Formula Student
To say that some teams have had a storied history is quite an understatement and Liverpool John Moore University is no exception, having struggled with the debut of their electric car for some years. However, with the competition at Silverstone just around the corner and more progress being made than ever before, FS2022 seems increasingly like the year they make good on their work.
Speaking to us over MS teams, LJMU e-Racing’s team leader Cameron Reedy’s calm composure belies the huge amount of work that the current team have been doing to get up date with existing work on their existing car, the latest rules and the components they needed to finalise a 2022-compliant car.
“As a team, we first entered in 2018 as a concept class team and worked to finalise the design, “ he explained, “however we ran into safety issues with the final car just days ahead of the FS2019 competition and as a result couldn’t bring the car to the competition in a safe state.” Like many teams the COVID lockdown and change to online/hybrid events did not help the team, who despite having secured an award in the FS2020 Sim Racing events decided not to compete in 2021 citing lack of preparation.
Having not brought a car to a competition in over three years and many of the original team who competed in 2018 having graduated some time ago, Cameron and his team faced an uphill battle to take what had been achieved, understand the design, its shortcomings and missing features and make the necessary alterations to get it track-ready.
“With restrictions now lifted and we can access our workshops progress on the car has been going well. We have separate teams for the mechanical and electrical sides, and I liaise with the team leads to make sure it’s all finished and on time.” It’s been a massive undertaking by everyone involved with multiple areas of the car having been redesigned or altered to meet this year’s rules and safety regulations, including a modified roll hoop, new circuit boards and cabling being installed for the high voltage system, the BSP fitted and a new shutdown system implemented.
Interestingly, LJMU e-Racing are the only team in the competition running a Yasa electric motor system, in a year dominated by teams using Emrax or Fischer motors. When asking about it, Cameron flashes a grin and reels off some of its advantages: “it’s relatively compact for our rear end package and it overtorques spectacularly – according to the spec sheet getting 700Nm for 30 seconds should mean that it provides plenty of power for the car. We have had the motor on a dyno test using mains power and works well enough, however we should be in a position to test it with our accumulator by mid-June, well in advance of the competition.”
Ultimately the choice of motor was made for them in terms of availability and lack of budget for an alternative; something that hasn’t been helped by shortages from suppliers and manufacturers and the impact of Brexit on imports. Notably PCBs for the high voltage system have been delayed through customs, while the Avon tires they had hoped to buy replacements for are now out of stock everywhere, forcing a last-minute switch to equivalent Hoosier ones. Despite this, the team have done well to get the car ready for mid-June testing has been the main goal of the team, having not even had a chance to select drivers. Thankfully Cameron assures me that they have plenty of decent, fast drivers in their ranks and places will be meted out to those who have earned it by getting the car ready.
As for the Static events, having worked to understand and rework the team’s car has given the team a strong understanding of their car, particularly with the Cost analysis they have been working on over the last two years of virtual competitions, and so they are quietly confident that their presentations and particularly the question and answer sections should go well.
“Ultimately, I think we’ve done enough to get our car through scrutineering, which for an electric car entered in its first year will be a massive achievement,” Cameron remarks, citing some of the difficulties that now-established EV teams have had in their initial outings at the competition. “In any case, after the summer the team will have a much better idea of what we can improve on and plenty of data and experience of the competition for when they build a new car for 2023.”
As for how they fare in 2023, Cameron won’t be there to see it, having already finished his Master’s degree this year and is due to start his career in industry in the summer. For him, getting both the car and the team in the right shape for 2022 and beyond is just as satisfying a conclusion to his time with the team. “To mitigate the problem of me and around a third of the team members graduating, we’ve opened up applications for team members who have been with the team for one year or more to apply for management positions. They will then shadow the current managers for a month or so, so they can understand some of what’s involved and get up to speed in the new year when we open up applications for new team members.” Clearly knowledge transfer has been a clear priority, with Cameron eager for his team and successors to not have to reinvent the wheel again when they take over.
So with manufacturing and assembly of their car done, some testing been carried out and future management positions been filled for 2023, the short term and long term future for LJMU e-Racing looks secure. It may have taken longer than expected, with the global pandemic putting a spanner in the works, but there won’t be too long before they are able to debut their university’s first electric car at Formula Student 2022.
We wish the team the best of luck with their final preparations and we look forward to seeing how they get on at Silverstone in just a few weeks’ time!