FORMULA STUDENT

Ok, so I'm going to do a whole post on the Formula Student competition that took place July 11-15 at Silverstone.

The sign into Silverstone as you drive in.

My registration badge!  University of Warwick, Class 1.

Zoe and I went there Wednesday night because registration started early Thursday morning.  The campsite was rainy and cold.  I also had a cold, which didn't help.  However, the guys had it worse, back on campus, dealing with issues with the clutch as they were trying to prepare the car to be ready to be transported down on Thursday, so we could get on with scrutineering the car.
Thursday morning was nice and sunny, as the few of us already at Silverstone (Alison, me, Quirin and Sagar, and Zoe from Class 1 and then most of the Class 2 people) went to stand in line to register at 7:30am.  The Class 2 people- Stevie, Gav, Graham, Ian and Anirudh, along with some others, were busy preparing for the presentation on the design work they had done.
To clarify: Class 1 is a design and build competition, while Class 2 is just a design competition.  Every university does it different, but at Warwick, Class 1 is also considered an academic project for 4th year Engineering Masters students. Class 2 is purely extracurricular and has only been done over the past few years.  However, it has shown to be good preparation for the Class 1 team.  Last year's Class 2 team were mostly on this year's Class 1 team and they did really well in the design competition when they competed in 2011.

We spent the rest of Thursday preparing the pits for the car.  Class 2 had all their presentations to do.  They did a lot of work, but in the end, had forgotten to submit a very important report, which cost them all of their points, so they ended up not scoring very well overall in the Class 2 competition.

The Scrutineering Building.  Every car has to pass a strict evaluation of how it is built and works in order to be able to run in the competitions.

Hooray!  Camping in my rain gear!  I got those wellies for £5.  Nevermind that they are for kids.....

Back on campus- the guys were working hard to troubleshoot some issues with the clutch with the technicians.  Here, Carl is giving some very wise advice.  :)  From left to right: Gav, Quirin, Anirudh (on the car), Markus, Carl and Murray.

Meanwhile, back on campus, they had figured out the issue with the clutch.  (Apparently a washer had been put on wrong) and were scrambling to get the engine mapped and get the car down to Silverstone.  Those of us at Silverstone were getting nervous about our place in the queue for Scrutineering.  Even though a team could go to Scrutineering at any point during the competition, they could only compete in the 4 main racing events at certain times- and the car has to pass Scrutineering BEFORE it can participate in any dynamic event.  We also had to spend some time on Thursday refining the business presentation for Class 1 on Friday and I was organizing myself for my meeting with Bosch on Friday afternoon to discuss setting up events for next year that will help me with a case study for my EngD research.

One of the trucks around Silverstone.  I think it looked cool.

A electric car that was on display.  This car had driven across America

Finally, Thursday evening, the car arrived in the pits.  It was too late to take it to Scrutineering, but it was planned to get in the queue early the next morning.

Sagar and Alison during the Business Presentation

The team during the design judging

On Friday morning, the team had to take the car to various static events for the Design and Cost & Sustainability reports.  This was where the team talked with judges about why they made certain decisions with how they designed and manufactured the car.  The team did very well in both of these events, coming in 21st in Design and 9th in Cost and Sustainability.  Directly after these events, the car went to get Scrutineered and those of us involved with the Business presentation got ready for that afternoon.  Sagar, Alison and Quirin went to practice the presentation and I had a coffee with Steve Maggs (one of my academic advisors) to discuss my plan for my meeting with Bosch, which was just after the business presentation.    The business presentation went very well.  The team, with my help, had decided to use the idea of Open Sourcing Hardware Design in their business model.  The judges were fairly skeptical of this, but we argued it well and we got positive feedback for being creative.  Overall, we placed 3rd in the Business presentation, out of 150 total teams from across the world.  Not too shabby!

The building where the business presentation was 

Daz and Carl came on Friday to lend us a hand with their mad technical car skills.  :)

Ryan and the team discuss the shifter.

The rest of the team were working on dealing with Scrutineering...which was not going well.  By the end of the day on Friday, the car still had not passed- but we had a short list of things that could be easily fixed to get it to pass.  The team worked until the pits closed at 11pm to get these things done and were planning on getting the car to Scrutineering early in the morning to get it passed.  Included to be done in Scrutineering was also the Brake Test, the Tilt Test and the Noise Test, all which had queues of other teams waiting as well.  Two of the dynamic events- the Skid Pad and the Acceleration event, had to be completed by 12pm on Saturday.  And we still had to pass those three tests and get a final pass from the Scrutineering judges.  Unfortunately, there was simply not enough time.  The car passed, but not until afternoon.

Andy did some driving for the Brake test

So, that afternoon, they did compete in the sprint event.  It finished the event, but placed last in the cars that finished.  Saturday night, we relaxed a bit and got ready for the the last event on Sunday, the endurance event.

There was much debauchery that was going on in the campsite on Saturday- including reconnaissance  or various camp site signs and the kidnapping of a gnome.  Which resulted in a very angry Irishman coming to our tents.  A very diplomatic agreement was made in the end....

Sagar and I went to the closest town, Towester (pronounced Toaster) and we found a door with a wall built in it....

But, we found the other side!

Sunday morning, we started strong for endurance.  Markus was driving the first leg, and Darren would be driving the second.  Our car ended up being quite quick at this event, passing several cars and looking good.  We were all watching from the grandstand, several of previous FS team members, and Steve, Howard, and Nick Mallinson from Warwick.  Also, lots of parents came out to support everyone as well.  We saw that they were coming to an end and we were going to place well, so we ran over to see the finish....


Unfortunately, one of the sidepods had come loose two laps from the end (the Endurance run was a 23 lap event), which counts as a DNF for the whole event.  The car was running very well and was doing so good, to be out at the end like that, but it is a testament to the amount of effort everyone on the team put in over the year.  They have made a very good car for next year's team, as well as established the best knowledge transfer system to date for Warwick's FS team.  I am excited to see how much next year's group will improve!  Please enjoy some videos of the car I took below:

This is a longer video of Darren driving during the endurance event:

This is a video of us passing the Brake test

This is a video of the Endurance run- the car passed another car!

This is another video of the Endurance run, Markus was driving here

This is a video of one of the electric cars practicing.  So quiet!

Driving Test, Networking Event, Farnborough Air Show

Ok, so I'm just going to have a post about everything I've done in the past few weeks that wasn't related to Formula Student, then I'm going to have a post directly after this one that will be completely FS related.

First of all, on July 3rd, I took and past the written portion for my British driving license!  I was able to then sign up for my practical test, which I will be taking the day after my birthday, in a little under three weeks' time!  I'm feeling pretty confident about this, I had a really good lesson on Wednesday, where my instructor said I could have passed my test.  I think this would call for a candy bar here called a Time Out.  (I think this is funny, since a Time Out is what you make naughty children do back home.  Doesn't mean that here)

Time Out candy bar.  The tagline is "Everyone need some Time Out"  LOL.

On July 5, I went to South Yorkshire to the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP)Technology Centre.  There was a networking event hosted by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) that was bringing together various industry representatives that are working on Fuel Cell technology in the UK.  I made a lot of interesting contacts that will hopefully begin some form of collaboration with WMG.  I've been working with Nick Mallinson on facilitating these a bit for the funding initiative at WMG that is called the Catapult.  You can read more about this here.

The AMP was a zero-carbon facility, using a wind turbine, in conjunction with electrolyzers and fuel cells to generate all the power for the building.  The wind turbine would generate the energy to product hydrogen that would then run the fuel cells on demand to power the building.  Here are some pictures of that!

The wind turbine at the AMP

The electrolyzer stations right next to the turbine.

On July 10, I went to the International Farnborough Air Show.  WMG had a booth there and I went as a representative of the Engineering Doctorate program.  I talked to a few other EngD students from the University of Southhampton, as well as a few engineers from Rolls Royce.  They were there with a working model of a plane engine, completely built from Legos.  I also got to see some planes do tricks!  I took several videos, see below!

 This is a video of the lego model of a plane engine, with one of the Rolls Royce engineers explaining how it works.

This is a longer video of four blue planes doing a really neat show

This is a shorter video of the same planes, part of the same show.  Really cool to watch.

The day after the air show, I went to Silverstone, but those details are for the next post!

Research, Engineering YES final, Driving Lessons, Grad Ball and...of course, Formula Student!

So it's been THREE weeks since my last post, and things have been BUSY!

Right, I've got lots of pictures and lots of news.  Let's start with the stuff related to my EngD:
I had a nice meeting with Nick Mallinson and Razi Nalim from IUPUI a couple of weeks ago to start to plant seeds to look at collaborations between Warwick and IUPUI.  I would very much like to help out where I can in this regard, because both institutions have a lot of unique capabilities to offer and I think could really contribute good research in many areas.

Also, I've been working on ideas for the Formula Student team for next year.  I've come to the conclusion that I should start at the beginning- really looking at team selection and developing a good process to determine who would be positive and effective contributors to the project.  I have had a few meetings with several students interested for next year and I have gotten some good feedback on ways to improve the selection process.  I have also met with the Formula Student advisors, Steve Maggs and Howard Neal about my ideas just last week and I am working on getting those ideas organized and in place soon.  In addition, I am working on organizing a collaborative model for an intra-FS network of some sort, to be started, hopefully, at the Silverstone competition the second week of July.

The team went to a testing event last week as well, which was sponsored by Bosch.  Sagar helped me to identify a key member of the Bosch team to talk to about my collaborative network and finding ways to get the FS teams in the UK to connect at many different levels.

Andy gets ready to test the powertrain in last year's chassis at the Bosch testing event last week

Steve checks out the car with the team at the Bosch event

In addition to my work with FS, I've been chugging away at research for a review paper on Open Source Hardware Design.  I've got Mendeley installed on all my computers, which is a very helpful tool for me to keep all the publications I have found on this topic organized.  Now, I need to focus on my outline.....

The Engineering YES final was exciting, but a bit of a disappointment.  We did not deviate too much from our original presentation, just fixed a few things that we had noted from the judges' feedback (as was recommended to do by the organizers) and yet we did not place in the finals.  However, we did learn a lot as a team, it fulfilled small project requirements for the EngD and we are thinking about how to use the knowledge we gained from our experience towards the larger group project requirements, as well as pursuing some entrepreneurial and innovative ideas.

My idea for our logo....hand drawn...

...and Claire made it all pretty!!

In other news, (Formula Student of course) the car is coming along nicely.  The space frame was just sent off for powder coating today, and I am hopefully going to KS Composites sometime this week to help finish up the bodywork.  The powertrain did well at the Bosch event last week, just some minor issues with the clutch to be sorted.  All in all, there is still a lot of work to be done before Silverstone, but everyone on the team is really contributing to get it done.  Also, the 3rd years that have joined the team have really done a lot and are so helpful at the moment for the manufacturing that needs to be done.

Sagar working with Jim and Murray about the pedals

Due to construction in the IMC, the car has to been "flown" out of the pits outside to be tested...

  

Getting the car ready for flight!  Dave's got his Bob the Builder hat on!  Safety first|!

Dave, Ryan and Andy test out the powertrain before the Bosch event.

Above is a short video of a test of the powertrain from before the Bosch event.  Dave, Ryan and Andy are listening to any issues with the engine.


Personally, I am doing well.  I've slacked off running a bit, but I've got my eye on a fall (autumn) marathon.  The weather has been lovely (in my opinion!) not too hot and generally good for running.  I've got a goal set to get in 25 miles this week, which shouldn't be too hard, since I've already done about 6 yesterday (week starts on Sunday).  I've been a bit focused on getting my British driving licence and I have my written portion of the exam scheduled for Tuesday July 3rd.  Once I've passed that, I can get myself on the waiting list to take the road test!  I've been having about 1-2 lessons/week since mid-May and I've really gotten the hang of driving a manual car.  I have a really good instructor who's been quite patient with me.
The team is also all graduating right after Silverstone in a couple of weeks, so there has been a few events on campus to celebrate this.  Last Thursday, there was the Grad Ball in Birmingham at the Hilton.  Sagar was my date (he got me a very pretty necklace that went perfect with my dress) and we got to spend time with most of the team.  It was really nice to just hang out with the team (and anyone who said the words Formula Student had to buy everyone a drink- Murray and Markus both failed at this and we got free wine!)

Speed limit sign (I was walking when I took this picture, not driving!) The graffiti says 40 is the new 30.  :)

Grad ball with Sagar

The team cleans up quite nicely!  From left to right: Quirin, Sagar, Markus, Richard, Alison, Murray, me, Andy, Jim and Ryan.  Missing from the team are Hubert and Darren.

Also, my cousin, Keenan, stayed with me for about a week a couple of weeks ago.  He's been travelling around the UK and Ireland this summer and was headed to Spain.  It was good to see some family!  Also, I still need to post pictures from my trip to Ireland with Melissa last month!  (next post).
Ok, well this is quite a long post already!  I hope everyone is doing well and I will try to post again soon!

Sagar and I had a nice lunch at a little cafe.  I liked my cranberry drink.  :)

Jubilee Weekend...annnnd Formula Student

I went to church yesterday for the normal service at 10 and afterwards, they had some Jubilee activities that I stayed around for.  First, we watched a video of the Queen's coronation 60 years ago and then there was a quiz.  I did awful, only getting one answer on my own (Who was Prime minister - Winston Churchill).  I learned a lot though, like her title before she was Queen was HRH Princess Elizabeth of York (HRH = Her Royal Highness).  I also learned that she has officially visited 116 countries in her 60 year reign and that her title in the channel islands is the Duke of Normandy.  She was born at 17 Bruton Street in London and her childhood nickname was Lily Bits. Also, the last Diamond Jubilee was celebrated in 1897 for Queen Victoria.  So there.  Mini-history lesson!

Prayer before lunch

My plate!

My sucker (think it's called a Lolly)

Singing the national anthem

Cupcakes!

Queen and cupcakes!

Also, the Formula Student team got going again on the car last week, now that a majority of exams are over.  They are going to be working long hours over the next couple of weeks to hopefully get the car ready for the Bosch Event on June 19.  Here are some pictures from the pits this week:

Sagar and Andy discuss the Diff and Engine Mounting in the Spaceframe

Murray and Sagar measure for the pedals

Today and tomorrow are bank holidays, but I am going to use this time to catch up on some research for my EngD and getting organized for the Engineering YES final on June 20.  We can't get into the pits to do any manufacturing work on the car until Wednesday.  Pressure's on!

Engineering YES Pictures

So here are some pictures taken by the photographer at the event:

Our team getting some advice on our project

Me, explaining the awesomeness of our module

Us, getting grilled with questions

Matt, explaining the way the module works

Really loving the look on my face right here....

WOW!  We won!

Engineering YES - Day 4- HOLY SMOKES WE WON!

After a late night for Claire and I working on the final presentation, and a VERY late night for Nick and Matt working on the financials, we approached today's presentations with cautious optimism.  Well, I did anyway.  :)

We were the fourth team (out of seven total) to present, right in the time slot before lunch.  Our team name, H2GO, was based around the concept of a hydrogen modular fuelling station that is to be integrating into the exiting petrol station market in the UK.  This concept was related to the release of several hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicles that are set to be released in 2015.

The other teams were very good, presenting ideas ranging from home lighting system, better home insulation, a anti-bacterial paint for hospitals and a new nano-paint for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC).  We were sure we were out of the running...but when it came to the awards, we were declared the winners overall!  The runner-up team, Innovink, which championed the nano-paint for SOFCs also are going to the final competition in 3 weeks time in Birmingham.  So big win for Fuel Cell Technology today!!

We are all pretty tired after the long days, so I'm going to sign off now...but here is a couple of team photos taken from lunch, right after we were done presenting:

We were all a bit silly and tired after the presentation

Aww!  Group photo!  From left to right: Nick, Matt, me and Claire

Engineering YES Day 3

We started day 3 bright and early with an 8:30 warm breakfast.  I got up at 6:30 to do a few miles on the treadmill in the hotel fitness room, so I was nice and hungry!

The day started at 9am with a 30 minute John Cleese video, "The Balance Sheet Barrier" which comically went through a lot of the basic ideas behind business finance, including what goes into the Profit and Loss Sheet (which shows what has happened to the company money in the past), the Balance Sheet (what is going on in the present with the company money) and the Cash Flow Forecast (what will happen with company money in the future).  It was pretty basic, but still entertaining.

After the film, David Scott, one of the Rotary organizers of the event, gave us some insight on how to organize our finance side of our project proposal.  For our presentation tomorrow, we just need to organize key financial details, such as predicted sales, profits and cash flow and how much we think we might need invested from Venture Capitalists.  (VCs)

After David, we heard from Dr. Penny Attridge, a VC from Spark Ventures, who gave us good insight into what VCs look for when investing in a start-up.  The main mission of any VC is to make money for the customers that fund them within a defined time frame.  She also gave us a lot of good ideas to include in our presentation for tomorrow.  She downplayed the importance of a Business Plan, saying that what she was more interested in was a good, unique Business Model and Executive Summary, though a solid Business Plan is key for long term success.

After Dr. Attridge, we heard from Jim Wood, a former engineer in the power industry, who now specializes in underlying marketing.  He gave some good tips on how to get good marketing research that helps the understanding of the market.  He emphasized the importance of quality research behind any business, using the analogy that one should "spend seven hours sharpening his sword before spending an hour in battle."

Through the afternoon, we focused on solidifying our project idea (which I will fully reveal at the end of the competition!).  The basic idea is looking at the hydrogen infrastructure for the UK.  We met with an expert in finance, Amy Burton from Baker Tilly, who gave us some good directive on how to solidify our finance spreadsheets for our presentation.

We are now working into the evening for the morning deadline of our presentation!  We are all set to present tomorrow, right before lunch, at 12:15pm!

Here are some pictures from the day:

Claire, Nick and Matt practice "awkward balloon" and "awkward turtle" as our strategy for answering questions we don't know....

I escaped outside and found the playground!!

Matt does some serious work for a minute

Short moment where we try to figure out EXACTLY what we are doing...