2011 Race Calender

The dates of the coming season's races have been published over at www.greenpower.co.uk. We really want to focus on racing this year so as well as the Season Opener we will be entered for 3 regional heats. The dates for our races this season will be:

• Season Opener @Silverstone - 1st May 2011
• Southwest Regional Heat @RAF St Mawgan - 23rd June 2011
• Somerset Regional Heat @RNAS Merryfield - 17th September 2011
• Western Regional Heat @Castle Combe - 2nd October 2011

 A top three place at any of the regional heats will guarantee a place at the National Final @Goodwood on the 16th October 2011. If we fail to win a podium at these events we will have to hope that our race milage puts us in the 'fastest losers' bracket, but hopfully it wont come to that!

Season Opener

The date for the Season Opener has been set for the 1st May 2011 and will be held at Silverstone. We have jumped at the chance of getting the car on such a high profile track and will be taking RLR 1 for its first real stretch with the new spec batteries. The Season Opener will be a short race of only 80 minutes, using just a single pair of batteries and will be using the National Circuit track layout. The main event of the day however will be the Corporate Challenge in the afternoon where the top 15 teams from last season take on real, grown up engineers from such companies as Jaguar/Land Rover and Bently.

To find out more about the Season Opener, click here:
http://www.greenpower.co.uk/news/index.php?id=000460

To find out more about Silverstone, click here:
http://www.silverstone.co.uk/track/circuit-maps/

New Batteries

The new spec batteries arrived today which means the winter mods can really start to get underway. They are much smaller in size than their predecessors, letting us reduce the size of the battery compartment and making room for growing drivers feet. In the picture below the lighter coloured bulkhead will be installed and the current solid bulkhead will be cut out the match the hollow ones. The whole front axle/steering assembly can then also be moved forward.

Slideshows

As a precursor to some design changes which will happen to the blog this winter, I have posted some slideshows of our previous escapades in Formula 24. To view the web albums for each slideshow, just click on the picasa logo in the bottom corner.

RLR 1 @ National Final 2010

RLR 1 @ Southwest Regional Heat 2010

RLR 1 Build Slideshow

V24 Slideshow

Nostalgia

Tidying up my prep room today I found one of the old promotional disc we had made up for V24, the first car we made. Here it is for all your nostalgic needs:

Need some help?

As a team that has achieved a national final in both seasons we have raced in, we have been approached by Vaughan Curnow at Cornwall College to act as a mentor to other Cornish teams who are having trouble getting a car on the track. If this sounds like you then feel free to contact me by email at dpascoe@richardlander.cornwall.sch.uk and we can disseminate some of the experience we have gained over the last few years and hopefully get some more competitive cars from this neck of the woods.

Tyrone Snell Trailers

We have a new sponsor to add to the roster of generous local companies. Vaughan Curnow over at Cornwall College has put us in touch with Tyrone Snell Trailers who have offered to provide us with free rental of one of their box trailers whenever we want to use it. So far we have been shifting the car about by lifting it up onto the top of the school minibus which is no easy feat, even with the whole team to lend some muscle! The other issue getting the car on top of the minibus comes when we go for testing at RAF Portreath where working at 2 meters above the ground could expose you to some serious ionising radiation from the epic radar dome.
To find out more about Tyrone Snell, click here:

http://www.tyronesnelltrailers.co.uk/

Winter Modifications

     With the car back on the rack after being exhibited at a trade show, we really got a chance to see what we will do to the car to improve it for the coming season. Jobs which need to be done include:

• New electrical system to replace the field repair from the final.
• The new spec batteries are smaller than the last ones so battery bulkhead can be moved forward, giving us more leg room for our drivers.
• The way the nose cone attaches needs some attention, The elastic approach didn't really cut it in the end.
• We would also like to get some data logging/telemetry on the car. We have sourced some great kit but we will need some additional sponsorship if we want to get this going.

     With the new season seeing a new battery spec, cars of all standings are going to be in an experimental mode this coming year. With some extensive testing and practice hopefully this will be our season to really show what the car can do.

The Goodwood Final

What a weekend! What a dramatic race!

We arrived at Goodwood yesterday with a clean scrutineering check and a car which the organisers had tipped to do well. We had no idea of the dramatic race we had ahead of us!

After some admin delays which cut short our practice session it was decided to alter the gearing to its previous settings. With 2 hours until the parade lap a large part of the car was dismantled, altered and reassembled in record time.

 

With the car ready to go, it was time for the parade. The boys really looked the part, the retro helmet and wired scarf (kindly provided by Ben's Mum) completing the look. 

 

It was now time for the race. We were starting at the back of the grid, a consequence of our relatively poor mileage at the Southwest Heat, but we got off to a great start, gaining six positions in the first lap. The second lap however was not as great, some extremely reckless driving from another team lead to us being rear-ended by a rival car, The driver was OK but pretty shaken up, the car was fine with only superficial damage.
The car continued at a reasonable pace for the rest of the first half of the race with the next driver taking lap after lap. It was soon after the battery change at the halfway point that disaster struck. The car had stopped on the far side of the track and a backlog of other recoveries meant that we had a long wait to get it back in to diagnose the problem. It turned out to be the seed controller, it had completely burnt out! There was no other option but to do an epic repair job, substituting in a relay box for the controller. This would give us a simple but effective electronic system, but leave us vulnerable to an even more catastrophic motor burnout.

With the best part of an hour spent out of the race, our hopes for a good position were dashed, but we could still see the end of the race on our wheels so we loaded up another driver and got back out there for the final leg. With the car stationary for so long there was still plenty of juice left in the batteries and we put in some flying laps and our final position of 72nd really didn't reflect the skill and ability of the drivers and engineers, but that's motor sport for you.

Despite the disappointing finishing position, the boys can be really proud of their performance. When the chips were down and all seemed lost they pulled together as a team in a way they hadn't before and didn't give up the fight until the very end. With the addition of picking up the best presented team award, it was back to the campsite for some well deserved rest.

Green Day

This Friday will be Green Day at Richard Lander. What started as an idea for a non-uniform day where everyone has to wear green to promote the greenpower car has become an unstoppable behemoth of an event! It has become a showcase for the local press, not only for the car but for all the environmentally aware activities throughout the school. We will also be visited by Andy Clarke, composite designer for Jordan and Mclaren F1 teams as well as being involved in the construction of Thrust SSC, the current holder of the World Land Speed Record.

RAF Portheath Test Day

The extremely helpful people over at RAF Portreath have agreed to let us use their runway for testing the car and we spent the afternoon putting it through its paces. With peak speeds pushing 30mph on the down slope and plenty of juice left in the batteries at the end of a long session we are more confident than ever about turning in a great performance at Goodwood in less than a fortnights time.

After Open Evening

Open evening went really well, many of the prospective new students were keen and many of them had parents with engineering links which is great. The boys were a bit tentative when they were talking to parents at first, but they soon warmed up and were a credit to the team and the school. Here is a picture of the motly bunch:

Open Evening

Thursday 29th September is the school's open evening from 5 til 8. It will be the perfect chance to see the car, especially the new modifications, and chat to some of the team before the Goodwood Final in few weeks. Hopefully all the graphics and decals will be finished by then!

The Finalists

Sunday saw the last of the regional heats take place, completing the list of finalists for Goodwood next month. The list can be found here:

http://www.greenpower.co.uk/news/index.php?id=000447

We will be car number 73 with local rivals Penair starting at 70, one grid row ahead. It may end up a bit of a grudge match after they beat us at newquay. With less than 20 days left the pressure is really mounting up.

Reassembly

Today the boys continued the reassembly of the car, getting the subframe bolted in, the steering linkages and the rear drive shafts installed. Quite a lot of progress for one day, although it was a bit disappointing when one of the rear shafts had to be removed again after it turned out that the brake disk was on backwards. You would have thought we would have learnt, the same thing happened when it was assembled the first time! Work has also continued with the wheel cowlings, they are looking AMAZING in red, as in the pictures below:

The Subframe Arrives

The newly modified sub-frame arrived yesterday and the boys got to work on polishing it, ready to be installed soon. The roll hoop height was deemed to be marginal at the Southwest regional heat and a note was made in our logbook to change it before our next race, an extra 6" has been added so there is plenty of room under there now, even if our drivers grow some in the near future.  The fabrication work was done by the engineers at Callestick Farm through the Rotary Club, completely free of charge, thanks guys!

At the same time today some of us were working on wheel coverings. To improve aerodynamics we have decided to cover the wheels in Solartex, a heat shrinking film normally used on model aeroplanes. This is still a bit of a work in progress but when it is complete the wheels will not only look great dished out in red, but also improve performance.

Back to Work

With the summer break over, it was back to work this week. The rebuilt wheels arrived today and the modified subframe should be getting here before the week is out, so the car should be back together in no time. Then it's testing and practice until the final in October.

South West Heat, Well done Boys!

What an awesome day of Racing! The sun was shining on us in Newquay today as the car took to the track in its first competitive race. After a bit of a ropey start the boys settled in and we started to put some consistent laps in. The track surface was really rough on the tyres and some emergency tyre repair took us out for another long period, dropping our position in the field. This was when our star driver, Harrison, stepped up. After putting in some awesome laps we started gaining on the opposition. As the final minutes ticked away we found ourselves in 3rd position with plenty of juice left in the batteries and took lap after lap off the second place cars from Penair and Newton Abbot College; but it proved to be a stretch too far and we finished in the bronze medal position, guaranteeing us a place at Goodwood in October.
As well as the bronze medal, we also picked up some of the  supplementary awards. We were awarded the IMechE 'Best Engineered Car' and also the IoM3 'Innovative Use of Materials' awards, but perhaps the most prestigious is the Sustainability Award from CoolEarth who were so impressed with our biodegradable chassis and overall 'green' ethos that we were awarded an acre of Amazonian Rainforest!

RLR1 on the BBC

Here is the video of us at Perranporth:



Check it out.

Airfield Testing

Today we went to Perranporth Airfield for some testing. We were given a nice long straight to get the car really going to get a real sense of what it can do. The car performed well but the boys defiantly need some guidance on how to use the gears effectively. The majority of our testing was documented by the local press with BBC Spotlight filming a great deal and interviewing the boys and also myself. There is also some awesome on-board footage which will look amazing on the telly. If you want to catch it we will be on Monday at 6.30pm.

The Launch

The Launch party was a massive success. There was a great turnout and everyone was very impressed with the car and the boys were excellent hosts. After a speech from Mr Lloyd-King the car was unveiled and the team was photographed with it for the local press, a chance to show off it's new red paintwork. When the lads had stopped vying to be Britain's Next Top Model, the cowlings and the bonnet were removed so the guests could get a good view of all the technical parts which are normally covered up.
With the sun shinning out in the Quad, we took the car out and the boys took it for a spin around the playground, expertly avoiding all the Lamp posts!

AWESOME!

Tonight was epic! With the launch party only a day away we cracked on with some of the decorative work, putting decals on for the sponsors and also painting the nose, cowling and bonnet. Finally, at about 8 in the evening we had a car that looked amazing! The red paint job and the red vinyl stickers look excellent together and I think we can be really proud to show the car off tomorrow at the launch. As usual we took plenty of photos but I will hold off on posting them so as not to ruin the surprise when the car is  officially unveiled.

Crash!

We got the car out testing yesterday and it was AWESOME! Then it crashed. While we were testing on the tennis courts one of the drivers mis judged the corner and hit the chain link fence. This was his first drive in the car and he was a bit over exuberant behind the wheel! The damage looked worse than it really was with a bent front axle and track rod; an afternoon of tinkering and it was good as new. The biggest damage being the ego of the driver involved.
Back in the workshop, the nose cone is coming together.  The foam block, made from the paddle board blank from Home Blown, was glued up on Wednesday and the shaping is now almost finished. Both the rear cowling and the nose will be given a layer of the bio-resin to stiffen them up and protect them from dings as well as giving a nice aerodynamic surface.

Launch Party

With the car looking more complete every day we are now proud to announce the official launch of the new car. It will be on Wednesday 16th June, 5:30-7:00 and will be in the Dining Hall at Richard Lander School. There will be representatives of our sponsors and press alongside the team and their families.
On a construction note, the foam block for the rear cowling was bonded together with the ply stringer in the middle.  The foam is from a paddle board blank which was donated by Homeblown. The foam itself is not particularly eco-friendly but it is a reject so would have ended up in landfill if we hadn't taken it so our green credentials are unaffected. The block will be shaped over the next few days using similar methods to surfboard builders and will help with aerodynamics at the rear of the vehicle.

View From the Cockpit

With so many parts coming together I thought it would be interesting to see what it would look like from the drivers POV. It had to be through a photograph, there's no way I would be able to fit in the drivers seat. The steering wheel is starting to look awesome, there is still some control gear and a speedometer to go on yet but there is definitely a high-tech/retro fusion thing going on.

Front wheels

Front wheels are on and the steering column is in, they just need track rods to join them up. Work has started on the bracket for the brake callipers and the steering wheel is cracking on nicely. At this point we seem to have a million smaller jobs which need doing but now that we have a rolling chassis excitement is starting to build, especially at the prospect of getting it going under its own steam by the end of the week!

Our Sponsors

With the car progessing so well, we are soon going to be thinking about decals and sponsor logos so I thought it would be a great time to reaffirm our thanks to all the companies and individuals who have helped us to get this far.
Ladds Concrete have supplied us with epic amounts of funding, without which we would certainly be struggling to complete this project, especially to the high standard we have set for ourselves.
Woodstock have donated, free of charge, all the ply and cedar used in the chassis construction as well as providing thier expert advice on some construction techniques.
Teagles, especially Callum Evans, have machined the drive shafts and bearings as well as some smaller machining jobs, not only providing labour for free but also sourcing materials at thier own cost.
Our aluminium subframe was constructed by Mr McReady's contact at the Rotary Club, again supplying materials and labour free of charge.
Bike Chain in Redruth have also been helpful in supplying wheels and brakes at reduced cost.
We are extremely grateful to all these companies for their help and support and now that the regional heat is approaching we hope to repay them with a great result.

Looks Like Progress

Well today's progress was monumental, the rear of the car was drilled and the subframe and shafts were mounted into the main chassis. It is definitely looking like a car now, well the back end is anyway.

It's Got Wheels!

This week has seen the arrival of the wheels and brakes from Bike Chain, allowing the rear subsection to be aligned and assembled, just needs a bracket for the callipers and it is pretty much there.

 The last few days has also seen work on the bonnet section with the main assembly yesterday and release from the jig today. Now it's free a hole for the driver can be cut and the silk/bioresin composite process can get under way. Then we can start to think about the finish we will give the whole body, most likely a hot coat of resin to get a nice glassy sheen, another technique lifted from the surfboard builders in the workshop nextdoor!

 It's the second team Friday tomorrow, so all the lads will be wearing their team hoodies instead of their regular uniform. Hopefully we can get organised enough for some pictures this time!

Back to Work

Work has resumed on the car after the Easter break, luckily none of the team is stuck overseas! Work continues on the drive chain with the addition of the sprockets and chain from HPC Gears, The gig used for the body has now been reworked into the gig for the bonnet section and the electronics for the autochanger have been prototyped and are ready for testing. With only 2 months to go to the heat however, we need to start getting a move on if we want to do any significant testing before hand.

Composite Process

The large bottom piece of silk was attached on Tuesday and the resin cured off. The bottom sheet overlaps the sides a bit and then when the sides go on they will overlap the bottom a bit, creating a double layer of silk over the joint in the woodwork, a technique stolen from the guys making surfboards in the workshop next door!  The bioresin is UV cure so it goes under the sun bed to cook. The great advantage of this is that it can be worked for as long as we need, it doesn't cure until it goes under the lamps.
At the same time, Mr Beech has been working with some of the boys on the steering hardware, to Mr Lloyd-King's designs.

Drive Shafts

We had a visit from Calum Evans from Teagle Machinary today and he brought with him the rear drive shafts theat he has been working on for us. This is a really exciting stage of the build now as the outsourced components are coming in and the hard work that has been put in by everyone really starts to show. Also I think Mr Beech is alot happier now that he has some metal to work with!

Subframe Arrival

The rear subframe arrived today, the manufacturing of which was arranged by Andy McReady and his contacts at the Rotary Club. This will carry the drive chain including the rear axles and also form the roll hoop and part of the seat.

It's Free!

The Chassis was removed from the jig today and the boys got to work on fettling the edges and cutting the curve at the rear. We can now start with the silk and bioresin composite process in the next week or two.

Epic Update

Well, so much has happened since the last post that I am not sure where to start! First of all we have a new sponsor to thank, Teagle Machinery of Blackwater have very kindly agreed to machine our drive shafts for us and have also volunteered to sort out the bearings for them too for which we are very grateful.

We also had several deliveries over the past couple of weeks, we are now the proud owners of a new motor and race batteries. At the same time the Nu Vinci gearbox arrived, a purchase made possible by the generous funding provided by Ladds of Redruth, a big thank you to them.

 
And finally perhaps the most dramatic piece of news; a major leap taken just before the half term, with the bulkheads finally complete the chassis could be glued together with the bone glue. It was all hands on deck for this with everyone pitching in to get the bone glue on before it cooled and then clamped into the jig.