UH makes top 10 racers

University of Hertfordshire Racing has placed ninth out of 114 universities at the 2016 Formula Student competition, held at Silverstone.

The event, which took place from 14-17 July, accelerated into its 19th year with teams from across 30 countries competing to be crowned champions in a number of static and dynamic events.

The competition – run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and backed by industry and high profile engineers – brings together the world’s best and brightest young engineers and challenges them to design and build a single-seat racing car to demonstrate their understanding of all aspects of automotive engineering.

The University of Hertfordshire team, led by Thomas Minto, worked tirelessly and each put in an average of 1,800 hours into researching, designing and fabricating UH19 – all whilst studying full-time for their degrees.

Thomas said, ‘After a year of designing, manufacturing, building and testing around my degree, all of the hard work and sleepless nights paid off as we were rewarded with a 9th place finish. It was one of the best weeks of my life; I am so proud of the team for all of their dedication and effort.’

The team made huge advancements, installing a new CBR500 engine, student-designed brake calipers, electronic gear shifter, a more aggressive aerodynamics package and a rear detachable sub-frame on the chassis.

A team of students from the University of Stuttgart, Germany won this year’s competition.