UH Racing June 2015 Newsletter by UH Racing

Newsletter June 2015 Edition four

Introducing UH18

Welcome to the May ‘15 edition of the UH Racing newsletter! A message from the Team Leader, Ross Craig: As team leader of the most diversely successful UK Formula Student team, it is a great privilege to be leading a strong and committed team into the final build stage of UH18. The rate of skills development and improvement within every member of the team this year has been great to see and without every team member’s hard work, the car would not look as fantastic as it does now. The final push towards competition is now in full flow and it is with great confidence that the team are looking forward to performing well at both FSG and FSUK.

- Ross Craig, Team Leader

In this months edition of the newsletter: 

An update on team progress over the past few months



Meet the 2015 UH Racing car, UH18



PCUBED visit to the University of Hertfordshire



Aerodynamic design of UH18



Interviews with team members Laura Wooton and Luke Harris



Pedal box design of UH18



Wordsearch and spot-the-difference

Page 1

Edition Four | June 2015

Team Progress The team has been work-

car to be tested in the

it turns out they may alter

ing very hard in the past

near future.

car's behaviour quite sig-

few months to make pro-

The car has been fully

nificantly

modelled on our Cruden

Static setup plans have

simulator which has ena-

been created and the

bled the team to start

team is looking forward to

driver training in prepara-

testing the car for its CofG

tion for competition.

and Yaw, Roll, Pitch iner-

The chassis for UH18 is

tias straight after launch.

gress and get the car built ready

for

the

official

launch on 17th June 2015 at The Forum Hertfordshire. Everyone on the team has been very busy with dissertations and exams

recently

but

now

those are complete, there has been a big push from the whole team to complete manufacture on the car. Most of the manufacturing for the car has now been completed ready for the

nearly complete except for some final welding on a few small areas. The chassis team are hoping to be the

lightest

spaceframe

chassis car at FSG and

Dynamic plans have also been created to fine tune the driver-setup pairs to achieve maximum possible performance available from the chosen tyres at

FSUK.

both FSUK and FSG tracks.

With all the individual sus-

The aerodynamics team

pension components now manufactured,

work

now underway to position and weld the wishbones and pullrod, rocker and damper arrangements in place. Milimetres here are of ultimate importance as

are currently in the process of manufacturing the wings and cowling for the vehicle, and more information on the aerodynamic design of UH18 can be found later on in the newsletter.

Page 2

Introducing UH18 Introducing UH18, the 2015 competitor for UH Racing!

Page 3

Edition Four | June 2015

Introducing UH18

Key Facts and Figures: 

Single cylinder KTM SXF 450 engine



Double/triple element front wing



1580 mm wheelbase



200 N of aerodynamic downforce



2930 mm length



Steel space frame chassis



1368 mm width



29.4 kg chassis mass



175 kg overall mass



10 in Hoosier R25B tyre



Double element rear wing



7 in tyre width

Page 4

PCUB3D visit to UH Racing

On 25th March, the Uni-

panded rapidly, with a

core

versity

global blue chip client

they work by to help com-

base consisting of over

panies

PCubed, a management

50% of the fortune 500.

which include: program

consulting firm that oper-

Their engagements

in-

leadership, portfolio man-

ates worldwide. PCubed

clude the London 2012

agement, enterprise pro-

are a valued partner of

Olympics and the FIFA

ject delivery, and manag-

UH Racing and offer us

World Cup.

ing change

support in terms of our

PCubed work closely with

During the visit, PCubed

business presentation.

many automotive manu-

also offered advice to the

During their visit to the

facturers including BMW,

team regarding interview

university, the team got to

Audi and Jaguar Land

tips and techniques. This

learn about PCubed and

Rover, and they use many

was very valuable to the

the work they do in man-

tools and methods to help

team and helped prepare

agement consultancy.

companies

establish

us for future job applica-

PCubed was established in

successful

management

1994 and has since ex-

base. PCubed has four

were

of paid

Page 5

Hertfordshire a

visit

capabilities achieve

which success

tions and interviews.

Edition Four | June 2015

Aerodynamic design of UH18 An efficient aerodynamics

the car. The bodywork has

strategically positioned to

package was developed

been designed to be as

take advantage of the

for UH18 consisting of

aerodynamic as possible

high speed airflow coming

front and rear wings, and

working in tandem with

off the front wing end-

streamlined

bodywork.

the front wing to reduce

plates and to keep the

The package was opti-

drag and increase down-

centre of pressure as low

mised

Star-

force. The design of the

as possible.

CCM+ CFD Package and

nosecone increases the

Âź scale wind tunnel mod-

front wing downforce by

The target weight of the

el to produce 472N of

20%. The front wing has

downforce and 269N of

also been designed to re-

Drag at 80kph. With all

duce the drag caused by

wing elements at maxi-

the tyre wake by incorpo-

mum angle of attack, the

rating curved endplates

aerodynamic load is 59%

and gurney flaps to ma-

front biased but the ele-

nipulate the airflow. After

ment angles are adjusta-

evaluation, a dual element

ble and the balance can

design was chosen as this

be easily adjusted to suit

produces enough down-

different track conditions

force to match the down-

and

preference.

force produced by the

Particular attention was

front wing and creates

paid to the front wing as it

about the same amount

controls the entire aero-

of drag as the front wing.

dynamic characteristics of

The rear wing was also

using

driver

the

full aerodynamics package including all bodywork is less than 11kg. This can be achieved

because

the

wings will be made from ultralight

100gsm

TeX-

treme spread tow carbon fibre and the bodywork will be made from lightweight pre-preg carbon fibre. The main elements of the wings will be reinforced with Rohacell 31IGF foam ribs and the endplates will be reinforced with 6mm thick Nomex honeycomb.

Page 6

Meet the Team….. Name: Laura Wooton Role: Volunteer, Head of Media and PR Age: 23 Likes: Travelling, art, history, motorsports Tell us about yourself? “I’m a third year engineering student Hertfordshire and will be studying my masters next year. Last year I did an industrial placement with BMW Group at MINI Plant Oxford.” Why did you join UH Racing? “I first joined UH Racing as a member of Class Two in my first year. I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn about motorsports and the workings of a race car, as although I was a fan of motorsports, I didn’t know much about how the cars worked.” Why did you choose UH? “To be honest it was the Formula Student team that really got me interested in UH. I remember seeing the team hard at work on an open day and realised that it was something I wanted to learn about and be involved with. The university also has some fantastic facilities like the Cruden Simulator.” Where do you see yourself in five years’ time? “I’d like to have a job in the automotive or motorsport sector, perhaps abroad as I like to travel. My dream is to set up a scholarship fund for women who choose to study engineering and who get involved with Formula Student!” How did you get involved in Formula Student? “I started taking part in Class Two in my first year at university, continued this in my second year. Now I’m in third year and have progressed to Class One!” What advice would you give for anyone interested in Formula Student? “Formula Student is the pinnacle of your studies! It really is a fantastic opportunity but a lot of work and you have to be committed. If you put in the effort required you’ll get a lot from the experience and enjoy yourself much more!”

Page 7

Edition Four | June 2015

UH Racing Simulation Simulation is an important

may give an undesirable

means when analysing ve-

part of Formula Student

ride for the driver, there-

hicle

car development.

fore a second stage of

data analyst can see how

simulation is used using

setup changes affect driv-

At UH Racing, two simula-

the

er performance and over-

tion methods are used to

available for student use

assess vehicles in develop-

at the University of Hert-

ment. The first is through

fordshire.

Cruden

Although computer simu-

use of a bespoke MATLAB

simulator is mounted on

lation is no replacement

based program developed

hydraulics to give six de-

for on-track testing, it can

at the university which us-

grees of freedom and can

produce realistic results

es vehicle data to derive a

simulate up to 3G of force

which act as a good start-

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;perfectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lap time for any

on a driver. Simulation

ing point for refining vehi-

inputted track. The pur-

models from MATLAB are

cle setup. It allows a car to

pose of this is to gain an

then imported into the

idea of what a vehicle is

Cruden to allow the vehi-

throughout

capable of and

to help

cle setup to be refined

stage

develop itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s set up with re-

further with the added

times can be reduced as a

gards to factors such as

driver input.

setup path has already

Cruden

The

simulator

gearing, downforce, suspension etc.

performance,

the

all lap time.

constantly and

analysed

the

design

shakedown

been identified. Simulator incorpo-

use also has other benefits

rates a black box that

such as drivers being able

with

stores 40 channels of te-

to familiarise themselves

MATLAB based simulation

lemetry data which allows

with circuits in preparation

is there is no human input

for further data analysis

for competition.

into the system, which

using

One

problem

The

simulator

Toolbox.

This

Page 8

Meet the Team….. Name: Luke Harris Role: Exhaust design engineer Age: 22 Tell us about yourself? “I am in my final year of Automotive Engineering and undertook a placement with Robert Bosch Ltd last year at Warwick University. This year I am designing and implementing UH18’s exhaust system.” Why did you join UH Racing? “UH Racing has a really varied history with regards to exploring different technologies in formula student, from hydrogen fuel cells to electric vehicles. The team have also won countless awards for various different achievements. It seemed like a really exciting, yet different opportunity to be part of!” Why did you choose UH? “It was UH Racing which originally attracted me to the University of Hertfordshire. However, the engineering facilities at the university are very well tailored for automotive & motorsport engineering with examples being of the Cruden simulator and the specialised Formula Student lab.” Where do you see yourself in five years’ time? “For the next two years I will be undertaking a graduate programme with Robert Bosch Ltd where various placements around the organisation (and the globe!) are available. I have always wanted to complete a PhD and potentially start my own organisation in the future.” How did you get involved in Formula Student? “During my second year I took part in the ‘Class two’ entry for UH Racing. This provided a really useful stepping stone and insight into what Formula Student is all about, and the challenges I could face in the ‘class one’ entry.” What advice would you give for anyone interested in Formula Student? “Although FS is time consuming and can be difficult to balance around exams and coursework, I would suggest getting involved with as many things as possible within your team; the opportunity is yours to lose.”

Page 9

Edition Four | June 2015

UH18 Pedal Box Design UH18â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

pedal

box

has

been subjected to a radical redesign this year.

within the car.

5th percentile female di-

Driver comfort is has also

mensions, ensuring that

been imperative and this

the great variety of drivers are able to get comforta-

The focus of the new de-

must be maintained and/

sign has been to reduce

or improved in compari-

ble within the car.

weight and decrease the

son with previous designs.

Thanks to the sponsorship

packaging space required

To comply with the rules

of Igus it has been possi-

within car, while still keeping a design that is adjustable.

the design has been optimised around the 95th Percentile male and the

ble to test and produce a pedal

box

designed

around these rails.

Developing the mounting solution of the whole Pedal Box system has been a key area of interest, so that the target weight and cost reductions could be achieved. After liaising with Igus it was chosen to use rails and carriages from the DryLin T range. It was found that they suited the requirements of the team best making it simpler to mount

the

pedal

box

Page 10

Puzzles Eight Formula Student related words are hidden in the grid below: Q

 Engine

 Exhaust

 Brakes

 Downforce

 Pedalbox

 Chassis

 Wishbone

 UHRacing

Spot the four differences between the two pictures of UH17:

Page 11

Edition Four | June 2015

UH Racing Partners UH Racing would like to thank all the partners supporting the team this year!

Page 12

UH RACING UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE, HATFIELD, HERTFORDSHIRE, AL10 9AB

Newsletter June 2015

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