Steering Towards Success!
Latest from the Steering Department…
For 2022, the steering system in the car is an all-new design from the one that appeared at Silverstone in 2021, an overhaul that has been a few years in the making. Changes to the system were previously planned but due to the role the pandemic played in the last two years they were never seen on the car, the task this year is to get a new system into place and see how it performs.
Morgan Thomas is our steering manager for this year, he aims to get the steering system to the place it should be off the back of a few years of development and implement key design changes to improve performance in the corners. Find out more about our Steering Manager in the Meet the Team section below.
The focus so far has been ensuring that the setup of the system ensures good driveability, with previous years having issues with the positioning of the wheel. This negatively impacted driver performance by causing drivers to work unnecessarily hard in the corners around a very tight track. The positioning of the wheel is now based largely on driver feedback from FSUK 2021, with the entire system being designed around this.
The Kaz Technologies Steering Rack will be implemented into the car for the first time this year, this is a huge weight saving within the overall steering assembly and will hopefully give us better performance when we hit the track. Other weight-saving avenues are also being explored such as the potential of using carbon fibre for the shaft, rather than the traditional steel.
Due to the team moving away from a tubular steel chassis to a carbon fibre monocoque, a new steering bracket connecting the column to the chassis is being designed. This is primarily to allow access inside the cockpit which will be more limited. The previous iterations of this bracket have been welded to the roll structure, however, some redesign is required to avoid this, instead of looking at a removable clamp.
With a new steering geometry, new parts and major assembly changes, issues with steering from years gone by will be erased. This will hopefully be of huge benefit to us in the dynamic events, getting us posting some seriously quick times!
The steering wheel has also fallen under the remit of the Steering Manager for this season, after previously being in the Driver’s Environment department. Some unique ideas are looking to be incorporated into the wheel, a magnetic shifter design is one of these changes. This is along with sustainable materials that could be used to create the wheel, an area that has previously been explored by a former Driver’s Environment Manager. Ways of putting this into place are currently being decided and the manufacturing methods that would go along with it.
Meet the Team
Meet the Team is an opportunity for us to give you a chance to learn more about the people who are involved with the SHU Racing team. This week, we welcome our Steering and Project Manager, Morgan Thomas.
Morgan heads the Steering Department and controls all the components that go into the steering assembly in the car. He also is our Project Manager and has the job of organising the team, from large tasks to small details.
He joined SHU Racing to gain some experience in the motorsport world which he hopes to transfer to a career working at a racing team. SHU Racing has significantly improved his skills as an engineer, and he would recommend Formula Student to any aspiring engineer.
Name: Morgan Thomas
Age: 21
Course: MEng Aerospace Engineering
Role: Steering & Data Acquisition Manager/Project Manager
Number of years with the Team: 1
Hobbies and Interests: Football, Racing, Boxing & Rugby
Favourite Car: Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo
Dream Job: F1 Trackside Performance Engineer
Reasons for Joining SHU Racing: To gain experience in a motorsport setting, learn about designing a race car and improve my engineering skills. It’s also great to get to know people with similar interests and work in a team.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/morganthomas7
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