End of year Round up & Chassis Update
With the SR13 design review completed, the team is altering their designs in response to the feedback received from faculty advisors and SHU Racing team members ensuring our designs are fully optimised, reliable and legal. All designs for the 2023 season are anticipated to be finalised by mid-January. Our Project Manager is currently combining department Bills of materials (BoM) into a cumulative SR13 BoM, this will allow SHU Racing to have an accurate manufacturing schedule.
If you are a member of SHU Racing, look out for posts on our socials as to where and when you can get involved with manufacturing. Don’t worry if you have no or little experience there will be plenty of opportunities to learn and contribute to the team.
If you have or know of a company or service that could aid us in manufacturing, please get in touch with us directly in our lab at the Eric Mensforth Building; using our website or email us directly at info.shuracing@gmail.com .
SR13 Chassis Update
While we suffered some technical issues last year, SHU Racings first ever carbon fire monocoque passed scrutineering, producing our lightest car ever at 181.5 kg. On its own the monocoque weighs in at 28 kg, which is lighter than the KTM 500 EXC engine we use to run our car. The major design changes so far are the use of a co-cured aluminium front role hoop, reducing weight by around 1 kg, the chassis has been extended at the rear to accommodate suspension improvements and finally a port hole is being added to the front of the chassis to aid with serviceability and assembly in particular pedal box access.
The main focus of this years composite department is to investigate the use of different grades of carbon fibres and core materials. With our carbon fibre order arriving earlier in the year thanks to SHD Composites, the composite manager has been able to prepare multiple test panels using a variety of alternate ply layers and for the first time, aluminium honeycomb as core material.
Meet the Team
Meet the Team is an opportunity for us to give a chance to learn a little more about the people who make up SHU Racing. This week we introduce Fin Ellershaw our Chassis and Composites Lead. Fin has been part of the team since his first year in university and with his success at DJ Race Car Engineering last year, he has become our first 3rd year department lead. Fin oversees composite design, manufacturing and testing, with a main focus on the chassis. Fin is also providing support in other departments such as Electrical, Steering and Drivetrain.
Name: Fin Ellershaw
Age: 21
Course: MEng Automotive Engineering
Role: Chassis and Composites Lead
Number of years with the Team: 4
Hobbies and Interests: Sim Racing, F1, and Hillclimb racing (watching the cars I’ve worked on race at events)
Favourite Car: McLaren F1 GTR
Dream Job: Composites Design Engineer in F1
Reasons for Joining SHU Racing: I’ve always enjoyed designing and making things, SHU racing had great opportunities to do that. Also, with a goal of working in F1 it’s been a great way of getting a foot in the door of the motorsport world.
