The racing team at the University of Birmingham officially unveiled their new engine dynomometer, a piece of equipment donated to them by Perkins Engines Company Ltd and the University of Birmingham, on Friday 30 January.
The new dyno will allow the team to test their racing car engine while it is stationary and to try different configurations to maximise performance and economy prior to on-track testing and competitions.
The racing team is made up of students studying various degree programmes within the University’s College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Each year they take part in a project to design and build a race car to compete in Formula Student racing competitions in the UK and abroad. The car must have performance acceleration, braking and handling characteristics while other factors such as aesthetics, driver comfort, safety and reliability are also taken into account.
Alex Hall, team manager of the 2009 race team, says, ‘We are very grateful for the donation from Perkins who have increased their level of sponsorship this year. As well as financial sponsorship they have given us help with project planning and resource management.’
He continues, ‘The new dyno is vital to our work – we could not reach our performance targets this year without the work we will be carrying out on the dyno.’
Perkins’ technical resources manager Andy Wheatcroft and Birmingham Engineering alumnus said: ‘Perkins is delighted to donate this new dyno to the team. It is a development of our ongoing sponsorship and will help the team improve its performance, reliability and competitiveness: modelling Perkins’ continuous improvement philosophy.
‘Formula Student is an integral part of our support for Higher Education as it attracts highly employable graduates, whom we are naturally interested in. Perkins wishes the team well for the year ahead.’
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Notes to Editors
Perkins Engines:
Perkins Engines is the world’s leading supplier of off-highway diesel and gas engines in the 4 – 2000kW (5 – 2600 hp) market. Perkins key strength is its ability to tailor engines precisely to meet customers’ requirements, which is why its engine solutions are trusted by more than 1000 leading manufacturers in the industrial, construction, agricultural, materials handling and electrical power generation markets.
Perkins distributor network provides support wherever needed around the world. An extremely high standard is set to ensure the distribution network provides an outstanding service to all customers.
Formula Student:
Formula Student is an annual engineering design competition, challenging students from universities around the world to design, build, develop and race single-seater racing cars. The competition has been running in the UK for 10 years, organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).
Formula Student is increasingly recognised as the most effective proving ground for student engineers in the world, developing not just design and engineering skills but teamwork, people management, time management, money management, marketing, project planning and presentation skills.
UBRacing is the University of Birmingham’s Formula Student team. It was one of the founding teams of Formula Student in the UK, and continues to be at the forefront of UK Formula Student activity. The team first competed at Formula SAE in Detroit in 1998, and has since competed at a further four US events, every UK competition, one event in Australia and two in Germany.
UBRacing has designed, built and raced 11 cars over the course of its history, produced by over 150 undergraduate students. Alumni have gone on to careers in high-end engineering companies including Triumph Motorcycles, Dunlop Motorsport, Perkins Engines, Mercedes High Performance Engines, Red Bull Racing, Force India and McLaren.
In 2009 the team will be competing at the UK and Germany competitions.
For further information
Kate Chapple, Press Officer, University of Birmingham, tel 0121 414 2772 or 07789 921164.