Spring 2012 Newsletter
Welcome to the latest edition of the Team Bath Racing newsletter. The newsletter includes an update from each of the team’s departmental managers outlining progress that has been made in each of the key areas. The business and marketing team are in the early stages of planning the car launch that
Team Manager : Will Snyder The TBR12 team have been working hard this term Finishing the build room revamp and continuing vehicle design and build. The build room is now looking better than it ever has, the organisation and equipment make it a great place to work. The past couple of month have seen the team put in extra effort to ensure the design was Finalised prior to the Christmas break, working around all their coursework and application deadlines. Everything is now on track to complete the chassis build this week, putting us in good stead to push forward with the main build throughout the coming semester. A big thank-‐you should be extended to the whole team for the extra effort and nocturnal hours that have been put in this semester to get us where we are.
is to take place in late May. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you wish to exhibit at the launch. Finalised dates for the car launch shall be published in the next edition the TBR Newsletter. For more frequent updates from TBR12, Find us on Twitter and Facebook at the addresses shown at the end of the newsletter.
infrastructure which we hope to make full use of in the coming months. Since our last newsletter, we have also had further successes, with a win at the IMechE's Formula Student in Schools Presentation Competition held at Bedford Modern School in November. The competition was closely fought between ourselves and two other Formula Student teams; Oxford Brookes R a c i n g ( O B R ) a n d t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Hertfordshire, with the aim of presenting to a group of school children the opportunities and possibilities of a career in engineering. The competition was judged by a panel of Formula 1 team representatives, with the winning team gaining exposure and recognition on their respective websites, along with an article in the IMechE newsletter. With this win, not only have we gained further recognition for the team in industry, but increased exposure for our sponsors in the local media and prominent websites.
Business Manager : Charlie Duncan Following the successes of TBR11, we are delighted to see some of our new sponsors continue to support TBR12. We are also honoured by the commitment of our long standing sponsors who have continued to show support for the team, as we enter another exciting year of competing at our home event in Silverstone in July. This increased support and interest in the team has already helped in our preparations and procurement of new parts and
TBR12 at the IMechE Formula Student in Schools Competition.
We hope to continue this work and our winning streak in months to come, made only possible by the support of our sponsors, as we challenge for the win at Silverstone in July
commitment of time next semester we plan on taking forward our progress and making further i m p r o v e m e n t s t o t h e d e s i g n t h r o u g h developments of building the car. Powertrain Manager : Graham Iles The 2011 team were unfortunate to suffer from multiple engine failures which hindered an otherwise highly competitive entry into the California and Silverstone competitions. Obviously,therefore, one of the 2012 team's top priorities was to establish the root cause of this problem and make sure a repeat issue with the Aprilia engine is not encountered. One project for the team this year is to establish a measure of oil aeration, which will allow optimisation of tank design to occur. TBR12 have already made progress on this, with help of sponsors Castrol.
Buildroom update. New tools courtesy of sponsor Prime Tools.
Build & Chassis Manager : Richard Wilcox Our build of the TBR12 car was delayed due to l a t e d e c i s i o n c h a n g e s i n t h e c h a s s i s construction. However, after a busy semester and dedication from the team we are back on schedule with a plan to complete the chassis early in March with the kind support from Andy Robinson Race Cars. We’ve recently had the First iteration of our new light-‐weight wheels in the build room giving us a real motivational boost to get the rest of the car Finished. It has been a tough semester for the chassis team this year as we’ve had to chase the progress made on our carbon-‐Fibre monocoque design with a new lighter version of TBR11’s steel spaceframe. Commitment from the chassis team has allowed good progress for achieving a spaceframe design which we hope will at least match, or even better that of the previous year. Several iterations are still to be made but as each carried is out, we Find ourselves a step closer to Finding the optimum package for the c a r a s a w h o l e . W i t h e v e r y o n e ’ s f u l l
As part of a full build room renovation the team have updated their engine testing facilities over the summer, to bring them in line with other test cells at the University. This will future proof the dyno setup, making it more user friendly and maintainable by staff and students. This is advantageous as more time can be spent in performance improvements without the excessive delay of learning a bespoke test system beforehand. The team are delighted to have the continued support of Cosworth Electronics, and
Aprilia RVX fitted to our newly overhauled Engine Dynamometer.
arrangements have been made to ensure the development of a very competitive powertrain control strategy. A visit to the company in Cambridge has educated the team into what is possible with technology available; needless to say the powertrain group are very excited by this potential for improved driveability and performance! This year, the team hope to produce a highly successful and reliable powertrain through methodical and professional development of the proFicient Aprilia RXV engine. Testing Manager : Colin Garoghan There is great focus this year on getting as much useful track data as possible, enabling TBR12 to be thoroughly prepared for the dynamic events
of Formula Student competitions. We are lucky to have the continued support of Cosworth Electronics supplying us with incredibly powerful analysis tools and technical support. The First tests on the TBR11 platform provided excellent data for use in design validation, and we hope to continue these successful tests throughout the testing period. This year we are fortunate to have two test cars running with the 2010 car being used for some aero testing and driver training. This will allow us to complete a large amount of track testing during this semester. With this support and equipment the team are looking forward to a highly valuable track development for its 2012 car.
TBR12 Thank you for your continued support.
Testing of TBR11 at Colerne Airfield.
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