ArosaMike
Resident Kart Racer
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2005
- Messages
- 883
- Location
- Leamington Spa
- Car(s)
- Mk5 VW Golf GTI, Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Race Car
I went to support my Universities Formula Student team at Bruntingthorpe today, and also sussed out what I'll have to be doing next year (I made a few bits for this car, but will be organising most of the engine work next). Incase you have no idea what 'Formula Student' is....then basically it's as follows. It started in the US as FSAE (Formula SAE). A group of students can build a race car based on a motorbike engine that can be any engine up to 610cc. This engine is then restricted to a theoretical maximum of 85bhp. The students then design and build a chassis and map/modify the engine to suit.
It all sounds as if it could all end up as a messy shed made from bamboo, but you'd be suprised how dedicated we all are. There is also a lot of money involved. Birminghams team is a mid funded team and we get ?10k from the Uni and as many handouts from companies as possible. The estimated cost for our car if you were to buy all the parts, and pay for the labour would be in the region of ?100k :O Obviously our labour is free and so are many of the parts. A lot of teams make do with a far smaller budget, but also.....plenty make do with a much bigger one. Frankly, the entries from some universities are mind blowing, including full carbon chassis, bespoke engine electronics, data logging, active suspension, turbos and traction/launch control. If you consider ETS (A Canadian University) made virtually everything from carbon fibre then you're probably looking at something close to a quarter of a million!
Anyway....enough explanation...here are the pictures
Loughboroughs Car
Helsinki Universities impressive all carbon entry
Delft (Germany) (probably the smallest car in the competition)
Lule? University (they must have had some industrial help with this thing...it was so amazingly well put together)
Check out these hubs. Polished Aluminum and very complicated design
The ETS car I love soo much
Our car....small and lightish We got a 10th place (out of 40) in the autocross course here. You get points for various things including design, cost etc....so this should help our final position
Space frame Morris Minor with a front mid mounted Fiat Twin Cam. 180bhp and 190lb/ft torque. Fully independed suspension and it took the guy 6 years to build!
Our car again. 13...Unlucky for some!
It all sounds as if it could all end up as a messy shed made from bamboo, but you'd be suprised how dedicated we all are. There is also a lot of money involved. Birminghams team is a mid funded team and we get ?10k from the Uni and as many handouts from companies as possible. The estimated cost for our car if you were to buy all the parts, and pay for the labour would be in the region of ?100k :O Obviously our labour is free and so are many of the parts. A lot of teams make do with a far smaller budget, but also.....plenty make do with a much bigger one. Frankly, the entries from some universities are mind blowing, including full carbon chassis, bespoke engine electronics, data logging, active suspension, turbos and traction/launch control. If you consider ETS (A Canadian University) made virtually everything from carbon fibre then you're probably looking at something close to a quarter of a million!
Anyway....enough explanation...here are the pictures
Loughboroughs Car
Helsinki Universities impressive all carbon entry
Delft (Germany) (probably the smallest car in the competition)
Lule? University (they must have had some industrial help with this thing...it was so amazingly well put together)
Check out these hubs. Polished Aluminum and very complicated design
The ETS car I love soo much
Our car....small and lightish
We got a 10th place (out of 40) in the autocross course here. You get points for various things including design, cost etc....so this should help our final position
Space frame Morris Minor with a front mid mounted Fiat Twin Cam. 180bhp and 190lb/ft torque. Fully independed suspension and it took the guy 6 years to build!
Our car again. 13...Unlucky for some!
