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Welsh students prepare for Silverstone challenge
publication date: Feb 19, 2010
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author/source: Beth Keenan
| Cardiff Uni racing team: Ben Comarno, Ian Price Evans, Liam Adams, Grant Dennis, Tim Mansfield and Gethin Davies.
| Formula Student is an engineering challenge, run
by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers together with
several well known companies from the industry.
The
challenge is for students to "design, build, develop, market and
compete as a team with a small single-seater racing car". Students are
given the opportunity to tackle challenges relating to the design,
manufacture and business side of running a racing team. Students also
learn the reality of working as a team, under pressure and meeting
strict deadlines.
Students are asked to assume that they are
producing a prototype car to a manufacturing firm for evaluation.
The
car is intended to be sold to the non professional weekend autocross
market, so must have high performance, in terms of acceleration,
braking and cornering capabilities. A high degree of marketability is
expected, by pleasing aesthetics, comfort and the use of common parts.
Expected production is assumed to be 1000 cars per year, at a cost of
below £16,000 per car. The designs are all judged and compared against
the other competing cars, to determine the best overall car.
The
Formula Student team at Cardiff University is Cardiff Racing. It is
comprised of 4th year project students and volunteers from other
academic years, who combine to design, build and test the car. A number
of drivers are selected from the team to compete in the static and
dynamic tests at the Silverstone circuit.
Cardiff Racing entered
their first car in 2004. Since then, the car has been developed and
improved, resulting in more success for the team.
The team are
currently in the process of manufacturing CR06, an evolution of the
CR05 car made in 2009. As in previous years, the chassis comprises of
a full aluminium honeycomb sandwich panel monocoque. A similar
suspension layout has been used in order to shorten development time
and increase extensive car testing and driver training.
Power comes
from the light weight Aprilia 550cc V twin engine together with an
optimised SLS manufactured intake and stainless steel exhaust.
The
engines power is transmitted through a light weight spool, which has
proved more suited to Formula Student events than a differential and recorded faster lap times in tests. | The team has also taken the
car to the rolling road at Powerstation in Gloucestershire for the
engine to be mapped.
This is the second time the team has visited the
rolling road this academic year with the first time highlighting an
error in the calibration of the engine management system.
Rolling on: Rich Benton from Powerstation hiding behind the car,
Ben Carruthers-Watt PhD student, Steven Harry in the red hoody and Lee Treherne Technician.
With this
problem now resolved the aim is to get a good base map for the engine
which will allow the car to run reliably throughout testing. The map
can be further adjusted if any alterations are made to the power train.
If the rolling road evaluation is successful then the team aims to start testing
on the car as soon as possible. We will be looking to see how the new
chassis and suspension designs interact with the road surface during
testing.
©Images Matthew Griffiths | | 
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The team is aiming for a top 5 finish at the event which
is the weekend of 17 July at Silverstone. You can follow their
preparations and progress on their dedicated website http://www.cardiffracing.co.uk/ for regular updates on the team.
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