Pitstop March 2013

Pitstop March 2013

Dear Student An apt word to summarize NITK Racing’s last four weeks would be productive. We made good progress with manufacturing and are nearing the final assembly of our new car, the NR-XIII. If all goes well, the car will be ready for testing within the next 3 weeks, thus providing us with an ample 4 month testing period. The month’s highlight, however, would be that we successfully registered for Formula Student Hungary 2013.

Sheik Nahayan bin Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Chancellor of The Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE, was the chief guest for the evening.

NITK Global Alumni Meet Dubai: NITK alumni have always been generous patrons of NITK Racing. Their support was further reinforced when we were provided with a unique opportunity to present our work and laurels at the 8th Global Alumni Meet. The convocation, held at the prestigious Atlantis, The Palm Dubai on 25th January 2013, allowed us to extend our reach globally to NITK’s distinguished alumni. Special thanks to NITK Racing alumnus (batch of 2011) and former Head of Marketing, Mr. Anudeep Kondeppady for helping us secure such a valuable opportunity and for making the presentation on our behalf.

Formula Student Hungary 2013!

We are immensely happy to inform that we have successfully registered for Formula Student Hungary 2013. With only 14 slots available for international teams in the combustion category, the odds were greatly against us. As a result, we are truly delighted to participate in this world tournament for the second time in a row. This August, NITK Racing will be heading towards the scenic city of Györ, Hungary, at the heart of the country’s automobile industry.

A knuckle manufactured using NITK’s in-house CNC machine facilities.

Suspension Update The suspension system completed its design work with the addition of anti-roll bar. The knuckles and the wheelhubs are currently being manufactured using the in-house CNC machine facilities at NITK Surathkal.

Though very tedious, this allows us to save a good amount of money, which can now be effectively utilized elsewhere. The new brake assembly consisting of 6mm metal braided brake hoses, dual side thread banjos, Wilwood PS1 Callipers, Wilwood master cylinder and CBR 600 brake rotors is now ready to be installed on the new car.

Pitstop March 2013

Chassis Update The manufacture of the roll-cage was completed using the SAE 1018, cold drawn. It has also been coated with anti-rust Zinc Chloride solution. The seat was fabricated using FRP and strips of Kevlar (for reinforcement). The body shell had to be re-designed to accommodate the changes in the roll-cage. The sidepods are similar to last year’s car but there is significant change in the front body shell. The mould for body shell nose was made from wood. The body shell is being manufactured at the moment and is likely to be done in two weeks.

Top: Carbon Fibre lay up of Plenum; Bottom (L): Injector mount manufactured using Rapid Prototyping; Bottom (R): Exhaust system

The completed roll-cage (placed side-wards) coated with anti-rust solution.

Engine and Electronics Update The engine and drivetrain subsystem has completed the manufacture of intake runners and restrictor using rapid prototyping. The carbon fibre lay-up is ongoing.

Two intakes are being fabricated: one from rapid prototyping and the other from wooden mould; the better of which will be used in the car finally. Exhaust system of 4-1 type with constant diameter SS 304 pipes for primaries, unlike the previously used stepped primaries, has been manufactured. The Electronics subsystem, aiming to complement the ECU with standalone sensors to validate data, has completed the standard processing on MSP launchpad microcontrollers. Rapid testing of codes and hardware is in place using Arduino Leonardo.

Your interest and support motivate us to keep the work on-schedule. We will keep you updated about the work progress through another issue of Pitstop, due in April.

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