Formula Student
First off, a quick review of past performance for the well-established IC team to set the scene. “The last event we personally competed in was the 2017 competition” explained Jack Chamberlain and Tom Constance, Brunel Racing’s Team Principal and Deputy Team Principal respectively. “We really enjoyed that competition, especially coming 2nd place in the impromptu hot lap event on the Sunday and ranking 11th place overall - it was a real high point for the team”.
However, this run of good fortune was set to change and 2018 would see a number of unavoidable changes in headcount. Long standing members who had worked on the car for several years graduated and departed from the team, while Jack, Tom and a number of others in that year moved on to their industry placements for the year. While they would return to support the team in the Summer, they returned to find that issues with inexperience and practical skills had come home to roost. “The team did their best to get the car together, but clearly struggled with late deadlines and this lead to some competition rules being missed or misinterpreted” admitted Jack, who cited a couple of examples with aero design that lead to scrutineering headaches and facepalms all round. This has also been compounded by the team management, where often previous team principals would shoulder a lot of the tasks and responsibilities to ensure that deadlines and paperwork were addressed. It’s clear that it’s not just engineering challenges that last year’s team had to contend with, which saw them placed 37th overall.
However, Jack is confident that pushing more on to the 8 project managers in the team will help to spread the workload and enable a bit more autonomy and satisfaction for all those taking part in the competition and hopefully mean that the next generation of senior management will be more self sufficient. Morale is definitely higher and there are new additions to the 30-strong team for 2019; engineering student Georgina and business student Sofie head up the marketing and business management areas of the team to concentrate more work in these areas, which they hope will enable them to be more competitive in both the static events and attracting sponsorship.
Speaking of the next generation, what are Brunel Racing looking to do in 2019? “Quite simply, we’re going for a return to our 2017 form” said Tom, who is already hard at work designing the package for their tried and tested Yamaha R6 engine. “We’ve used this engine for a long time so we’re confident about getting the most out of it with the time we have to work on it,” he explained, with upgrades like a dual-stage injection system, improved shifter mech, a more efficient airbox and exhaust system helping to achieve this. Their key objectives for 2019 are simply: “Credibility, Reliability and Quality” - a reflection on the achievements of their past and a promise for future successes.
Luckily, Brunel Racing come well equipped to get the job done, with a workspace that has plenty of room to work on their Formula Student entries. Aero parts from previous cars can be found in every corner of the room alongside large scale prints of their previous cars at UK and European events; evidence of a proud heritage in the competition. To top it all off, they share space with a full rally car in Brunel livery and two electric bikes in various stages of assembly/disassembly, so there’s plenty going of motorsport projects for the students to get involved with. Not only that, the team also have a dyno and a rolling road in house that they can take advantage of for testing. “We’re lucky that the faculty and university are supportive of the project” admits Jack, “meaning that the biggest issue we have is about time and people management to get the car designed and built in time”. Speaking of time, the team have identified June as their target for getting the car ready, which will give them an extra month before the competition to test and fine tune this year’s entry.
But perhaps the biggest change for 2019 is the start of a brand new EV team. Following from initial development work during last year’s competition and with interest from the academic faculty, the smaller Brunel Racing Electric team have been busy in the background preparing for 2019. 800 Li-ion cells for their battery unit have already been bought and tested over the last 12 months, which together with an older chassis from Brunel Racing’s 2015 competition, form the basis for the university’s first entry into the electric competition.
“We’ve been inspired by teams like Team Bath Racing Electric and their battery unit design” explained Hari, the team’s principal, “and we’ve been hard at work developing an original bespoke battery for our car.” This endeavour has been helped by their collaboration with local business Vantage Power, who are converting London buses to electric powertrain systems. “We reached out to them for possible assistance and found out that some of their team are former Brunel Racing members, so it’s a great fit for us! Their support has proved invaluable.”
Next on the list is making sure their HV and LV connectors are up to standard, with an ambitious target of getting the car assembled by May 2019. “We’ve got an advantage as we already have most of the chassis built, so next year we’ll have to factor that into the workload” Hari says “though more pressing is the software for motor controls and battery monitoring/regeneration ready, which we think will take a little longer. But as long as we have the car built on-time, I’m sure we can handle it.” Make no mistake, there’s definitely a lot of work for Hari and his relatively small team to do to get their car ready for the competition, but it’s exciting to think that Brunel will be fielding an entirely new entry this year, only some 24 months since their electric car project started.
As Jack, Tom and a number of other members of the senior management team are graduating this year, you might be forgiven for thinking that the pressure is on for them to make the most of their last chance at the helm. Despite the prospect of final year exams and a lot of work, there’s a clear undercurrent of optimism from this team this year. If they can learn the lessons from previous engineering and management missteps, there’s nothing to stop Brunel Racing from ending their 20th competition on top form.
Keep up to date on all the latest updates from these two teams on the Brunel Racing website and their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter channels. We wish both teams the best of luck, we look forward to seeing how both teams fare once they get on the hallowed tarmac of Silverstone.