Sercal sponsors next generation of automotive engineers
01/06/2018
Promoting non-destructive testing (NDT) methods to young engineers has always been important to Matt Day, Non-Destructive Testing Equipment Sales and Business Development Manager for Sercal.Based in the heartland of the UK, just outside Birmingham, Sercal is on the doorstep of the UK’s engineering and manufacturing hub in the Midlands. Sercal has always been in a prime location to make a difference, so when an opportunity presented itself with the University of Wolverhampton’s F3 Cup racing team, the Racing Wolves, Matt decided to assist the team’s 2018 season and simultaneously educate young engineers on the importance of NDT.
University of Wolverhampton Racing (UWR) is a student-led race team based in the School of Engineering at the Telford Innovation Campus. The School of Engineering offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes and UWR is open to any student with a passion for motorsport. UWR is the only student team to compete in the MotorSport Vision Racing (MSVR) F3 Cup, learning applied engineering through testing and racing its Dallara F308 across ten race weekends each season. Having competed for two seasons, and finishing second in the competition in both of these, the 2018 season is already off to a great start with the team leading the competition after the first weekend. UWR also races a pair of development cars for the Morgan Motor Company, the Morgan Plus 4 Club Sport and a Gould GR55, in the British Hillclimb Championship and takes part in the IMechE Formula Student competition, where in 2017 they finished in 13th place out of 120 competing universities.
The UWR students are supported by staff from the School of Engineering who range from academic lecturers to race engineers and one professional racing driver. Every student learns not only the engineering aspects of running a successful racing team, but also key workplace skills, such as teamwork and effective communication. Without the hard work of UWR members and the tremendous support of sponsors like Sercal, the team would not be in the strong position it is today.
As a technical sponsor to the F3 team, Sercal, along with its parent company Oceanscan, will be providing a range of technical training for UWR students on remote visual inspection, ultrasound testing in composites, eddy current testing for welds, positive material identification (PMI) inspection for failure analysis, penetrant testing (PT), magnetic particle testing (MT) and thermal
imaging.Throughout the 2018 season, Sercal will continue to provide support and equipment for all of the cars in the UWR stable, while also providing real-time hands-on experience and allowing students to apply their new skills.
Ian Oakes, Chairman of the University of Wolverhampton Racing and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of UWR, remarked: “The University of Wolverhampton Racing team is very proud of the close relationship we have with our technical sponsors and we are delighted to welcome Sercal NDT to UWR. Sercal NDT is using its technical expertise to train university student engineers in the use of the latest non-destructive testing equipment, further enhancing our reputation for workplace-ready graduates and giving the UWR team more cutting-edge tools to use when at the race circuits. Sercal NDT equipment will help us to diagnose problems and find those fractions of a second necessary to win races.”
Matt Day commented: “We feel it is important that we not only introduce NDT to young engineers, but give them the ability to use the equipment in an environment in which they can apply their new skills and understand the value that NDT can bring to a race team. These testing methods are utilised by world-class racing teams and to have this experience will help them tremendously once they graduate, as well as helping to raise the profile of NDT in the next generation of engineers.”
Sercal, established in 1987, plays an integral part in the Oceanscan Group and stands as an independent company. It provides a one-stop shop for the supply, service, calibration and rental of NDT equipment to the non-destructive examination industry. Based in Cannock, its central UK location offers local support to its customer base.
It is a UKAS-accredited laboratory, No 0381, for the calibration of ultrasonic flaw detectors; it is currently the only UKAS-accredited laboratory to calibrate thickness meters and transducers. Its status as an ISO/IEC 17025-accredited calibration laboratory qualifies Sercal as an approved supplier for the IATF 16949 requirement for the calibration of inspection and measurement equipment.
www.sercal.co.uk
