Oxford Brookes Racing 2019 car launch

Oxford Brookes Racing 2019 car launch: Since 1999, when Oxford Brookes Racing (OBR) started designing and manufacturing their own single seat racing car to compete in Formula Student (FS), the team has competed in the Class 1 Combustion category. This year, for the first time, they have also worked on the research and design concept of a Class 2 Electric car and will present this as part of the competition. Their intention is to manufacture only the electric version for competition in 2020 and take on the top Formula Student teams in the world.

The 2018 season brought the team’s best performance to date, which motivated the team into further innovation and engineering improvement. The teams 2018 car secured a top placing at FSUK of 2nd place overall and “Best UK Team”. This success means the OBR has team has won the “Best UK Team” title more than any other contenders.

For the last 20 years OBR has been innovating constantly, gaining the position of top UK team 6 times, with 1st overall place in FSUK being the ultimate goal for the team! A key element in their success has been the management of the team, focusing on an organised timeline, from concept design to vehicle testing. OBR has made sure every process has been done in the most accurate but efficient way possible, refining the 2018 car design.

The combustion and electric cars share some features like the aero and the dynamic set-up; lessons learnt from the combustion car have been applied to the design of the electric car. However, the electric car has a different overall design due to the difference in power distribution, with a motor on each wheel. There are two teams, one for each car, but the management team is common to both. The teams are made up of students are from all faculties, not just engineering, unlike other Formula Student teams; this includes Marketing, Business, Architecture and even Music students, each with a different skill to contribute.

Corex aluminium honeycomb is used in the monocoque chassis and end plate of the car. This year’s car has a folded monocoque, with 2 sides and a floor, made of carbon fibre and aluminium honeycomb; it is a rigid but lightweight combination of material, which will gain competitive advantage for the team.

Alejandro Garcia, OBR’s Head of Business Development expressed his confidence in the 2019 combustion car and the design changes which give it a competitive advantage.

The team feel confident about this year’s car design, we have made great improvements with the moulded monocoque, the driver ergonomics and the floor, which have improved the overall aerodynamics of the car. We are looking forward to seeing the culmination of the OBR combustion era!

Without a doubt OBR19 (named Lily) will be a very special one, aiming for success and representing the 20 years of hard work of OBR. It will also be interesting to see the results of the Class 2 team’s hard work on the Electric car design; this will be the start of a new era!

Events:

Formula Student UK – 19-21 July 2019, Silverstone Circuits, UK

Results 2019: 81 teams

2nd Overall, 1st Business Plan, 2nd Skidpad, 3rd Endurance, 5th Efficiency, 6th Sprint, 13th Acceleration, 20th Design Event, 27th Cost Event

Formula Student Austria – 28 July – 1 August 2019, Red Bull Race Track , Spielberg, Austria

Results 2019: 34 teams

22nd Overall, 1st Business Plan, 10th Design Event, 6th Cost Event