2016 Car Launch

Today, Oxford Brookes Racing unveiled our 2016 Formula Student car, to be raced at competitions across Europe. Silverstone – UK, Hockenheim – Germany and Gyor – Hungary.

The major change from previous years to this is the decrease in wheel size. Moving from 13” to 10” wheels is no easy feat and has required a huge amount of effort, dedication and design work from the whole team this year.

Aside from the car launch, read below to catch up on all the news from May.

May 2016

With the car progressing at an extreme rate, May has been a busy month for the entire team. Despite the month being shared with revision and exams, a lot has been accomplished heading into the racing season.

We were thrilled to be able to take our 2015 car to the inaugural London Motor Show on the 5th-8th May. Not only did we have our car on display for both press and public across all 4 days we were also invited along as VIP guests to the opening night. Here we got an exclusive sneak peek at the show before being unveiled to the public and were also able to catch a glimpse of a few new car reveals. As always the team thoroughly enjoyed discussing our University as well as Oxford Brookes Racing with members of the public and our biggest fan Mr Tiff Needell stopped along to have a chat with us! Helped by the early heatwave all had a fantastic time.

The team also completed and submitted the Cost Report for Formula Student UK. This year we changed the way we compiled the report, changing it from a small group project to a team wide collaboration.  This was a fantastic effort on the part of all of the departments with everyone working extremely hard to make sure the report was not only submitted on time but also completed to a high level of accuracy.

Aerodynamics

The Aero team have been busy completing and finishing the new under body for the 2016 car. The team have also finished both the front and rear wing and have been working on setting these up on the 2016 monocoque.

Chassis

This month the Chassis team have been completely focused on the building and assembly of the car. Production has been progressing extremely well and the car is beginning to take shape with every component that is added.

Powertrain

The Powertrain team have been working to get the engine fitted onto the 2016 Chassis along with the coolant system which has also begun the process of being fitted to the car. The team has been working with Docking Engineering to produce the radiator for the car as well as working with Zircotec to have a heat reflective coating put in the exhaust to prevent any possible heat damage to the chassis.

Race Engineering

The Race Engineering team have been spending the month developing the Graphical User Interface for the car, to allow the team to be able to accurately gather the wireless telemetry needed. They have also been working to fit the race loom into the car ready for the competition season.  

Suspension

The suspension team is completing its final preparations for the manufacture of the wishbones, which will take place over the next few days as well as working to finish the manufacture of the remainder of the suspension components ready for the build of the car. They have also been working hard on producing the cost report.

Test Team

The Test Team has been working hard on the manufacture of the final group of components that need to be made for this years car. They have also been preparing and assembling the components that have already been made ready for the car to be fully assembled.

Thanks to the hard work of everyone, the team is currently well on track to have the car completed in early June, ready for the launch of our 2016 car and to start testing ready for our first competition in July.