Cardiff Racing qualified for a £3000 financial award from finishing 3rd in the UK at Formula Student UK in 2014. The money will be used to develop the car, including improving reliability and performance through the cost of tooling and testing a new carbon sandwich panel chassis. The team is considering switching to a carbon composite chassis for the 2015-16 season to reduce weight and improve performance.

1. March Newsletter
As a result of finishing 3rd in the UK
and 9th overall at Formula Student
UK in 2014, Cardiff Racing qualified
to apply for a large financial award
by the IMechE. Earlier this month,
Mr Anthony Chowings from the
IMechE, came down to awarded us
with £3000.
The money will be spent on the
future development of the car,
particularly to improve reliability
and performance. The donated
money will contribute towards the
cost of tooling and further testing
and development for a new carbon
sandwich panel chassis.
Big thanks to the IMechE
A carbon composite chassis on the horizon?
The switch to a carbon chassis has numerous obstacles
to overcome before the use of this method becomes
viable. Due to the potential change in material the
current inserts can no longer be used. This is because
the ductile nature of the aluminium panel allowed a
“crush” type insert to be used. These gain strength
through the plastic deformation of the chassis around
the insert . However as composite materials are
somewhat brittle this technique is not suitable and an
alternative method for gaining insert performance
must be considered.
In the search of weight reduction, and therefore performance, a switch to a
carbon composite chassis for the 2015-16 season has been proposed.

2. Given that the insert system was being
completely re-designed this was a good
opportunity to improve the performance when
compared to the previous design. The inserts
currently used in the aluminium honeycomb
chassis have a tested pull-out strength of 11kN,
requiring the use of three inserts per roll hoop
attachment point to satisfy the FS structural
equivalency spreadsheet which states that
each attachment point must be capable of
carrying a load of 30kN in any direction. An
increase in insert strength would allow for a
reduction in the required number of inserts
saving weight, a key factor in vehicle
performance. However, the spreadsheet also
states that an attachment point may contain no
fewer than two inserts. Therefore the target
insert strength was set at 15kN (to satisfy the
30kN requirement).
Tests were performed with different insert
configurations in both shear and normal
directions to find the optimum insert system
that was as light as possible but still met the
required strength target.
A few possible configurations were found to
meet the rules and therefore the lightest one
was chosen for recommendation for the final
chassis, which will be made over the coming
months.
A carbon composite chassis cont…

3. EESW visit
Cardiff Racing was glad to return
to the Big Bang Fair event for the
third time. As always, there was
lots of interest in our simulator,
and the Ultimaker. We have also
started collecting drawings of
dragons from children. These
will be converted to digital images
ready to go on CR10’s vinyl, which
will soon be transformed into our
testing and show car.
Techniquest Visit
On the 8th March, Cardiff Racing
attended the Brain Games held at
National Museum and Gallery of
Wales. The whole day was based
around how the brain works. We set
up CR07 as a simulator in the main
hall, reversing the controls. This would
create confusions to the built-in sense
of direction in one's brain. The day
went well with lots of interest from the
public. We look forward to returning.
We took our simulator down to
Techniquest in Cardiff bay, as part of
the national science and
engineering week. Children and
parents alike enjoyed it. We were
along side exhibits such as the
Bloodhound land speed racers.
Brain Games

4. Do wings really work?
Do wings work? This is the question that has been asked year on year since wings were
first seen on a Formula Student car. This year with the new aero rules severely restricting
the size of allowable wings this question has become even more poignant.
At Silverstone in 2014 Cardiff Racing’s CR10 was the fastest car without an aero package,
so we are now assessing whether an aero package will give us what we need to improve
our score in the dynamic events.
But any potential improvements in dynamics would come at a disadvantage in the cost
event, as a result Cardiff Racing is carrying out a full cost benefit analysis of an
aerodynamics package.
Extensive modelling in CFD has been carried out to create an aero package, made up of
front and rear wings and a floor and diffuser, to test on CR10.
Physical testing will be carried out
on CR10 to acquire lift and drag
coefficients with and without aero.
This data will be fed into the
simulator we have been
developing that is capable of
simulating all the dynamic events.
Track times with and without aero
can be calculated and an adjusted
score for the 2014 UK event can be
calculated, this increase in points
will be compared to the decrease
in points seen in the cost event.
Soon Cardiff Racing will be able to
answer the real question teams
should be asking “Are wings
actually worth it?”

5. More machining, more!
Over the past month the machines
at Cardiff have been full time
manufacturing parts for the new
car. With the help of our
technicians we now have new
wheel nuts, a new pedal box,
ARB’s and the space frame is
nearly fully finished.