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MARCH 2014
MONOCOQUE
COMPLETE
WING PROFILES BEGIN MANUFACTURE SANTANDER AWARDS CEREMONY OBR KARTING SOCIAL EVENT
The latest updates from behind the scenes at OBR
OXFORD BROOKES RACING – MARCH 2014 NEWSLETTER
AERO
The first test wing profile was made with the help of Banbury & Bicester College
This month we made some great progress with the wing profiles, with the fibreglass molds getting treated to many man-hours of hand labour in order to clean up any imperfections, and make sure that the final parts will have a lovely shiny finish straight from the mold. We took the first complete mold down to our friends at Banbury & Bicester college’s Motorsport centre, and spent the morning laying up the first profile.
From the first test we found that the mold structure and profiles are able to stand both the pressure and the heat of the Autoclave. However we struggled to release the part from the mold, which meant that the overall finish of the mold and part need a little more work. With another week of mold sanding and some new sealant we will be heading back down to finish the remaining wing profiles in no time.
ISIS XIII was a highlight of the Oxford Brookes ‘Live Friday’ at the Ashmolean
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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – MARCH 2014 NEWSLETTER
KARTING
The racing was close, as the tight track featured few passing opportunities
The 12th of March saw the team competing against each other for the 2nd time this year. However, this time we were racing for real in RWD electric go-karts. Understandably from a group of Motorsport and Automotive engineers the standard of driving was incredibly high, and with the Torque of the electric karts helping to equalise the ‘lightweight driver advantage’ the racing was close and competetive right through the field. During the course of the evening the team actually set laptimes good enough to lock out the top 3 places on the circuit’s track record leaderboards. With Ralph Dale setting the team’s record of 19.88s
After a 7.5minute practise race for all of the drivers, three 7.5minute heats followed, with drivers aiming to finish inside the top 8 positions overall, and secure a place in the all important ‘Grand final’. The book of racing driver excuses had clearly been studied in the nights preceeding the event, as many lost positions or bent tyre-barriers were falsely blamed on humidity changes during the race, or swerving to avoid stray animals. Overall the event was thoroughly enjoyed by all, and a further congratulations to all of the Grand-finalists, for beating our current endurance driver who could only manage a relatively uncompetetive 10th place Overall!
Chief engineer Ben Sandy took to the top step, followed by Pieter V & Ben Spencer
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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – MARCH 2014 NEWSLETTER
SEAT TIME SIMULATION
George starting another FSUK Auto-X lap in the simulated model of ISIS XIII
Through our new tie up this year with Banbury based Base Performance Simulators, our driver development programme has taken an virtual twist. With only a single driver carrying over from the 2013 team, we are tasked with picking out the best 3 drivers from the remaining team members. Seat-time is historically a big problem for many Formula Student teams, and with the unfamiliar machinery and non-professional drivers the team has to make special effort to ensure that selected driver is capable of extract the maximum from the car, avoid picking up cone penalties, and most of all handle the pressure of competition. We have been fortunate enough to be supported with ‘spare’ time where available on the BPS open-wheeler sim, and with their guidance we have been able to develop both our own track and car model of the 2013 Formula Student UK competition.
Starting with ISIS XIII’s design spec sheet & Calspan TTC’s tyre data, we were able to generate a reasonably recogniseable car model. But thanks to MOTEC data output from both the M800 ECU in the real car and from BPS’ simulation software, we are able to refine the track and circuit model down to a virtually realistic simulation. Once validated this will allow the team to test new setups & car configurations, and form a key part of our car & driver preparation. Using GPS data from the 2013 competition we have also been able to build up our own track model of the Endurance & Skid-Pad layouts. Coupled with the car model we are now able to efficiently test new drivers, & give them that all-important practise seeking out the next turn through a sea of cones, & getting used to the car’s handling. Thanks again to all at Base Performance Simulators for their fantastic support and technical advice that they have provided to the team this year.
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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – MARCH 2014 NEWSLETTER
SPONSORSHIP NEWS This month we would like to express a special thankyou to the following companies: Santander invited us to accept two awards for the 3rd year in a row, with the ‘Santander Universities’ scholarships scheme providing both a paid scholarship for one nominated team member, and a second of cash sponsorship for the OBR Team. This year our Race team group leader Matthew Hamblin took the student scholarship, with Team Leader George Simmons accepting the sponsorship certificate on behalf of OBR.
Matt was rewarded for his hard work
Swindon Engines joined us at the beginning of the month as a Bronze sponsor, and have already begun to manufacture top quality parts for us. We are delighted to have taken delivery of two pieces of the engine intake assembly, beautifully made and embossed with the ‘Swindon S’ logo. Laserlines have also been providing us with some intake assembly parts, using their highly sought-after 3D printing technology they were able to provide us with 3 sets of our new optimised throttle assembly housing.
laserlines sent us these beauties Thanks once again to the aforementioned OCVC for their help with the wing manufacture and Base Performance Simulators for the sim time. Thanks to RS Components for another rapid delivery of parts, and Vac Innovation for a significant discount on our vacuum bagging & part releasing materials.
Thanks to Swindon for the parts
Finally thanks to SuperB Batteries for the discount on our new high power Lithium battery.
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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – MARCH 2014 NEWSLETTER
THE M V V M
OBR team members appeared on BBC TV to explain their struggle to find employment Due to the success of the Oxford Brookes University’s Postgraduate courses, the OBR team tends to be made up of a high percentage of international students, a great number of whom are non-EU, and who come to the University with the hope to graduate and move into a top level Motorsport or Automotive Engineering job in the United Kingdom. Sadly however, UK immigration laws changed in 2012 to try and combat fake VISA applications and reduce the number of people living in the UK unlawfully. The previous 2-year postgraduate work visa was removed, and this has caused a significant knock-on effect to any Non-EU student studying in the UK, aiming to secure a job after graduation.
A group of more than 10 students from the OBR team got together this month and started lobbying for a change of policy, to solve the problems caused in 2012, effectively re-open the jobs market for these students, and allow them to pursue their dreams of working in Formula 1. You can help the students gain even more momentum by spreading the word about the ‘Motorsport Valley VISA Movement’ any way you can. Hopefully by talking about it within your company, on your social media, and in the press together we can help make things right for all of the international students studying any subject right across the Universities in the United Kingdom. (Click the hyperlinked image above to view the 2 minute BBC News clip.)
Help support the MVVM at facebook.com/motorsportvalleyvisamovement
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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – MARCH 2014 NEWSLETTER
CHASSIS Finally we have reached a significant milestone in the build of the ISIS XIV car build. Thanks to the efforts of the chassis group we very quickly made up for lost time over the christmas period with ‘bond-gate’ and have completed the manufacture of the Monocoque part of the chassis in less than 2 months. The completion of the Monocoque is a great checkpoint to pass for the team, as it offers a major morale boost to the rest of the team, and allows everyone on the team to really begin to see the car coming together from this point onwards.
Monocoque, front & rear roll-hoops and front engine mounts, hoping to save over 8kg from last year’s fairly hefty 38kg chassis. This was the idea behind the introduction of the CFRP inner skin, to allow a significant mass saving in order to try and gain back the weight which will be added with the addition of the front & rear wing aerodynamics package. Overall the weight of the monocoque alone is 20.5kg, which means that so long as the roll hoops and engine mount don’t weigh over 9.5kg together (estimated 7.4kg) we should be able to reach our target.
Unfortunately we have had to begin to strip down ISIS XIII to make way for the new chassis, with a number of the critical components such as the Datalogger and 4x Dampers soon to be transferred between the two cars. The team set a target weight of 30kg for the complete chassis assembly, including
Chassis leader Richard is a happy boy!
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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – MARCH 2014 NEWSLETTER
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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – MARCH 2014 NEWSLETTER
OXFORD BROOKES RACING OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY WHEATLEY CAMPUS WHEATLEY OXFORD OX33 1HX
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