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Student-built racing car in action at MotoFest Coventry
Business news
Wednesday 30 May 2018
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A racing car designed and built by students will compete in time trials on Coventry’s ring road as part of Power Maxed MotoFest Coventry.
The single-seater vehicle was the result of 10 months of hard work by Coventry University motorsport engineering students.
It’s developed for the prestigious Formula Student contest, which sees universities from around the world compete in a week of testing, technical judging and racing at Silverstone in July.
But this weekend the students will also get a chance to show off their work to the Coventry public as well, when one of their cars is in action at MotoFest.
This year’s annual celebration of Coventry’s motoring heritage will be the first time competitive racing has taken place in the city centre for more than 30 years.
They came up with the specifications and constructed most of the parts for the vehicle, including the chassis, bodywork, aerodynamic components and suspension. It can reach speeds of up to 75 mph.
Their budget for the vehicle is £25,000 to help buy in parts that they cannot construct themselves, but they also receive sponsorship from companies including Bosch UK.
The Phoenix Racing car on the track at Silverstone last year.
The team is still working on building the 2018 vehicle ahead of the crucial Silverstone competition, and so it will be the car they designed last year that will race around the ring road this weekend.
The driver and pit crew for the event will be selected this week.
After this weekend, their attention will switch to making the 2018 car race-ready.
The team of 46 students will carry out weeks of rigorous testing at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire before the climax of the competition, which runs between 11 and 15 July at Silverstone.
The contest is organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and will include more than 100 teams from across Europe as well as USA, India, Saudi Arabia, and Australia.
The team are aiming to make it into the top 10 of UK teams, and the top 20 overall.
Motorsport engineering student Ross Millar is Phoenix Racing’s current team leader. The 23 year old from Reading said:
MotoFest is a great opportunity for us to show off our work to the people of Coventry. It’s the perfect application for what we do – and there won’t be any other car like ours at the event.
It’s a fantastic experience for all of us to be involved in Formula Student. We’re involved in everything about this car; the design, the costing, the testing, the racing. It’s perfect preparation for getting a job in the industry – and it’s great to work as a team on such an exciting project.
Ross Millar
Daniel Loh, 25, a third year motorsport engineering student who is originally from Malaysia, said:
It will be great to show off our pride and joy at MotoFest. There are always a lot of headaches and heartaches along the way, but it is a great feeling when we can finally see our vehicle on the track.
Daniel Loh
Richard Nicholson, senior lecturer in motorsport engineering, said:
The Formula Student experience is absolutely invaluable for our students. We know that it makes a difference to them getting calls for interviews as the industry values the experience so highly. Our team do a fantastic job with a budget that’s a substantially less than some of the international teams.
It will be great to show off our pride and joy at MotoFest. There are always a lot of headaches and heartaches along the way, but it is a great feeling when we can finally see our vehicle on the track.
Richard Nicholson
The Phoenix Racing team with their car at Silverstone last year.
For further press information, please contact Alison Martin, press officer, Coventry University, on 02477659752 or email alison.martin@coventry.ac.uk.
