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Formula Gravity

This year as one of the General Activities the Design and Technology Department has decided to enter a team to the Formula Gravity racing series. This involves the students designing and building a car that can be raced up to +60mph using just gravity and the gradient of a hill to power it. With a number of secondary schools involved in the project as well as some Universities and car manufacturers, Welbeck hopes to challenge the top runners this year and well into the future.

Project Objectives

• To increase the numbers of students choosing engineering, science and technology subjects, apprenticeships and courses.
• To raise young peoples creativity, expectations and aspirations.
• To develop key skills
• To facilitate greater school to business interaction
• To enrich curricula
• To improve achievement.

The project would not be possible without the kind support from our sponsors:

The team will be putting a Blog on the website during the manufacture and racing of the car, feel free to pop back and check up on the progress.

January 2009

Third Update

Well the day finally arrived, and we took the car out of the ‘garage’ and let it lose on the road around the college. We are luck enough that the college is built on a slight hill, enough of a gradient to get the car to a reasonable speed. The driver was selected by means of a carefully selection process (paper, scissors, stone) and we attached the canopy. As it stands the car just needs spraying, and we have a company in Loughborough, Jacksons Coach works, who have kindly agreed to spray it. We have nearly prepared the surface and will then apply a filler primer before it is sent off.

We strapped a nervous driver into the car and made the required final safety checks, you know, brakes, steering, helmet , spare underwear. We then took it out into the damp cold air.

This is where we found our first issue, it’s turning circle was quite large and it took some driving and a very impressive 12 point turn to get out. Once out we did a few laps with the brakes slightly on and a couple of students pushing, just so we can get the brakes bedded in well before we released him. The last thing we wanted to do on the first outing was to damage the car, oh and hurt the driver.

The first few laps went according to plan, and the brakes got better and better, so much so that we decided to let him go and test if they would stop! A bold move we thought.

After that successful test we found a gentle hill, and let it go. We were surprised at the speed it got to, and relieved at the way it braked.

Overall a very successful outing, oh apart from the steering wheel breaking off from the steering shaft, but that is a minor detail, hopefully not to be repeated.

We have made the difficult decision not to enter the event at Cadwell Park next month. We are not 100% confident that it will be fully complete, and we want our first real outing to be in the finished thing. At least then if we write it off we’ll will have a picture of it.

Until next time.......keeeeeeep driving.

November 2008

Second Update

We are well on the way to getting the cart completed for the first event in February. We spent a lot of time working on the braking system, ending up building several different braking systems. We started with a pedal system, one controlling the left side and the other the right. It was thought that by braking the wheels like this we could get round corners a little quicker, it quickly dawned on us that we were more likely to roll it than increase the speed through the corner, and end up sideways....so that was scrapped. We then decided on plan B, to have the same pedals; the rear brakes controlled by one and the front by the other.

After building the system and testing it we could not seem to get enough force applied by the brake pedal, we played with the Mechanical Advantage of the system and tried to increase it as much as we dare but to no avail, it wasn’t enough force to slow the car quickly...so we got rid of that too. Plan C was to use a traditional hand braking system like that used on bikes. So we rebuilt it using them....and once again found that the system was not strong enough to stop the cart, a slight problem we thought.

It wasn’t until we got in contact with David and a few cycle shops that we discovered that our brand new pads had a protective covering on them and needed to be worn in before being effective, as you can imagine we do not want to wearing these in half way down a track, so we went to work on them with the glass paper! After all that we went back to plan B, the front and rear brake pedals, which have turned out to be a lot more effective.

Once the brakes were completed, we could start on the Gucci stuff, the looks and aerodynamics of the cart. We had lots of design sessions on this and finally we came up with the design...(which will be a secret until the final build blog)

We started to build the shell from 1.5mm ply, riveting it on the frame and some extra steel parts added. This proved to be a very simple task, and as long as the grain went on the right direction, we were surprised with the flexibility of the material. We have nearly completed the first side, and it is ready for the foam structure, followed by the fibreglass layers.

The nose cone has also started to be manufactured using blue foam, a very light material which is easy to mould but once covered in fibreglass very strong. We have chosen to use fine weave aero grade fibreglass, and we reckon that 4 to 5 layers should be enough to give us a bit of impact strength.

We have decided to build our own Canopy using Polycarbonate....a bold step but we think in the long run the right one, it will allow us to make an individual design and be different from the rest.

The Chute has arrived, and we are all very excited by it, except Linda, who has been made I/C chute packer! This will be fitted at a later date to avoid damaging it.

Our overalls and caps have also eventually arrived so we look the part...if not a little over stated with the Aviators as well.

So far so good, our aim is to get the shell completed by our next holiday.

September 2008

First Update

Work has finally started on the Formula Gravity Project, we received all of the parts this week, and were all getting excited about the prospect of having a vehicle to drive around in! The Sabelt Harness and the racing steering wheel bring back the dreams of becoming an F1 champion, and it finally dawns on us just what we have let ourselves in for.

A couple of the team have decided to use the project as their coursework for A level D.T, so we have decided to split the car down into separate parts. I have decided to design a complete safety system for the car which means you cannot release the hand brake until all of the brakes have been checked, the seatbelt is buckled, and the canopy is locked down. And Linda is I.C Parachute. She is designing the release mechanism and storage system for the parachute, which is being made by the company that make the parachute for the Eurofighter Typhoon! So there is a lot of work going on out of the time allocated to building.

Mr Burgess has been busy doodling a design for the body. Its completed now, and we have gone for a “Thrust-esc” shape, looking like a bullet, with sweeping curves. He assures us it will look “SEXY!!” We can’t really start on the shell until all of the steering and suspension systems are up and running.

This week we have re-drilled the holes for the rear and front suspension, as the holes provided are not big enough!! We have sprayed the front suspension and steering system Chrome! I recon a good set of Neons would make them look even better! The bucket seat has been bolted into the chassis and holes have been made to fit the seatbelts through. A quick release steering wheel is on its way to completion, and we have made a collapsing steering wheel, which means if a crash occurs, the steering wheel will fold, to take the impact away from the head/chest. We can’t wait until we can start racing our machine! But for a weeks progress, I think we have done extremely well!

Second session and we are flying in the production. Today we aim to have the suspension completed and bolted on, plus the wheels aligned and fitted and hopefully the steering done. With our jobs assigned we cracked on.

After a frantic 2 hours of work, the team managed to achieve all of the goals for the day and it was left to Linda (test pilot) to have the first go. The test run went well, although Mr Burgess had to remind us that there were no brakes as Linda accelerated off down the first hill! Luckily no damage was done to the car…..or Linda.

A successful first outing and it returned in one piece. Next job is the brakes! The team have also ordered some US Military issue Aviators, why, I hear you ask…..I am still asking myself that.

Dan Alldis, Nelson, 07E

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