Surrey Speed

Formula Student’s James Johnstone (President) and Adam Hoskin (Technical Director) have given some details on the car they are planning to enter into this year’s Formula Student competition, which sees universities worldwide compete against each other.

The car uses a carbon fibre monocoque chassis, the designer of which now works for McLaren. This construction is comparable to that of Formula 1 cars. More F1 style technology is used within the gear changes. The car will have a push button gear change which will be integrated with the ECU so that gear changes are seamless. The engine has been taken from a Honda CBR 600 motorcycle, it had to be restricted from 110hp to between 80-85hp, in a car that weighs 193kg. So it still has between 250-300hp/tonne when the weight of the driver is considered. As the engine was from a motorcycle, it was not designed to cope with large lateral g-forces. This meant that the team designed and built a new dry sump for the car to prevent oil surging in the engine and being mixed with air.

The team haven’t been able to do much testing on the car as it is still under development but if the 2009 car is anything to go by, it should be good. That car boasted a 0-60mph time of 3.9 seconds and was able pull 1.4G in the corners in cold conditions. These figures are comparable to modern supercars. The 2009 car is currently on display in the entrance to AB03 by the stairwell between AB and AA.

The team has high hopes for the 2012 competition with a target of a top three finish. They hope to achieve this by increasing the cars reliability as last year’s car had to retire with a broken driveshaft.