Full Blue Racing

Every year Full Blue Racing hosts it’s annual dinner for members of the team, other teams and previous team members. It’s a fantastic chance to enjoy a fine dinner while having the opportunity to chat about experiences both in Formula Student and potential career options. It helps give the new students the impression that by being in Full Blue Racing gives them an advantage in their career paths. During the evening the team sat down to a 5 course meal before a speech from our esteemed team leader . The team and their guests then gathered in the bar and socialised through the night.

This is the second time that we have been down to Brunel University to use their dynamometer (dyno). The first time was in between the Silverstone and Hockenheim competitions in summer 2012, with the engine having a basic state of ‘tune’ set up to optimize power and fuel efficiency. This time, the aim was to play about with the dyno functions and get a feel for what we could do with it. The car was strapped to the dyno and we ran a few different tests to get power curves. The dyno is useful as it allows us to run the engine at set speeds based on the load at the wheels. This means that we can repeat a test over and over with exactly the same operating values – for example running the engine at a set speed and load to measure radiator performance.   TunerStudio (the software we use to tune the engine) has a function to ‘autotune’ the engine by reading the load on the engine (vacuum pressure in the inlet manifold) against engine speed and altering the various tables – for example how much fuel get is injected into the cylinders and the time the spark plug delivers a charge for – as it sees fit. The dyno has a constant load or constant speed setting that can be used to control the engine speed, then we can play about with the throttle to cover the whole table in one gear. We didn’t get time to [...]

To validate the model of our new chassis we built a mock chassis using lengths of wood. This allowed us to test the front end packaging and driver positioning. We determined that we needed to adjust the roll hoop position for visibility and could narrow the front end slightly as there was enough space for the driver. It also allowed us to test pedal designs.

As a new initiative for the team to become involved with younger students, FBR is currently in discussion with Martin Plunkett who is the Director of Formula 1 in Schools, St. Christopher’s School, Bahrain.   We will also the students to become involved with the engineering aspect of the team, such as CAD drawings, development of engineering parts and machining issues, such as turning, milling and grinding.   The students are currently learning to use Solidworks to develop their own car for the Formula One Technology Challenge and they are hoping to further their knowledge by working on our project.   We hope to build a strong and lasting relationship with the school and hopefully aid a few of the children in gaining a place as an undergraduate at Cambridge University.

It may be November, but with the Cambridge term so short we like to celebrate Christmas early!   As a result of the efforts the team have put in this term it was nice to finally relax when all work was finished….   The social aspect of the team is just as important as the project itself. Lifelong friends have been made as a result of the team, with many of the former alumni working in Formula One today.   The Christmas meal was an opportunity where the team could learn more about each other as well as talking about the development of the car in a less formal environment.   The meal was very nice indeed even if it was the 28th November. Happy Christmas Full Blue Racing!