Formula Student Overview 2017/18

Formula Student Northampton Racing: History in the making... Formula Student is a competition organised by the IMechE each year at Silverstone. The purpose of this event is to give students an insight into what working in a real engineering company may be like. This is done by providing a wide range of tasks, such as reports, drawings, manufacturing, and providing strict deadlines for each of these tasks. It also provides each team with the autonomy to work as individual groups, which must be assembled and organised by the students themselves.

The competition is also an opportunity for students to put their theoretical knowledge into practice, by applying what is learnt within the university setting, to a tangible product. Students of the University of Northampton started the project in 2014. The objective, to build a single seat car that would be fully functional and competitive above all. The team was organised and structured into areas including; project manager, electronics, aerodynamics, powertrain and business.

Due to a good level of understanding, and experience held by this team, due to most of the members being BSc Candidates and fully fledged engineers, the team excelled within the first year of the project. The project was almost completed, before an error with the drive shaft lengths was discovered, and the project was unable to be finished. The following years, the project stagnated due to lack of motivation between team members.

However, the project was started again in 2016 with new members of the team, comprising mainly of BEng students. A lot of effort was put in but once again, the project encountered problems before completion. The team this year is comprised of many members who experienced the unfortunate and disappointing end to our attempt in the 2016/2017 event. Having experienced this and learnt from any errors which were made, the team is now more motivated than ever to achieve the ultimate goal of driving the car around Silverstone in July 2018.

In order to help achieve this target, the team have been working on progressing the developments of the previous year, over the summer period. Having secured a Yamaha R6 motorbike during the 2016/2017 event, some of the team began to disassemble the bike to its key parts. This provides a team with a fully working engine, as well as other components which may be recycled by the team as a part of the car. In other developments, the team have progressed in terms of sponsorship recruitment, having completed two presentations to businesses over the summer, and started communication with several others.

With this said, the team dedicated a few members just to look for potential sponsors so the goal of financial stability is achieved. Although the University of Northampton Formula Student team have not been able to achieve their main goals over the last few years, all of the members of the team have benefited greatly from the experience. Therefore, the team would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the companies from the NETP who have helped both ourselves and any previous members.

It has been an honour to work alongside you and we look forward to continuing our relationships with you into the future.