A formula for racing success

Warwick Formula Student are a collection of fourth year engineering students designing, building and eventually racing a car at Silverstone in July 2010.

The Formula Student competition is run by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and has been running for a number of years.

The group are given a mock brief in which they have been asked by a manufacturing firm to produce a prototype car for evaluation. The car is to be aimed at amateur weekend autocross or sprint racing enthusiasts. The team must be able to state their intended target market and target volume of production and sales.

The requirement of both mechanical ability in building the car and considering the business side of the operation is what makes Formula Student attractive to potential employers.

The project is funded mainly through sponsorship, which is arranged by the students themselves. The budget last year for the team was around £10,000, considerably lower than the estimated budgets of some European teams which have seen estimations rising up to half a million pounds.

The team have been fortunate to have received sponsorship from a number of companies and have also been granted access to advanced laser sintering technology, allowing them to create relatively complex parts for the car with the minimum of weight.

A focus of this year’s team is to keep the entire car weight below 200 kilograms. This sintering technology may go a long way to securing them a high finishing place at Silverstone.

They have also brought talent from Warwick Business School and enlisted the help of Warwick TV in an attempt to improve marketing and put together a more attractive portfolio for prospective sponsors.

This year’s group have set themselves the target of achieving a top ten place at the competition in July. The team are being lead by project manager Ashley Pearce who has set out strict goals and deadlines for the team, who have so far managed to keep the project running on schedule.