Students gear up for success at Silverstone
Leicester students have set the wheels in motion for victory at Silverstone, having already successfully reached their fundraising target via a crowdfunding campaign, in order for them to build and race their very own Formula 1 car.
Earlier this year, the students, in collaboration with the University’s Development and Alumni Relations Office, launched the University’s first ever crowdfunding campaign using website hubbub.net.
These funds have allowed UoL Racing, a team of more than 30 students, to build their very own electric Formula 1 race car and compete at the annual Formula Student competition this summer.
Formula Student is an international university competition organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers which takes place every July at Silverstone race track. The competition consists of a series of events to enhance students’ engineering skills and attracts more than 100 student teams from as far afield as the UK, Europe, Americas, Asia and Australasia.
The competition objective is to design, build and test a Formula 1 style race car in static design and dynamic race events. The experience provides students with the opportunity to develop problem solving, team work and management skills as well as gain valuable practical engineering experience.
For the past two years, the current Leicester team has been designing and building their very own electric Formula 1 car and this additional support has enabled them to be able to complete and equip the car to racing standards in time for the event on 9-12 July.
The team will be unveiling their racing car at a launch event at 10.00am on Monday 6 July in the University’s Engineering Building, where guest speakers will talk about how the car has been developed. Everyone is welcome to attend the free event.
A video of the UoL Racing Team can be found below: