TÜV SÜD helps Portsmouth University’s Formula Student team reach the grid
Formula Student is a UK university competition and a group of engineering students from University of Portsmouth will be one of the main competing teams this year. The students are challenged to produce a reliable and easy to maintain prototype of a racing car which at the same time has to be low in cost and show high performance in terms of acceleration, and handling qualities. The Portsmouth team will be provided with the chance of getting some practical experience and boost their skills and knowledge, which they can later apply in different fields.
The race uses the same rules and vehicle requirements as the Original SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers). In order to provide a high level of safety for the drivers, the management team put a huge effort in making sure that they fulfil all the safety requirements. As in previous years our TÜV SÜD team of professional engineers was invited to take part in the preliminary testing process of the car made by the Portsmouth student team. TÜV SÜD did a drop testing in order to simulate a crash and prove that the impact attenuators, positioned at the front of the car, are strong enough to sustain the pressure.
Made of aluminium honeycomb, the nose of the car plays a key role in reducing the damage to the driver in case of a collision by absorbing the errant vehicle’s kinetic energy. During the testing our engineers dropped weight of 300kg from a height of 2.5m impacting at the top of the model at a speed of 7m/s proving that the total energy absorbed must meet or exceed 7350 Joules.
By truly inspiring the young generation of students, the FS contest managed to become the most established educational motorsport event in EU in the recent years. This exciting engineering event, which in annually taking place in the UK since 1998, this year will be held at Silverstone Circuit on 13-17 July.
TÜV SÜD wish best of luck to the Portsmouth team!
If you are interested and want to find more about the Portsmouth team performance this weekend and their progress in the competition please visit http://www.formulastudent.port.ac.uk/
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