Q&A with Kingston University's Formula Student team leader

Chris: How long has Kingston been involved with Formula Student?

Aldus: Kingston has been involved with Formula Student consistently since 2012 as an electric team.

How many students are involved in the KU e-racing Formula Student team and how long has each been involved?

This season we have approximately 30 students involved, in both class 1 and class 2 teams. Many of these students have been involved in previous years, but we do look to invest in younger year students far more than other universities.

The oldest member is currently me, I’ve been involved since the founding of the team, but we have members from all undergraduate year groups.

Is everyone on the team studying engineering subjects or is there a wider profile within the University?

Engineering is the predominant subject of the team members’ studies, but we have branched out to include students from the business school and media school; this year we will be including art school students for the first time.

Does everyone on the team have ambitions of motorsport careers? Presumably a project of this scale requires skills that are not motorsport related as well?

A third of our team is actually from the Aerospace engineering school. It is assumed that only motorsport enthusiasts would be involved with the project but it has been shown that this is not the case. Industry recognises that Formula Student is a great platform to gain experience in a large multi-discipline project and as such they don’t focus too much on the fact that you built a car, but more on what you did as a team member.

Nearly all of our chassis designers over the years have been aero students which has allowed them to learn the fundamentals of structural analysis used in industry.

Formula Student must be incredibly popular in the university, how do you select students to take part?

There has been a gradual build in reputation of the project on the campus over the years, and has become a staple of the engineering degrees. It has got to the point that prospective students look to enrol at the university now due to it having a successful Formula Student team.

We select students by their ambition and attitude. If we narrowed applicants to only students with experience, we wouldn’t have given students the opportunity to develop their skills and that is one of the core principles of Formula Student.

KU e-racing have opted to pursue electric powered vehicles – what drove this decision and is there any advantage or disadvantage in Formula Student in using electric power over internal combustion engines?

A large part of our decision of going electric was the appeal of the technology growing in the automotive industry and we felt that we wanted to get a head start by learning how electric drivetrains work before entering industry ourselves. Now after three years we have seen how far the technology has developed and the performance potential of electrics is phenomenal. By being so efficient and having so many variants of control systems, you could develop a high performance powertrain that has fewer moving parts than an IC engine.

Battery technology seems to be progressing and making electric vehicles more viable. Has the progression in battery technology been noticeable for the team over recent years?

This is relatable to our experience as we have used two types of battery chemistry over these four seasons. In 2013 and 2014 we used LiFePO4 batteries, which were heavy and didn’t hold charge for long enough. In 2015 and for this current season we are using Lithium Polymer batteries at a much higher voltage. Ironically there are more cells this time round, but the overall weight is half when compared to the LiFePO4 and they hold three times more charge.

As the industry is changing rapidly, the prices of the packs are also falling which makes higher energy density units more accessible to student teams such as ourselves.

Does Formula Student actively encourage electric vehicle entries?

Formula Student is very supportive of electric vehicles. A few years back when electric vehicles were in their infancy, people in the competition were sceptical of electrics. Now it is nearly a guaranteed that the majority of the top 10 finalists in dynamic events will be electric. This has lead to the introduction of a Formula Student Electric category and separate award schemes.

Do the students on the team integrate the work they do for Formula Student into their degree?

This is a tricky one as each university has a different approach. Many would integrate it into their final year projects but we are completely extra curricular. However many of us have chosen to do our final year projects on parts of the car which has proved to be very beneficial. We do have plans to integrate it further into the school degrees in the future, however this takes time without outside influence.

How many hours per week do people need to invest in the team?

This is down to personal preference and some students are involved with other activities – however we usually ask for a minimum of 8-hours weekly. We operate on a deadline schedule where we decide when a task has to be completed by and the team member works on that deadline.

What testing can you carry out before the competition in July? Can all testing be carried out on the university site or do you need time at offsite facilities?

We will be carrying out the initial testing at our campus but that will be more on axles in the car park to test if the motors turn the wheels. When it comes to more intense dynamic testing we will need to use a proper testing facility. Right now, we are looking at the Millbrook testing facility near Milton Keynes.

Is there a tight community of teams around the UK? Do universities share information and expertise with each other?

This comes as a surprise to many as Formula Student is often compared to F1, where every team operates on secret ideas and designs, but the truth is that all FS teams are very open and willing to help other teams globally.

We have a lot of teams to thank for helping us through the years, and we are grateful to passing on the tradition of assistance to more teams.

Who drives the car?

It is stated in the rules that the drivers have to be students of the university. Our primary driver, Steve Hannon, is the 2015 champion of the Kingston University karting team. Weighing at 55kg, he weighs about the same as our battery pack!

What advice would you give to anyone wanting to get involved with Formula Student, either at Kingston or other universities?

Short answer ... do it!

I would advise that they recognise their strengths and weaknesses in expertise. Once you’ve narrowed that down you can look at placing yourself in a suitable sub-team (suspension, electrics, manufacturing) where you would be of best use. Saying you don’t know what you want to do in the team in the interview will not give the team confidence in you.

I would also advise you read the FSAE rules before applying for the team to give yourself a head start. Being able to refer to rules once in the team is a golden ticket.

It should also be known that you will have to give up many hours of your week to put into the project and that you should be prepared for many sleepless nights working towards building the car. That sounds horrible at first, but when you have a fully built car and everything works early in the year, you can spend the rest of the time testing and improving the car. Nothing beats that feeling. It is also this sacrifice of hours that will land you a fantastic job offer.