2016 project underway for FSN Racing team
15/10/2015
Formula Student is Europe’s most established educational motorsport competition, run by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). The competition gives students real-world engineering experience as they conceive, design, build, cost, present and compete in static and dynamic events with their single-seat racing cars. The 2015 competition took place at the Silverstone Circuit, the home of British motorsport, from 8-12 July and welcomed more than 3000 students across 135 teams, with 49 teams from the UK, including the Formula Student Northampton Racing (FSN Racing) team, sponsored by the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BINDT). FSN Racing is a team of 12 students from the University of Northampton’s Department of Engineering and Technology, which has created a partnership with Daventry University Technical College (UTC) to promote motorsports within Northamptonshire. Along with BINDT, the team has secured sponsorship from companies including Axillium Research, Santander, Knorr-Bremse Railcare Services, Sulzer, Danetre Workshop Supplies and Thyssen-Krupp.
Although the team’s position in the competition looked promising at the start of the season, unfortunately the FSN Racing team was unable to compete in the dynamic events at this year’s competition. However, the team did enter all static events, consisting of a design report and presentation, business presentation, cost manufacturing and sustainability report and business logic case, which gained them a nine-place improvement on their position in last year’s results.
The start of the 2015 competition season saw the team lose a number of key members for various reasons and this had a huge impact on the project. It meant not only that FSN Racing was now a smaller team – five times smaller than the winning team – but also that they had lost vital knowledge and experience.
As a result, the team’s design was completed later than anticipated, having a knock-on effect with regards to the manufacturing schedule, and it was not possible to build and set-up the car to a running state in the timescale available to the team. However, by continuing in the competition without a car, the new members of the team were able to experience the event and gain a first-hand understanding of what was expected from them in the coming years.
After the 2015 competition, talks took place between the FSN Racing team and the University of Northampton regarding the best course of action to take for the 2016 event. With this year’s competition at a close, the members of the FSN Racing team expressed their eagerness to prove their dedication to the 2016 competition and their sponsors by manufacturing the 2016 car over the summer months to ensure a running car for next year’s competition.
At the time of writing, all parts required have been ordered, the chassis is in the manufacturing stage and various bespoke and composite components are in the machining stages.
The team is planning to host a launch event in the coming weeks, where the newly-manufactured car will be on display. All sponsors and local media will be invited to this event.
The FSN Racing team and the University of Northampton have expressed their appreciation to BINDT for the continued support and the team will be visiting the Institute’s Yorkshire Branch meeting in March 2016, where the 2016 competition car will be on display.
BINDT continues to show its support to the FSN Racing team and looks forward to following the team’s progress over the coming months for the 2016 competition.
