Warwick engineers drive for success
Engineering Students from The University of Warwick are gearing up to take part in a global racing competition next month at Silverstone track.
The ‘Warwick Racing’ team, supported by WMG, has designed and built a single seat racing car to compete in the Formula Student 2013 competition. The three-day event will start on 5 July and Warwick will be up against 110 university teams.
Warwick Racing has 23 student members, who have spent nine months producing their car, Warwick Racing Three.
The Project Manager, Zoe Maxwell, said: “The competition should be a brilliant opportunity to talk to other teams from around the world and perhaps learn different ways of approaching problems and tasks. Warwick Racing aims to prove that motorsport can be sustainable without affecting performance’
Warwick Racing Three (WR3) has been perfectly specified for the Formula Student events, weighing less than 200kg. The team have used entirely natural fibres for the car body work and the seat is made from volcanic rock fibres. They have also considered the environmental effects when designing and manufacturing all of the car parts.
All of the challenges have been designed to demonstrate the teams understanding of their vehicle and to test its performance. They also provide an opportunity for Warwick’s next generation of young, innovative engineers to put their skills to the test and take part in some full throttled rivalry.
Dr Steve Maggs from WMG, who has been guiding the team through the design and manufacturing process is pleased with the final car design. He said: “The Warwick Racing team has worked really hard this year and fully deserve to make it into the top five in the country and top 15 in the world. The whole process of building the car has been challenging for them but they have acquired skills along the way which are going to be invaluable to them in their future careers."
Each year Warwick’s fourth year Engineering students compete in the educational motorsport competition which counts for 25% of their final degree grade. The project work involved also provides the opportunity for Warwick students to experience the ‘real world’ of engineering before leaving university.
Gav Fryer, Chief Engineer, said: “Competition day will provide the team with the chance to put all their hard work to the test. I attended the Formula Student event previously, and the atmosphere amongst the international universities and their vehicles is excellent.”
Rob Morton, Sponsorship and Finance Manager, added: “Having such a large team of people, communication was our biggest challenge but I have learnt an incredible amount about team work as a result, and how to communicate with outside companies.
“As a team, we have managed to produce a very high standard car on time and on budget. I’ve had a lot of fun throughout the year and hopefully all of the hard work will pay off in the end.”
Picture caption: Top row L-R: John Arstall, Gavin Fryer, Ashish Aggarwal, Chirag Bhatti, Phil Cox, Alex Allan, Robert Taylor
Middle L-R: Graham Jermy, Robert Morton, Jean-Pierre Birch, James Chattaway, Tom Probert, Reece Garrard
Front L-R: Stevie Gosling, Adam Bushell, Matt Byrne, Tom Smith, Zoe Maxwell
Driver: Anirudh Arun
Notes to Editors
For more information about the Formula Student Competition: http://www.formulastudent.com/
Melissa Holloway, Assistant Press Officer, University of Warwick, Melissa.Holloway@warwick.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)24 76 575601 Mobile/Cell: +44 (0)7824 541142