the car is timed for a 75m distance. We could only get in 2 runs due to timing constraints but our best time was 5 seconds. We then moved onto Skid Pad immediately (where the car has to be driven between cones in tight circles and knocking down a cone induces a time penalty), getting in all 4 runs for that, with the best time being 6 seconds.
    There was a short break between the end of Skid Pad and Sprint so we used that time to go through a few set up changes and do general maintenance on the car. It was also a time for our family and friends to get pictures and ask questions about the car! We really appreciated the support of those that came today and look forward to having more visitors tomorrow
    Moving onto the Sprint (a pre-set track that drivers have to navigate in the fastest time possible, with penalties awarded for knocking over cones), we got both drivers to be able to get in their runs and set a time of 62 seconds. The results of the sprint determined the order for the Endurance tomorrow so we will have a good place to start from.
    Let’s finish strong tomorrow!!

     

    Day 4

    The toughest event of the weekend was up today: Endurance. This event is 22km long and really pushes cars to the limits of what they can actually achieve. It is also hard work for the drivers as some would have not driven this sort of distance with their respective cars before.

    As we were 24th in the queue to start, we knew we had a little time to make any necessary set up changes before the start of the event, but we were confident that we could finish. UH17 was made and optimised for long distance running so this event suited us perfectly.

    As expected, other competitors unfortunately had trouble finishing. Only 28 cars actually finished completely, with a lot running into mechanical trouble whilst trying to complete the event. The worst problem we had for us was that rain had started half way through our first run, which comprised our lap times. We had to make a mandatory pit stop to change tyres and were fortunate enough to be able to change drivers too as Michael R had completed 10 out of 11 allotted laps. Jamie took over and did a stellar job bringing the car home and allowing us to finish the event for the first time in 3 years! The cheer from us and our supporters was fantastic!

    We also were able to take photos with our sister team, Edith Cowan University, who had stayed with us for a few weeks whilst they built their car in preparation for the competition. They are a bunch of fantastic guys and the team wishes them the best of luck in the future!

    So, all that was left was to pack up and go home. We had a lot of fun overall, with many highs and lows. We managed to get back just after 10pm and we will get back to work preparing for the next competition tomorrow.

     

    A massive thank you has to go to the sponsors of UH17 (without whom, we would not have been able to compete this year), our family and our friends for supporting us through this journey.

     

    Bereit für Deutschland!!! (Ready for Germany!!)

     

    Stephanie Alexander.

  8. Crunch Time Part 2

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    Sorry that the blog has been a bit empty in the last two months! University work and exams took over for (almost) everyone so the team were concentrating on finishing their degrees. But now, we can do what we have wanted to do, which is complete the build of the car.

    Formula Student Germany (FSG) had their Rules Quiz on 2nd May, which was online and against the clock to see if we would come out on top for Scrutineering queue order. It is paramount we get high in the queue so we can get our car in for Technical Inspection and do some testing on the track during the weekend, rather than waiting for other universities to complete their inspections first. We completed it in 2 minutes 30 seconds, which is one of the fastest times we have ever produced in the quiz. However, we won’t be able to find out until nearer the time where we finished against the other universities. Fingers crossed we got in the top three!!

    Also, we had a visit from Institution of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE) to present us with a cheque for £2,500! This will help us immensely in making sure we have the funding to finish the car as well as attend competition. Thank you to them for taking the time to shortlist us as one of the winners and visit to see what the current production of the car is looking like.

    There is lots of welding and grinding going on in our Fabrication room so it is getting really tight for workspace. On top of that, there is a lot of filming happening for our launch video. I am hoping that the end result will be really good, but there will be a lot of trawling through daily footage for the next month and grabbing all the best bits of the action.

    The Electrical department have been making the wiring for the whole car. I spoke to them about how they planned where and how all the electrical connections were going around the car and they told me it was really hard work!! I give a lot of credit to them as it is underrated just how much has to go into to make this car work and keeping it compact!

    Our machine shop is full of volunteers from the team manufacturing parts needed for the car. Unfortunately, there is limited time to work within every day so work has to be sorted in order of priority. They are getting through the workload nicely so we should be finished in there soon.

    We now work every day, including bank holidays. This seems like a lot, but a lot of race teams would be working similar hours leading up to and throughout a season, so it is something we have had to adjust to. Recently, there was Slam Dunk Festival (indie and rock music) on our university campus and as it was a sunny day, we were able to spend time building the car but have a BBQ as well!! It was nice to take a small break from the car just to eat!

    One of our Static Events had a deadline at the end of May: Cost Report. It is one of the most time consuming and complex things I have ever come across. Thankfully, we were able to complete it as a team and ensure that all the parts of the car were accounted for in the total cost. People also volunteered to help collate it and check the work, which made the whole job so much easier. I wouldn’t have wanted to be the poor soul left with that job by myself!

    It’s hard to believe that a 3/4 year journey is (almost) over! After Formula Student, we are no longer students of the University of Hertfordshire. A lot of us have jobs ready to go into, or are being interviewed for potential jobs, which show just how valuable our degrees are seen in current times. The job market can be seen as a daunting prospect but I hope a lot of the graduates will do well!

    Very soon, the car will be put together and launched in front of sponsors, the university, family and friends. As that deadline is approaching us, I must get back to doing what I can do to help the team be ready for Silverstone in July. As always, I would like to thank our sponsors, family and friends for their on-going support to build and race with UH17. Without you, a lot of the work we are able to do now would not have been possible!

    Stephanie Alexander.

    P.S. I think you all know what I am going to say here: the social media trio of Facebook, Twitter and our own website!! Take a look, follow/like and keep updated with our progress!