University News Last updated 03 July 2013
Engineering students from Birmingham City University have built their own single-seat race car to take part in Formula Student 2013 this week, to be held at Silverstone from 4-7 July.
Run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers since it began 15 years ago, Formula Student challenges universities from across the world to design, build and race a single seat racing car from scratch in one year – before putting it to the test at one of the world’s greatest racetracks. This year’s competition entrants include 149 teams from over 30 countries.
The cars are judged on their speed, acceleration, handling and endurance, while the teams are tested on their design, costing and business presentation skills. Birmingham City University’s ‘BCU Racing’ team will be looking to take the Formula Student crown from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, who won the competition for the first time in 2012. Chalmers are set to return this year, along with last year’s top UK team Oxford Brookes (who finished seventh).
David Jones, Programme Leader of Motorsports Technology at Birmingham City University, said: “The ‘BCU Racing’ team have worked hard to design and make a car that is 30% lighter than our last car, giving it a significant performance advantage over many of its competitors. The students from our School of Engineering, Design and Manufacturing Systems are excited to be involved in Formula Student and are looking forward to a great result this year.
“Formula Student is the pinnacle of undergraduate engineering. Our students have had to innovate and put their ideas into action within an exciting industry based project. We’d like to thank our BCU Racing partners, Arden Motorsport International, Aquila Racing Cars, Aarhus Tech, Ravenol Lubricants, Sirus Automotive and Westfield Sportscars for their support and advice.”
Ross Brawn OBE, Formula Student Patron and Team Principal of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team, said: “Formula Student has been helping to develop world-class engineers for 15 years now. It’s a fantastic challenge for students to undertake and encourages huge amounts of innovation, which I am particularly passionate about.”
Jon Hilton, Chairman of Formula Student, added: “The event is now in its 15th year and the 2013 event is set to be bigger and better than ever. Formula Student attracts some of the most inventive and talented young engineers from around the world and I’m looking forward to seeing all the advances there will be in this year’s cars.”
Find out more about the ‘BCU Racing’ team on their Facebook and Twitter pages.