Optimised designs and manufacturing commences
This week has once again been busy for the team down in the lab as we continue work on SHU Racing 2020. The chassis design is now finalised with tubing ordered ready to start in house welding, with the team heading towards a finalised car with manufacture beginning across the board.
Chassis Design
The 2020 Chassis has now been complete after several changes from the previous season. This year the chassis will incorporate angled roll hoops along with improved suspension pickup points, which now lie on triangulation nodes, to improve the overall stiffness and as such improve overall handling, along with our new suspension geometry. As with many components on this year’s car, driver comfort has been significantly improved. With a larger cockpit and raised pedal position, the new chassis will help to prevent driver fatigue during long practise sessions but more importantly, during the endurance event at Silverstone.
Drivers Environment
The pedal box is now beginning its final approval stages before manufacture commences with a high level of positivity surrounding its evolution.
A myriad of changes have been made to the 2019 design in an effort to reduce weight, increase strength and improving its manufacturability. This year’s pedal box has been tailored to improve drivability with the addition of a vertical trunnion balance bar and bias adjustment cable along with several pedal positioning options to ensure a comfortable fit for each of our drivers.
The steering wheel concept shown in earlier newsletters has also now been finalised and is starting to be manufactured. The front is being 3D printed from bamboo infused PLA and the back is also being 3D printed using carbon fibre. This design is developing on from previous years and is now being produced using sustainable materials as well as being fit for purpose. By redesigning the wheel to produce it from 2 parts, the is more space for electronics than in previous years and allows for easier assembly and disassembly.
Meet the Team
The meet the team portion of our newsletter is a chance for you to gain an insight into the team and its members. This week we welcome Jake Tasker, who is a part of the suspension department. Jake is also completing his final year project on a Formula Student Suspension system which is easy to manufacture and assemble whilst aiming to reduce the overall number of components, saving as much weight as possible.
Name: Jake Tasker
Age: 21
Course: MEng Mechanical Engineering
Roles: Suspension Team Member
Hobbies and Interests: Watching films and going to the cinema gaming and building Lego models. Liverpool FC
Favourite Artist: METRIC
Favourite Car: Lancia Stratos
Favourite thing about Sheffield: My favourite thing about Sheffield is the city it's self. There's also something to do. My favourite part of the city is Kelham island.
Reasons for Joining SHU Racing: I joined SHU Racing because I really like making things and this society offered that. It also gave me a range of different skills that helped me to get a placement and to work well whilst on placement.
