Category Archives: Motorsport

Formula One 2017 – Unveiling Time is Here

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Ahead of the Winter Testing dates in Barcelona (late February/early March) and the first race on the 26th March in Melbourne – the teams have been launching their 2017 cars.

Although some information about the 2017 cars already leaked in late January with the images of the Manor MRT07 – this is the first view of many of the new 2017 vehicles.

Williams teased a video preview of the FW40 late last week and this has been followed by Sauber (being the first to fully unveil their vehicle), Renault, Force India, Mercedes and today, McLaren and Ferrari revealing their 2017 challengers.

The new wider swept back front wing is the first noticeable element of all the new cars – the regulations mean that the cars are becoming wider again – as well as the front and rear wings. On top of that the tyres are 25% wider – this indicates an increase in downforce, increase in grip and we should see faster lap times as a result of this.

The wider tyres mean that teams will have likely had to focus, in part, on reducing the drag coefficient as much as they can. This also seems to have had an effect on the rear wings – with the end plates shaped and curving in towards the lower part of the vehicle.

Another returning feature, that had very much disappeared in recent designs, is the large fin on the engine – this tends to be used to control air flow to the rear wing in yaw airflow – this shows an expectation of higher apex speeds than recent years.

It will be interesting to see how different the cars look as they line up for the first practice session in Melbourne – as there are often significant changes from the unveiling vehicle.

 

 

 

 

Student gets ‘Drive of his Life’ for Placement Achievement

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Final Year BSc(Hons) Motorsport Technology student, Matthew Brill enjoyed the ‘drive of his life’ recently courtesy of his placement company.

Matthew undertook his year-long placement with Staffordshire University partners Slidesports Race Engineering, who currently undertake a wide variety of consultancy motorsport engineering projects alongside their racing commitments in the UK and internationally.

Matthew with the Pallex Slidesports Porsche Cayman GT4 in Hungary recently. Photo: M Jenkins

Matthew with the Pallex Slidesports Porsche Cayman GT4 in Hungary recently. Photo: M Jenkins

His excellent progress and commitment to the placement didn’t go unnoticed with Slidesports providing him with an end of placement experience to remember – tuition and solo laps in a race prepared Volkswagen Scirocco.

Team Principal Mark Jenkins said,

“Matthew came to us in September 2015 and he’s made himself an invaluable member of the team, he’s worked extremely hard all season and that’s why we arranged this experience for him. I’d be happy to do that again for any placement student that showed the same calibre Matthew did.”

Slidesports have worked in partnership with Staffordshire University for nearly a decade to provide ‘live’ work based learning experience to students on the Foundation Degree and BSc(Hons) Motorsport Technology awards.

Matthew following his solo laps in a race prepared Volkswagen Scirocco. Photo: M Jenkins

Matthew following his solo laps in a race prepared Volkswagen Scirocco. Photo: M Jenkins

During Matthew’s placement year he has worked on an extensive range of cars including the Pallex Slidesports Porsche Cayman GT4, the Team BRIT Volkswagen Golf GTi and rally cars.

Matthew had very little mechanical experience prior to his placement, and feels he;

“gained an amazing amount of experience during the placement, allowing the classroom knowledge I’d gained to be put into practice.”

For more information on Staffordshire University Motorsport courses, click here, or contact enquiries@staffs.ac.uk or to contact Slidesports Race Engineering, info@slidesports.co.uk

Staffordshire Greenpower Event

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Debi Roberts, Award Leader for the Automotive and Motorsport Awards at Staffordshire University, gives her personal view on volunteering at STEM activities…

“I’m not normally one for making this blog personal – while there might be the odd personal reflection in an entry, I’ve always tried to make sure that this blog reflects the courses it represents, that I am responsible for, in my role as Award Leader for Automotive and Motorsport, rather than it being me standing on my soapbox offering opinion on everything. However given how personal the STEM Ambassador scheme is to me – how it was one of the activities that gave me confidence to step out side my comfort zone as a new lecturer – perhaps it’s entirely fitting that this entry takes on a personal tone.

Standing at 8:30 am on a quiet but windswept former airfield just outside Stafford, after only one cup of coffee (or even worse, only one cup of earl grey!), likely doesn’t sound like most people’s first idea of a fun day away from the office – but then, this is me!

Around me, a group of volunteers from various companies and industries – coming together to build safety barriers and set up for the events going on during the day.

The Seighford site was about to become the venue for a range of motorsport events – a drag race, timed lap and slalom challenge took up the morning before a set of races consisting of heats and a final took place in the afternoon. All of the teams were local schools and the cars?  These were Greenpower Formula Goblins – designed for 9 -11 year old school children to experience engineering within the curriculum.

Newcastle Under Lyme School (with thanks to the School for the image)

Newcastle Under Lyme School (with thanks to the School for the image)

This is an event I’ve volunteered for a number of times over the years – the excitement and the energy of the children always reminds me why I became a STEM Ambassador in the first place – to use my passion and experience to inspire others, but to make sure they have fun at the same time. I guess my experience as a Brownie Leader and a University Lecturer mean that it becomes very easy for me to step into that ambassador role, and I tend to make a beeline for events where I am leading an event or section of an event – playing on my strengths I guess! However there are so many roles that are needed at the various STEM events over the year – something for everyone.

As usual I was part of the team managing the slalom event – great because it gives me a chance to work with another STEM Ambassador and former colleague Alex. While a huge benefit of the STEM Ambassador role is getting to work with different groups and people, some of whom you wouldn’t generally see in your work environment, sometimes it is nice to work with colleagues, both past and present. Especially when you’d worked together for almost a decade (ouch – cue feeling just a little bit old on realising that!) – the part of the event that you’ve been involved in seems to run just that little bit more smoothly.

Kingsland Academy’s video of the event below (reproduced here with the school’s permission) gives an idea of the day’s events.

The day ends of a prize giving for the teams with a multitude of categories, these are awarded by Phil Brocklehurst of the local IMechE branch and myself in my Staffordshire University, Senior Lecturer role (thanks to Malcolm and Kevin for delightfully dropping this on me at the last minute!). Another thing I’ve found when working as a STEM Ambassador or volunteer – always be flexible!

Newcastle under Lyme School wining the main award at Seighford. (Picture kindly provided by the school)

Newcastle under Lyme School wining the main award at Seighford. (Picture kindly provided by the school)

So, as a STEM Ambassador, you can bring a passion for your area of STEM, or perhaps any area. You can help to engage and enthuse young minds and perhaps even educate them on a new area. More than that though, as is often the case, the teacher becomes the student – you can stretch yourself, increase your confidence and remind yourself just why you became interested in science, technology, engineering or mathematics in the first place. I’m working on encouraging my students and graduates to became more involved in STEM activities as it will give them just as much as the people they work with.”

 

F1 Regulations 2016 – Preview

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Back in December, the FIA published the latest incarnation of the Sporting Regulations – these ones for the 2016 season. Outwardly, there are a few major changes – however it’s the smaller changes that could have the biggest influence on racing in the 2016 season.

Engines

Currently, the teams will be allowed 5 power units per driver during the season, an increase of one from last year. The reason for this increase, 2 extra races from the previous season, Azerbaijan and the return of Germany to the calendar. This means each engine is has to last 1,250 km of race mileage (this doesn’t include free practice and qualifying).

However, significantly for the teams – if the calendar drops back to 20 races or less (which is a risk at the moment), then the power unit allowance drops back down to 4 engines. Meaning each engine then has to cover 1,500 km of race mileage. An extra 250 km might not sound like much – but engine designers are working on critical life timing for each component, and this could become close once practice sessions are taken into account.

Homologation for these engines must occur by the end of February – meaning that the engines for 2016 must have been signed off before winter testing has even begun – however there is the ability to make changes after for safety and reliability, and the in season token development system.

Safety Studies

Another key area is safety, thankfully the FIA is continuing its safety crusade, and in 2016 that includes the addition of a high speed camera to each car to study the driver’s head movements during an accident. This will help with understanding what happens during an impact. In addition to this all drivers must now wear in-ear accelerometers during any time in the car.

High Speed Cameras to assess head movement during impact: Image Source and more information http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120831

High Speed Cameras to assess head movement during impact: Image Source and more information http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120831

Wind Tunnel Usage

The FIA have apparently become suspicious of some teams going beyond the 60 tunnel hours/65 runs per week regulations, given their rate of aerodynamic development – leading from this they must supply two digital pictures (with date stamp) of the models before each run. These must show the entire working section of the tunnel with the model in situ. Highlighting any teams breaking the rules, or at least this is the theory – the data theft risk associated with the FIA holding the biggest photographic database of F1 aerodynamic development could fill a whole series of blog entries.

These changes may seem small in the context of the wider changes in regulations – but it is highly likely that we’ll be watching these smaller influences taking on a bigger impact in the 2016 season.

 

What can Formula 1 teach business leaders?

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The World Economic Forum is taking place in Davos, the event is attended by around 2,500 delegates, who mainly consist of world leaders and business people. Doesn’t seem like the first place you would expect to find two-time Formula One World Champion, Mika Hakkinen however, does it?

  

It took the Finn seven years competing in Formula One to win his first Grand Prix in Jerez, at the 1997 European Grand Prix, he went on to take the Drivers World Championships in 1998 and 1999. 

 In this BBC News Article by Emily Young, he credits his success, at least in part, to doctor and mentor, Aki Hintsa. He spoke at the forum about the role Dr Hintsa played in helping him sharpen his focus – suggesting that his concerns off the track, were affecting his potential. It is this ‘extra edge’ that interests the delegates though – how can they perform consistently better than their rivals?

“Operating three nights in a row on just five hours’ sleep is equivalent to driving a car drunk”

Dr Hintsa’s message, along with Mika and four time champion Sebastian Vettel, seems to be simple advice to follow – you can not function to your full potential without a good night’s sleep. The other messages, including avoiding alcohol and smartphones/computers before bed, are nothing new – but it’s surprising how few of us actually act on this advice.

Really, the message here is about looking after the whole, all parts of your life to perform better. Not just about working harder, but achieving better in the same amount of time.

Here we see top athletes advising business and world leaders on how to achieve their potential, this isn’t the only aspect of motorsport that can carry across in to the wider world though; technology, marketing, business processes can all feed across too. The skills that motorsport encourages are extremely transferable to the business world.

Justin Wilson – Obituary

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Just over a month ago we wrote about the sad death of Jules Bianchi – following his serious accident at Suzuka 9 months previously. Overnight came more bad news from the motorsport community, the loss of British racing driver Justin Wilson, aged 37.

Justin Wilson, who has passed away aged 37. Source: www.autoracing1.com

Justin Wilson, who has passed away aged 37. Source: Rob Chinn/www.autoracing1.com

Justin Wilson suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of flying debris from an accident involving race leader Sage Karam during the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. Karam’s nose cone hit Wilson’s helmet and cockpit area as he passed the accident scene and Wilson immediately veered left towards the wall – seemingly unconscious. He was airlifted from the scene in a coma and passed away yesterday.

Justin Wilson was born and grew up near Sheffield, he began racing karts in 1987 before moving into Formula Vauxhall with Paul Stewart Racing (Paul being the son of Scottish racer Jackie Stewart). International attention came when he won the inaugural Formula Palmer Audi championship.

He was one of the finalists in 1998 for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award – Jenson Button was the winner that year, Justin’s brother Stefan won the award himself in 2007. In 1999, he joined the FIA International Formula 3000 championship, wining the title in 2001.

He then spent a year driving in the Telefonica World Series by Nissan and tested for the Minardi Formula One team – however his height (6ft 4in) meant he was not able to race the 2002 car. He however signed for the team in 2003, when the car was designed around his frame. Although the car wasn’t the fastest, Wilson performed well against highly experienced teammate Jos Verstappen. For the last five races of that season he replaced Antonio Pizzonia at Jaguar Racing scoring a championship point at the 2003 United States Grand Prix.

Justin Wilson in the 2003 Jaguar Racing F1 car. Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/

Justin Wilson in the 2003 Jaguar Racing F1 car. Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/

For the 2004 season he moved the the American Champ Car World Series, also taking part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Dome-Jude S101. He won his first Champ Car race in 2005 at Toronto. In 2008, the Champ Car series and the Indy Racing League merged to form the IndyCar series. He took his maiden win in the new series at Detroit that year. During this time he also found time to compete in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona several times – winning the event with his co-drivers in 2012. A single race appearance in Formula E at Moscow and a handful of V8 Supercar races show a versatile racer willing to try his skill at any event.

Justin Wilson in the Andretti Autosport IndyCar. Source: LAT Photographic

Justin Wilson in the Andretti Autosport IndyCar. Source: LAT Photographic

Mark Glendenning writing for Racer refers to a man who;

“…commanded universal respect and affection from his peers for his speed and racecraft inside the car, and intelligence and generosity outside of it.”

Away from racing Wilson was a passionate supporter of the causes close to his heart, including promoting awareness and understanding of dyslexia – himself being a sufferer. He is survived by his wife Julia and two daughters, Jane and Jessica.

At this time it’s too early to say the impact this latest high profile death will have on the motorsport family, we’re all still in shock, especially those of us who knew well or had spent time with Justin, however as a community – even knowing that our sport is dangerous – we need to look as the recent accidents to see if there are lessons to be learnt, steps to be taken, design changes to be made – and, most importantly, how to keep those competing in the sport we love, people who have become family and friends, as safe as possible.

Quote Source: Racer Magazine: Justin Wilson 1978 – 2015

Brands Hatch – Lotus Festival Race Weekend

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The weekend of the 15th and 16th August saw the 9th Lotus Festival take place, being held for the 6th time at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent. There has been motor racing at Brands since 1926, when it was first used for grass track bike racing.

Gareth Downing in the Lotus Evora GTE

Staffordshire University were there as part of their GT Cup commitments, staff and students working in partnership with the National Motorsport Academy and drivers Kevin Riley and Gareth Downing in the Lotus Evora GTE and also students working in a long time collaboration with Slidesports and team owner Mark Jenkins – assisting in the running of the Pallex Motorsports Porsche 997 GT3 Cup.

Staffordshire University students working with Slidesports to run the Pallex Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car.

The weekend had three sessions instead of the usual six, the result of a last minute calendar change, with a race on both the Saturday and Sunday. In the Saturday qualifying, Gareth went out towards the end of the session to claim fourth fastest time and pole in the GTC class. Talking to the GT Cup media afterwards, Gareth said;

“It was pleasing. The circuit suits the Lotus as there are no long straights so we are not sacrificing anything to the Ferraris. It’s all about cornering, handling and carrying the speed. We’ve made subtle changes to the car and it’s working.”

The Pallex Motorsports Porsche of James Greenaway qualified fifth overall and first in the GTB class.

Staffordshire University students working over the weekend

In the first race, the black and gold Lotus got off to a slow start, later shown to be due to mechanical issues and Downing dropped through the pack, managing to pick up third place in the GTC class and sixth overall. Greenaway took first place in the GTB class, and second overall.

Mandatory pit stop in the Sunday race.

Time taken on Saturday to chase and resolve the technical issues seemed to pay off for the Lotus of Downing and Riley as it was running well before the Sunday morning pit stop race. Downing found himself second after Paul Bailey’s Aston Martin Vantage and Phil Burgan’s Audi R8 collided, the Safety Car had to be dispatched bunching the field together, mandatory pit stops rearranged the field and a second Safety Car on lap nineteen. This unfortunately disadvantaged Downing and he managed to bring the car home third in class for the second time in the weekend.

Weekend team photograph

The next GT Cup rounds are at Donington Park on the 19th and 20th September and weekend highlights will be shown on Motors TV.

 

F1 Radio Restrictions – Discussion

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Came across this article the other day, in it Mark Hughes, Grand Prix editor for Motorsport Magazine talks about the mid-season rule change that is coming to Formula One from Spa onwards. We’re in for a month long break between races with the Belgian Grand Prix occurring on the 23rd August.

So what change is actually occurring? Well from the Belgian race weekend, there can be no radio communication to the driver about clutch settings once he has left the garage on the way to the grid – that’s it, that’s all. The driver’s engineer can no longer advise on the clutch bite point based on any dummy launch that has taken place – it becomes the job of the driver to work this out.

Radio and Data from the pitwall and beyond influences the race strategy.

Radio and Data from the pitwall and beyond influences the race strategy.

Okay, as Mark Hughes says himself, it’s a start – it’s something that should introduce some variation in the quality of individual starts and hopefully increase the spread of possible outcomes – but is it enough? Should we work on making sure drivers are the ones in control of their races, not engineers? Will this make our racing less predictable? Will it bring back the excitement that is sometimes lacking in many of the races?

As an engineer, our job is to control as many aspects of the race situation as we can, we’re seeking consistency, the best outcome possible each time… essentially, perfection. Leaving anything we can control to chance, it’s not usually in our nature. The driver behind the wheel is one of the biggest variables we have – and anything we can do to control that variable – well, it’s one less thing we need to worry about…

This chase for perfection often takes away the outside spectacle – something we can forget when in the bubble of competition. So, what is the answer? Do we ban all but emergency communication via pit radio, what data do we restrict? Where do we draw the line?

Mark Hughes proposes a ‘radical idea’, letting the drivers take control of race strategies;

“Some would be better at it than others. Which would give engineers nightmares – because the theoretical optimised outcome could be so easily thrown away. Perfect.”

It’s one way to introduce an extra dimension, and possibly, more excitement to Formula One – though, it’s not the only possible method – it’s definitely worthy of thought and discussion.

 

F1 Driver Jules Bianchi dies

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Today the Motorsport world awoke to the news that Formula One driver, Jules Bianchi had passed away during the night following his serious accident at the Suzuka circuit, during the Japanese Grand Prix on the 5th October 2014. He was just 25 years old.

   

He had remained in a coma since suffering severe head injuries when his Marussia F1 car (the team now known as Manor F1)  struck a recovery vehicle during the rain-hit race. He suffered a diffuse axonal injury as a result of his helmet becoming lodged underneath the tractor crane when his car left the track and slid underneath it. This type of injury is caused by a severe blow to the head, with damage caused as the brain moves within the skull. It is a serious injury which very often has fatal or life changing consequences – as seen in Bianchi’s case.

Jules is the first active F1 driver to have been killed due to injuries suffered during a race since Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger both passed away in tragic circumstances during the weekend of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, 21 years ago. Maria de Villota died in October 2013, 14 months after life changing injuries caused by crashing while involved in straight-line testing for Marussia. Three more drivers, John Dawson-Damer, Friedrich “Fritz” Glatz and Denis Welch, have been killed while driving historic Formula One cars during this time.

Coming from a racing family, Jules was the second member of his family to have competed in Formula One, his great-Uncle Lucien having started 17 Grand Prix races, with his best result a third in the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix – however they would never have had a chance to swop stories – tragically Lucien was killed when his Alfa Romeo T33 crashed during Le Mans testing the year after his Monaco success.

While each of us has our own memories of Jules Bianchi, it is Tony DiZinno, NBC Sports Motorsports Talk reporter who sums the wider sense of loss up perfectly in his article;

“Death in racing is always a hard thing to swallow, no matter the driver or individual involved, no matter the age.

Yet it’s when drivers are taken before they have the opportunity to reach the zenith of their potential that the hurt cuts deeper.”

“Motorsport is Dangerous” – whether we work in the industry, or are just an interested spectator, we can’t fail to see the signs that repeat this incessantly; around the circuit, on websites, programmes, tickets… The list of locations is endless. Perhaps we tell ourselves that it’s no longer as dangerous as it once was, the death filled years of the past (1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s) are long gone but whatever we say, tragic accidents can and do still occur. 

We owe it to the list of 50 or so drivers killed during F1 weekends or behind the wheel of F1 cars, and to the many, many more killed in other forms of automotive racing, to do all we can to keep our drivers, team members, officials, volunteers and spectators as safe as we possibly can. Perhaps then, we can stop adding to a list of names, the drivers who have never been able to show us what they can truely achieve on the track. Today we mourn the lost of one more bright star of Motorsport – all of those involved in Motorsport hold his family and friends in their thoughts at this sad time.