GCU Students build a car to race at Silverstone

A team of Glasgow Caledonian University students are designing and building a car to compete in Formula Student at Silverstone Circuit this July.

From 19-13 July, GCU Racing will head down to the home of motorsport to compete against approximately 50 other teams in a series of tests and challenges. Following each test, they will be awarded points based on their performance. 2023 is the first year a team from GCU has entered the competition, a feat that has been years in the making.

The team, consisting of over 30 GCU students have been working throughout the year to produce a car that they hope will earn them the Best Newcomer Award at the competition.

Team Principal and Third Year Computer Aided Mechanical Engineering student, Jacob Bamsey said: “I came into the team during my first year at GCU when I was in third year. One of the reasons I’d left my job was to become part of Formula Student because I have friends at other institutions who had taken part in Formula Student and as someone who loves cars, loves racing, and loves engineering it was just perfect for me.”

Although this is the first time the team have built a car and entered the competition, being able to do so started much earlier than the 2022-23 academic year.

TJ Scott, Senior Technical Officer for the Team and fourth year Computer Aided Mechanical Engineering student explained: “Originally there was a Formula Student Team formed in 2019, which was my first year at GCU and it started to get a bit of traction, we managed to get a hold of an engine and a decent amount of stuff designed but when we were looking to get into workshops, COVID happened.

Jacob added: “If it hadn’t been for all the hard work they had done previously we probably wouldn’t have a car to take to Silverstone this year, it would have taken us two years maybe to get a car together but because the guys laid such a good foundation, we’ve been able to get a car together this year which is really exciting for us.”

The car, which has been three years in the making, will be put to the test in a series of challenges at Silverstone. They will be tested on different aspects of the car such as acceleration and breaking before being put through sprint and endurance testing.

However, it’s not just about how well the physical car performs, TJ explained, “You need to justify your car. You need to justify the designs you’ve done, the money you’ve spent. We have a business side of the team who justify how we’ve run this company and produced this product which we also get points for.”

Robbie McGregor, Business Head for GCU Racing said: “The business side lets us get people into the team who might not know for example how an engine runs, but still want to get involved. There’s a lot of creativity in it. It’s a bit of fun and lets more people get involved.

“Business is a big interest of mine so it’s good to apply it to this. I’m doing an Engineering degree so it’s good fun being able to explore other interests.”

As the team will be facing fierce competition by Universities from across Europe, including some from Germany who are sponsored by global car manufacturers such as Porsche, Lamborghini and Volkswagen, the business team is essential to ensuring maximum points can be scored by justifying how their smaller budget has been used to its maximum potential.

Working towards the competition has created close bonds within the team, Robbie explained: “We’ve got students from all across the University within the team. There’s a lot of petrol heads across the University so there’s never a day goes by where we’re not talking about the latest Formula 1 race. It’s quite good to see everyone from different courses come together.

“We’re open for anyone to come along and get involved. Designing and building the car is quite labour-intensive so even if people don’t have the time to commit to that they can still come along to the socials and meet different people with similar interests. We’re always looking to fill smaller roles in the team so we’re happy for anyone who’s interested to come along and have a chat with us about it.”

Robbie added: “I’ve tried pitching it to people but then I realised it really pitches itself. Imagine being in the garages in Silverstone with a car you helped design and build. For an F1 fan or anything like that, that’s a real bucket list moment so everyone was very much up for it.”

As this is the first year of Formula Student for GCU Racing, the team are keen to use this year as a learning experience before being an active competitor at next year’s competition.

Jacob said: “It’s a big learning curve for us. We’ve learned so much this far, a lot of which we’ll streamline for next year.

“There’s certain aspects of the competition that we’ve never done before so a lot of it is all new to us and so when we go down there we expect unknowingly we might have made mistakes somewhere and we’ll learn from that and we’ll take than and use it for next year.

“If we can get into the middle of the pack we’ll be absolutely delighted with that and hopefully get the Best Newcomer Award but we’re going to learn so much from it and come next year, hopefully we’ll start to dominate the top 10.”

TJ added: “The plan for this year is to make a car that can get around Silverstone in one piece and enter the competition. Next year we want to be fighting for a top 10 position.”

The team have received support from both the University and external companies, but their support from the Engineering Department has been invaluable. Jacob said: “Professor Patricia Munoz de Escalona is our Academic Head and oversees Formula Student and everything we do and since the start she’s been nothing but supportive in helping us overcome the challenges we’ve faced and she’s been a big problem solver for us. She’s definitely an active member of this team and has been really encouraging.”

The Dean and Vice-Dean of the School of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment Carl Schaschke and Professor Scott McMeekin, whom Jacob notes “without their support, we would not be where we are today. They’re just really championing everything we’re doing.”

Best of luck to the whole team in the competition!

To keep up to date with GCU Students’ Association Racing Society, follow their Instagram and Facebook or check out their website.

By Derry Wyllie