University of Wolverhampton Racing
Sponsored by the EIS
Student Engineers Set Their Sights on 2021 Like most racing teams around the world, 2020 brought uncertainty and ultimately disappointment to the student racing team in Wolverhampton’s School of Engineering. and FS team leader elaborates: 'Since turning our attention to the 2021 competition, solid progress has been made on our existing designs to build on what was predicted to be a competitive car in 2020. Having focused mainly on suspension geometry and improved handling for 2020, the focus has now turned to improving the overall performance of the car, in both static and dynamic events.' The most notable upgrade will be the inclusion of a full aerodynamics package featuring front and rear wings, as well as an aerodynamic floor. This will be the first time such a package has been featured on a UWR Formula Student car and we are confident that it will bring a solid performance upgrade. Currently there are several significant areas causing drag on the car, including the engine bay which is open at the bottom, allowing air to get caught between the engine and rear bulkhead. Implementing a new floor will eliminate this issue and also create large amounts of downforce with very little drag. The 2021 car will feature an all new telemetry package that will allow us to analyse data from the car in real time, meaning changes can be made quickly to improve the performance of the car in dynamic events.
Figure 1: The Wolf VI chassis, derived from the chassis originally built in 2019 for Wolf V.
UWR has a track record of using innovative, cutting edge technologies, materials and designs in the Formula Student competition. Wolf V, the 2019 car, featured rear uprights that were 3D printed in a titanium & aluminium composite.
COVID-19 ensured the workshops were closed to students and staff just as the 2020 racing season was about to begin, and work halted on the Formula Student build, as well as the preparations on the F3 Cup Dallara and the Morgan Plus Four Club Sports. As the lockdown progressed, and students had no time to practice their skills in the workshop, UWR made the unilateral decision to suspend all competition in 2020 to keep our students safe and to concentrate on being as prepared as possible for the 2021 season. This was particularly important for the IMechE Formula Student team, who are able to focus on tweaking Wolf VI, and in some cases completely re-designing the structure. Reuben Inganni, MEng Motorsport Engineering student
Figure 2: Deformation test on the front bulkhead to analyse how much energy the Impact attenuator must absorb to prevent deflection.
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