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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK

An ambitious testing regime was planned

right from the beginning of the year, aiming

to allow us to to work on the reliability

problems that always played havoc with our

results throughout the team’s history. The

main focus was on making sure that the car

would be able to complete the endurance

distance without issue, and therefore

securing a good percentage of the 450

points available in the endurance &

Efficiency events.

The second priority was driver training,

allowing the drivers the opportunity to get

used to driving a ‘wing car’ and pushing the

laptimes down further and further with

every minute in the seat.

The 1 month testing period also allowed us

to really learn about the car itself, and

develop the setup & components on the car

to ensure maximum speed in the dynamic

events. This tuning and setup work allowed

us to collect a shed load of data, which

would be crucial to the success of the team

in the FSUK and FSG design events.

Between the car first turning wheels in

anger at Whilton Mill on the 10th of June

and the pre-competition shakedown on July

7th overall the team were impressed with

the car’s performance. Changes to the front

wing end-plates and the rear wing flap were

made to modify the aero balance to the feel

of the driver, and a spring change + bump-

stops were added to keep the front of the

car from diving under braking while still

keeping an overall improved car setup

compared to 2013.

As expected the car of course suffered a

few problems throughout the testing,

However by the time the car reached the

FSUK competition having completed

250km overall, the team were satisfied that

Carly was ready to shine at competition.

With a 300km testing target before FSUK, we really bonded with & learnt about Carly

TESTING & PREPARATION

OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK

The difference passing scrutineering

quickly can make was demonstrated in full

view in 2013, with the team struggling with

engine issues, meaning we were unable to

pass the brake test until Saturday morning.

However this year it was a stark contrast,

with the car 10th in the scrutineering queue

and into tech first thing on Thursday

morning. We were able to then swiftly pass

through the safety, chassis and technical

inspections, and by 1.30pm we had moved

onto the fuelling area, waiting first in line

for the fuel bays to open at 2:00pm.

After filling up we headed over to the tilt

test area, where the car is tilted up to

45degrees to check for fluid leaks, and

then all the way up to 60 degrees to make

sure that the car is not too unstable as to

roll over in the high G corners. As normal

we passed first attempt, with our bespoke

CFRP fuel tank doing a perfect job.

Once tilt test was completed the team

progressed onto the noise test, and were

able to fire up Carly for the first time of the

competition.

With the loud single cylinder engine, the

noise test has always been a struggle for

the team. However this year with Adam’s

new engine map & a new Akrapovic

exhaust silencer we breezed through at a

(still quite loud) 106db.

Finally after the noise test we just had to

get through the relatively simple brake test.

This is normally a formality for the team,

and this year proved to be no different.

With the brake test passed, we were the 5th

team so far in the competition to complete

Technical Scrutineering, an excellent feat.

The team then headed back to the pits to

prepare the car for the static events on

Friday morning, and took an early night

back to Uni to finalise their design

portfolios, and their cost & business

presentations ready for the static events

first thing on Friday morning.

The first part of the competition ensures the cars are legal and safe to race

SCRUTINEERING

OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK

This month we would like to express a special thankyou to the following companies:

Royal Westcoast Cylinders helped us out

right back at the beginning of June with a

fantastic job manufacturing two CNC

Machined wing-mount pieces for the rear

wing ‘swan-neck’ design. The two pieces

are integral to our rear wing mounting

design, which increases efficiency of the

rear wing by 15%.

New lead powertrain sponsors MAHLE did a

fantastic job organising a last minute

chassis dyno session for us, as our normal

dyno facility became unavailable. We were

able to make some final adjustments to the

engine map including smoothening out the

part-throttle to aid the drivers in the skid-

pad, and improve the engine efficiency in

the full throttle regions, to help increase

performance and save fuel in the Accel,

sprint and endurance events.

Finally thanks to DiscountDisplays.co.uk for

manufacturing and delivering our pit-

banner in super-fast time! Having finalised

the design on Tuesday we were able to set

up the banner on Thursday morning just in

time for design & cost. Fantastic service!

Finally thanks again to all of our sponsors!

Without your support throughout the year

the team would never have dreamed of

achieving what we did at FSUK, we will now

push hard to recover before heading to FSG

Discount Displays’ tasty pit-banner

Carly ready on MAHLE’s chassis dyno

Assembled swan-necks thanks to Royal

SPONSORSHIP NEWS

OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK

An early start greeted the team with our

Design event for breakfast at 9:00am.

Thanks to the Alumni design practise

events that we had held through the year

the team had high hopes for a good result.

Andrew Reimer and Mike Rooney lead the

VD and Suspension Mechanical design

discussion, with Chief Engineer Ben Sandy

taking the Mechanical design and driver

controls systems. Terence Hui looked after

Aerodynamics, while Richard Smith and

Adam Stevens spoke to the judges about

the Chassis and the Powertrain

respectively.

Jeremy Alphonsus headed up the

Electronics group, and last but not least

Sam Unsworth covered the car’s advanced

composite components.

Overall from the design event the team felt

a positive attitude, and were later rewarded

with the news that they had reached the

design finals, which would take place on

Saturday afternoon.

With the infamous design finals completed,

the team waited with baited breath to hear

the results. Amazingly & unexpectedly it

was announced that we had become the

first UK team ever to win an FS Design

competition!

The cost event was next, with Sam

Unsworth facing another hour of grilling as

he also lead the cost team. Alongside him

Mikey Twigge, Chris Shawe & Megan

Berridge took the judges through the car’s

costings, and performed extremely well,

scoring an excellent 17th overall, a personal

best for OBR since FSUK 2011.

Finally the Business Presentation was run

in the afternoon, with George suiting up for

his business pitch to try and gain an

investment from the judges.

Overall the presentation went well,

although a few nervous mistakes were

made. When the results came out we were

8th overall, just 2 places behind George’s

previous best at FSUK in 2012.

Contributing 325 points in total, the statics are just as important as speed on track

STATIC EVENTS

OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK

With scrutineering done, and the static

events out of the way the team were able to

relax and focus on the on-track

performance of the car.

We started the morning queued up first for

the Acceleration run, keen to get on the

circuit before the sun heated up the sticky

Silverstone F1 tarmac, hopefully allowing

the rear wheels to spin and give us an

improved launch time.

After allowing a couple of cars infront to

clean the surface Will Barker managed a

best time of 4.351s, enough to put us 2nd

placed single cylinder, just pipped to top

single by Uni Maribor with a 4.340s.

With the Acceleration runs out of the way

we returned to the pits for a wing-angle and

toe change, and then moved over to run the

now rubbered-in skid-pad track.

Robin Bailes was first in the car, and set a

respectable 5.151 for his first lap. His

second was faster however, and put us in

the provisional pole position with a 4.994

run.

On a more bumpy left hand skid-pad course

Mike Rooney was only able to set a 5.284s

lap to begin, and his second lap was just

0.1s faster with a 5.177s time.

This meant Robin’s time stood, and with

just the torque vectoring 4WD eCars of TU

Delft and ETH Zurich, and top combustion

Monash University beating our time in the

closing stages, we held on for 4th place.

Finally in the afternoon we headed out for

the Sprint runs. Ben hit the track first at the

beginning of the session and set a

respectable 53.057s with just 1 cone.

A couple of hours later George went for his

runs. He was able to keep it clean and put

us 10th overall with a first laptime of

52.653s, although his faster second lap of

52.005 was spoiled by 3 cone strikes.

A busy Saturday featured the Acceleration, Skid-Pad and Sprint events

DYNAMIC EVENTS

OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK

The results achieved so far would mean

nothing however, if the team were not able

to pass the all important Endurance event.

The Endurance is the hardest test on the

FS schedule, with the car required to

complete two 11km stints, with a driver-

change and engine restart in between.

With a total of 450 points available

including efficiency, and just a 20 point

cushion back to TBR, the team had to

perform to take back the #1 UK Team spot.

Almost immediately heart rates increased

as first driver Ben dissappeared after just 2

laps on the far hairpin. However fortunately

40s later he re-appeared, having been held

up by the UAS Zwickau car, which had been

left stranded on the circuit with a problem.

Ben’s laptimes were consistent and fast,

setting the current lap record pace with

each lap he completed, with the TBR car

struggling to match us, actually getting

caught and passed by Ben during his stint.

Soon enough it was time for the driver

change, and all eyes watched to see if we

would be able to re-start the engine with

George in the car.

After two attempts things were not looking

good, however on the 3rd attempt the

engine burst into life, and we soon headed

back out onto the track to finish off the last

11km.

George started to bring down the laptimes

once more, now running down in the 1:01s,

& only challenged by the World #1’s

Rennteam Stuttgart on pace.

With just 3 laps to go George found himself

unable to shift down through the gears. A

problem later found to be caused by a

connector braking from the penumatic

valve block. However having driven with a

similar problem in 2012, George was able

to nurse the car home, and crawled across

the line to take the checkered flag, and

complete the endurance event!

The final & most difficult event of the competition was set to make or break us

ENDURANCE

OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK

When the results were published, we found

that we had indeed scored enough points

to be able to re-claim the #1 UK title, &

finished the competition in 6th place overall.

This is best result for OBR since the team

took 3rd place overall back in FSUK 2006!

With the car then passing through the post-

event scrutineering checks & the pits dis-

assembled and packed back up into the

van & trailer, it was then time for the

traditional team photos out on the main

straight, and the prizegiving ceremony.

Re-live completing endurance with the team! Click the image below:

Oxford Brookes Racing – Formula Student UK 2014

OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK

FSUK - GALLERY

FINAL BUILD

Design on-going. New leader observes

Carly arrives at our empty Silverstone pit

Carly catches some deserved rest

Scrutineering checks in progress

Will heads off to score our top Accel time Race team did a mega job all week

OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

OBR.BROOKES.AC.UK

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OXFORD BROOKES RACING – FSUK 2014 NEWSLETTER

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