Next week, the finest student annual single-seat race car competition in the world takes place: here’s an overview of some key related events.
Formula Student Schools Academy
Friday 5 July is a day for school students – prospective future competitors – to soak up the atmosphere at Silverstone, and learn about F1 in Schools, Bloodhound SSC and 4x4 in Schools. Facilitated by the generous help of Institution Ambassadors, students will participate in a series of talks and practical workshops, not to mention exciting balloon car, helicopter models and ‘fastest finger first’ competitions.
Chief Judge Richard Folkson will welcome the Academy attendees, while Jaguar Land Rover and the Motor Sports Association’s experts will explore key elements of motor racing and the work that engineers do. There’s an exclusive tour of The Paddock, assisted by former FS competitors, and what day would be complete without a viewing of the cars due to race at one of the world’s most prestigious tracks?
Peter Finegold, Head of Education and Skills at the Institution, is delighted that 200 11-14 year-olds will take part in this inspiring day:
“The Academy is a fantastic opportunity for school pupils to see young engineers putting their racing car designs through their paces – and at Silverstone’s hallowed racetrack too! The Institution of Mechanical Engineers wants more young people to consider a career in engineering, and Formula Student is a great advert for this.”
Peter Bonnington, Vice-Chair of the Young Members’ Board, is a former Formula Student competitor, and he describes the impact that taking part had on him:
“Formula Student is largely responsible for my choice to study engineering at the University of Bath, where I was involved with FS in varying capacities for four years. This year, I'm very excited to be part of the new Formula Student Schools Academy, and I'm certain that giving local schools the chance to come to Silverstone, enjoy the STEM challenges and soak up the atmosphere in the Paddock will inspire them like it did me.”
MIRA: a Gold Sponsor of Formula Student
Five university teams from across the UK gathered at MIRA’s world-class Proving Ground to put their purpose-built Formula Student cars to the test in a range of fuel and speed endurance tests.
Teams of engineering students from Aston, Birmingham City, Hertfordshire, Coventry and Liverpool John Moores universities took part on 29 May. They had the opportunity to trial example tracks for acceleration, skid pad, sprint and endurance events at MIRA’s track in Nuneaton.
ATL spreads the word as a Gold Sponsor
Formula Student is delighted to announce that ATL has joined the competition as a Gold Sponsor. The company has supplied safety fuel cells to every F1 team for almost 20 years.
ATL's Managing Director, Giles Dawson is an alumnus of the Formula Student competition, as is the company’s Head of Design and many other members of the organisation.
Throughout the competition, Giles will be commentating live on Radio Silverstone (87.7 FM). The company will also be tweeting from the event and can be followed at @ATLFuelCells
Formula Student and Robert Bosch UK – a FS Gold Sponsor – celebrate Diesel Eco-Driving Challenge success
Teams from universities across England, Scotland and Wales competed in the 1,701 mile Formula Student Diesel Eco-Driving Challenge in a three-day bid to be crowned the nation’s most economical drivers. The inaugural competition was jointly organised by Formula Student and Bosch.
Patrick Kniveton, President of the Institution, launched the event from One Birdcage Walk at 11am on Tuesday 18 June and the event terminated at Aberdeen University on 21st June, after a zig-zag route across the UK, taking in 46 universities. Jon Hilton, Chairman of Formula Student, said: “This is a fantastic challenge which will certainly prepare all the students for July’s competition.”
Lewis Morgan, an engineering science student from the University of Southampton, drove 112 miles between Southampton and Exeter on the night of 18 June, the longest stretch of the route. All the students on the Eco-Driving Challenge are taking part in Formula Student. He said,
“The drive to Exeter flew by. I really enjoyed the experience and have picked up new skills to apply to my driving. The support team were great, taught me how to drive better and kept me entertained along the way. Competing against the other universities gave me something to work towards and was enough of an incentive to keep trying to lower the miles per gallon.”
Teams drove a Ford Fiesta, powered by a 1.5-litre TDCi diesel engine, which used Bosch common rail diesel injectors and a high-pressure Bosch fuel pump. Monitoring equipment analysed the efficiency of each team’s driving, with three awards up for grabs: for city, rural and highway driving. Prizes will be awarded at Silverstone: don’t miss an opportunity to see the car, which will be on display in the Paddock from Friday 5 July.
Top F1 engineers debate ‘The Future of Motor Racing’
A panel of Formula 1 innovators, including Lotus technical director James Allison, Mercedes engineering director Andy Cowell and Gordon Day, managing director of Williams Hybrid Power Ltd, discussed the sport’s drive for greater efficiency in a live podcast recording for Motor Sport magazine, in association with Formula Student.
The event took place at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, in Westminster, on Monday 17 June, with almost 100 people in the audience.
Many of the students who take part in Formula Student go on to work within international motorsport, and some of the biggest names in F1 – including Ross Brawn OBE, Formula Student Patron and Team Principal of the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS F1 team – continue to play an active role.
Institution and Formula Student members enjoyed the opportunity to listen to and meet leading figures from the F1 world as they cast light on new technical regulations – the most revolutionary in the sport’s history – that are due to be introduced next year.
The panel discussed the effects we can expect on the track and the influence they might have on the wider automotive world. They also explained the engineering challenges that have been created by the new rules and debated the alternative fuel solutions that could have an influence on F1 in the long term.
Go Motorsport Live!
The Motor Sports Association (MSA) is delighted to announce Go Motorsport Live! – a special open day to be staged at Silverstone on Sunday 7 July as an integral part of the governing body’s drive to help more people to get involved in all areas of motor sport.
Technology Strategy Board Motorsport Valley Launchpad
The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) is to invest up to £1million in innovative business-led R&D projects in motorsport, high-performance engineering, and related technology consultancy centred in the UK’s ‘Motorsport Valley’ cluster.
The Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) is acting as the TSB’s Cluster Champion for this competition. On Friday 3 July, an information, briefing and networking event takes place at the Jimmy Brown Centre, Silverstone.
Partners’ Awards
On Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 July, a number of awards – including, of course, overall winners of the competition – will be presented. These include Shell’s Engineering Excellence award; Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains’ awards; and the SAE International Overall Dynamics Events Winner.
The Institution and Formula Student also present a number of awards to teams, cars and individual competitors. Find out more about previous winners.
For more information about the activities and events featured, and for everything you need to know about Formula Student 2013, visit:
http://www.formulastudent.com/formula-student/formula-student-2013/event-information.
Keep up with the action next weekend at www.twitter.com/formulastudent