Sheffield Formula Racing, SFR, is The University of Sheffield’s Formula Student team. We are comprised of around 50 Engineering undergraduates who each year design and manufacture a single-seater race car to compete at the FSUK competition at Silverstone, hosted by the iMechE.
At the start of every academic year, over 150 applicants from their 1st year of study apply to the team. It is a rigorous and challenging process through which the most dedicated and passionate 15 will join the team.
Each year, just after F1 has visited in July, we travel to Silverstone along with over 60 teams worldwide and compete in the Formula Student U.K. competition, hosted by the iMechE. The car and team are put through a range of static and dynamic events, focussed on Costing, Business plans, design reviews as well as Acceleration, Sprint, Endurance and Skidpan events for the Car.
On the 2nd of Feb the team was invited by charity Racing Pride to their first 'Accelerating Pride' event held at The British Motor Museum. This involved various panel talks and discussions with all levels of the motorsport and automotive industry, from Aston Martin F1 to Lotus Cars about improving diversity and inclusion within the industry.
As winners of last years diversity and inclusions award, the team was honoured to be invited and strongly emphasise the message that increasing diversity within such a longstanding industry requires change at all levels of the ladder, from student groups to multi-national companies.
The most recent car we built was SFR14, which placed 9th overall at FSUK out of over 50 teams. It was an iteration of SFR12, our first-ever car built using a hybrid monocoque. A key focus was to test new materials with our partners and improve the sustainability of the car, this was based on the use of bio-resins and natural fibres on our aero package in place of traditional carbon fibre pre-preg.
This year, with SFR15 we are taking an even more ambitious step by manufacturing our first full carbon monocoque. This removes the existence of a steel space-frame and should not only provide significant performance improvements but challenge us as engineers in a whole new way.
On the side, we are designing an electric powertrain to hopefully replace our current internal combustion engine next year.
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Post-exams the team has been hard at work at conducting various material tests on our composite panels for the SES Spreadsheet, which certifies our chassis structural integrity in relation the competition regulations. Dan, Toby and Will have been putting in long shifts to make this crucial part of the design process happen. We can now move onto the actual layup of our chassis as our first big team manufacture push.
Currently, we only take on students in their first year at the University of Sheffield. If this applies to you, and you’re interested in joining, please contact Will Jones via email at Formula.Student@sheffield.ac.uk
