SHU Racing is rolling on

Its been another busy week for the team with visits to AP Racing, concept developments and a visit to DJ Race Cars/ DJ Engineering Services! Read on to see what the team has been up to.

Wheels in motion

On Monday, a selection of the managers took the 2019 car down to AP Racing engines to collect data on how the car was performing and to improve the current setup. One of the main objectives of the day was to gain a baseline figure for the power output of car using power runs. The power runs were able to help our powertrian manger, Greg Last, gain a better understanding of how the engine was performing across its range and what improvements can be added this year to get the most out of our single cylinder engine.

It was also a great opportunity for our electrical manager, Tim Gardiner, to try out some of our new electrical system upgrades and gain some hands on experience working with the ECU software alongside specialist, Andrew Parker. In doing so we have been able to improve the map and idle revs ensuring a quieter car with our free flowing titanium exhaust.

We are now looking forward to taking the car testing to collect as much on track data as we can, whilst also giving some of our new drivers the chance to get behind the wheel in preparation for the 2020 event. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Andrew at AP Racing Engines and we look forward to working with him again over the coming season.

Slowly but surely taking shape

With designs well underway the team now looking to take their designs and develop physical models to see how it translates from CAD to the real world. This week saw the start of our chassis mock up by our Chassis manager, Martin Sowerby, and Drivers Environment manager, Tom Fox, as allows them to finalise the drivers position and make sure we are conforming to the IMechE rules before we begin welding our final design. The chassis mock up this year has been produced using laser cut acrylic roll hoops, to ensure dimensional accuracy whilst also allowing the managers to adjust the roll hoop angles to find the optimum position to develop a stiffer chassis whilst making sure Percy (the 95th percentile male) still fits within the regulations and our drivers are in a comfortable position.

SHU Racing spreads its wings

Even with all the activities going on in the lab, our bodywork and aerodynamics manager, Matthew Hoyle, and a selection of team members took time out to go and visit DJ Race Cars/ DJ Engineering Services to learn about how the team car produce top quality aerofoil elements and how to layup carbon fibre to a high professional standard. Team member and current placement student, Ollie Mitchel, gave our current members a lesson on how to work with carbon fibre and some of the tricks of the trade which we are hoping to implement in our own manufacturing process this season. With our new found knowledge the team will be hard at work over the coming week to produce some of our very own elements, so watch this space!

SHU Racing would like to thank Del, Ollie and everyone at DJ Race Cars/ DJ Engineering Services, for taking time out of their busy schedule to show us how we can improve our manufacturing process and to show us some of their fantastic projects! We look forward to working with them over the coming season.