FORMULA STUDENT OXFORD BROOKES
Formula Student teams consistently bring new
developments, ideas and technologies to the circuit and one of the usual suspects is Oxford Brookes Racing, whose car came to the 2011 event with an innovative aluminium chassis. ‘We went back to basics and pre-cut every skin,’ explained a team representative. ‘The outside skin, inside skin and the core itself are all processed separately, which meant we could add the hard points into the core at the bonding face and create a much lighter assembly. We increased our chassis stiffness by about 100Nm per degree, which is massive for us to do. ‘The other overall concept
we’ve gone for is trying to pull every component that used to
be tucked away to the surface.’ Not only does this make the components easier to access, but also reduces repair time during testing, and testing is essential to iron out all the minor errors, increasing the reliability of the car prior to the main competition. To decrease weight further, the team went for a minimalist approach: ‘If it doesn’t need to be there, then it isn’t.’ For instance, there was only one sidepod, on the left-hand side of the car. ‘There isn’t a replica component on the other side, purely because what would it actually do if it was there? If it can’t make the car faster, or pass a certain rule, it shouldn’t be there.’ This attitude contributed to a fourth place finish in the Design section of the competition.
With firsts in Engineering Design, Endurance and Spirit of Excellence categories, Global Formula Racing took a convincing win in Michigan
Graz University of Technology from Austria took first in Skid Pad, and came in a creditable third in the Endurance category
Use of an aluminium chassis with pre-cut panels and bonded-in hard points contributed to a significantly lighter and stiffer design
teams were invited to participate in the Design semi-finals: Oregon State University; Graz University of Technology; Universitat of Stuttgart; Technical University of Munich; Rochester Institute of Technology; University of Applied Sciences – Graz; University of Michigan – Ann Arbor; University of Wisconsin – Madison; Cornell University; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology; University of Applied Sciences Amberg- Weiden; University of Applied Sciences Zwickau; Universidad Simon Bolivar and Virginia Tech. Pushing forward into the Design
finals were: Oregon State University; Graz University of Technology; Universitat of Stuttgart; Rochester Institute of Technology; Technical University of Munich and University of Applied Sciences Graz.
Taking first place in Cost was Kookmin University from South Korea, while receiving first place honours in the Presentation event was Universitat Stuttgart from Germany.
Those cars that passed technical inspection went on to compete in the Skid Pad and Acceleration runs, and with unseasonally high temperatures
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www.racecar-engineering.com • September 2011
for Michigan, Cornell University added some heat with a first place finish in Acceleration, clocking a time of 3.945 seconds. Heating up the pavement even more was the University of Applied Sciences – Graz from Austria, who won the Skid Pad event with a fastest time of 5.154 seconds.
In the afternoon, teams completed their runs for the Ford Autocross – this year designed with assistance from the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Eighty four cars crossed the starting line, and finishing in first place with a clean run and fastest time of 48.151 seconds was University of Kansas- Lawrence, a whole 15.3 seconds faster than the 2010 winner in this category.
Clinching second place was Oregon State University (GFR) with a fastest time of 48.535 seconds, while in third place was South Dakota School of
Mines and Technology with a 48.577-second run. Teams who completed the event and placed were assigned a position in the Endurance run order, and to increase the excitement, SAE International decided to invert the running order from slowest to fastest cars. As with every change, there is some trial and error and the organisers accepted there may have been some flaw to this running order concept, but ensured all competitors that the issue will be resolved next year. Of the 86 cars that started the course, only 35 finished, with GFR placing first with an adjusted time of 1502.288 seconds over 28 laps, having hit seven cones. Coming in second with an adjusted time of 1517.286 and six cones was Technical University of Munich, while in third place was Graz University of Technology with an adjusted time of 1521.930 due to clipping five cones.
Vignesh Viswanath
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