Alex Conway from University of Birmingham’s UBRacing team will join students across England, Scotland and Wales to compete in Formula Student Diesel Eco Driving Challenge powered by Bosch on 18–21 June.
Alex Conway, undergraduate student in the School of Mechanical Engineering and member of the University of Birmingham Formula student team, UBRacing, will represent his team in a non-stop driving challenge across the length of Britain in a bid to be crowned one of the nation’s most economical drivers.
The inaugural three-day competition, which started 18 June, will go via 46 universities and is being jointly run by Formula Student and Bosch. Each team will drive a section of the route – while having their eco-driving ability measured by on-board computers – before passing the vehicle on to the next university. The University of Birmingham team will set off from the Edgbaston campus at 10pm on Wednesday 19 June, and will take the car across the city to Aston University.
Patrick Kniveton, President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers – which runs Formula Student – will flag off the event at the Institution’s Westminster headquarters at 11am. From Westminster, the car will head to the first stop – Queen Mary, University of London in Mile End – before the route heads south along the coast and then west towards Swansea. It will then zigzag across England and Scotland towards the final destination of Aberdeen University on 21 June.
Teams will be driving a Ford Fiesta, powered by a 1.5-litre TDCi diesel engine, which uses Bosch common rail diesel injectors and a high-pressure Bosch fuel pump. Monitoring equipment will analyse the efficiency of each team’s driving, with three awards up for grabs, which cover city, rural and highway driving.
Students taking part are all involved with Formula Student 2013, taking place at Silverstone from 4-7 July. The event challenges universities from across the world to design, build and race a single seat racing car from scratch in one year – before putting it to the test at one of the world’s greatest racetracks.
Alex Conway said: “The challenge is a great opportunity to broaden awareness of Formula Student within the engineering community while highlighting one of the current aims of the automotive industry; an increase in fuel economy and reduction of emissions. It's going to be an interesting challenge to be involved in a driving event where fuel economy is the greatest factor.
Jon Hilton, Chairman of Formula Student, said: “This is a fantastic challenge which will certainly prepare all the students for July’s competition. It’s the first time we’ve attempted a driving challenge of this scale and I wish all the teams the best of luck.”
Distances between universities will range from three miles to over 100 miles, but each team will be monitored equally. Prizes will be awarded at the Formula Student competition at Silverstone.
Peter Fouquet, president of Bosch UK, said: “With the help of Bosch technologies, the vehicle being used for the Formula Student Diesel Eco Driving Challenge achieves CO2 emissions of just 98g/km. In the near future, Bosch sees the potential across all vehicle segments for even greater CO2 emissions reductions – of up to 20 percent in some cases.”
During the Formula Student Diesel Eco Driving Challenge, drivers will use the Bosch Car Multimedia division’s satellite navigation app, as well as a data logger from Bosch’s subsidiary, ETAS. Shell is generously supplying FuelSave diesel for this Challenge.
Notes to Editors
• Formula Student is run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and is the world’s largest student motorsport event, challenging students from around the world to design, build and race a single-seater racing car from scratch. A total of 149 student teams from 32 countries have registered for Formula Student 2013, 54 of which are from UK universities.
