Sheffield Formula Racing had an incredibly successful weekend at the famous Silverstone Circuit in Towcester where they were crowned Winners of Formula Student 2021.
After coming 16th in the Business plan presentation and 5th in the cost and manufacturing sections of the competition, the team came first in Design which pushed them into first place for the Overall Static events.
On the sprint line, with 10 minutes left to go on before the race, the team found that their ground clearance was too low for the requirements. The engineers had to react quickly and adjust the suspension to allow them to compete in the sprint race. This slight setback gave their driver for this event, Alex Smith, 5 minutes to complete the race. Fortunately, the time for his second lap, 57.209 seconds, broke the record for the fastest lap time ever seen in this event. This fantastic achievement from Alex enabled the Sheffield team to win the sprint event.
Ami Jerger was the driver for the endurance event. With only two penalties, she managed to win this event after completing the race in 1891.86 seconds.
When Forge Press spoke to Sheffield Formula Racing about their reactions after the event, they said that “ecstatic would be an understatement”.
The team explained that when they arrived at Silverstone, their engine was leaking water and they needed a new electronics system to comply with the rules. These issues should have been solved before the event, but the team worked extremely hard to achieve these impressive results.
“the struggle the team endured only made the win even sweeter.”
Formula Student is run by the institution of Mechanical Engineers and is Europe’s most established educational motorsport competition.
The competition sees universities from around the world challenged to design and build a single-seat racing car and compete in static and dynamic events. During the event, students develop their skills in teamwork, networking, machining, design and business and financial planning.
Sheffield Formula Racing are backed by industry and high profile engineers such as Ross Brawn OBE. The team is made up of students from the University of Sheffield’s Faculty of Engineering.
If you’re interested in joining the team or want to find out more, you can contact the team on their social media:
Twitter – TeamSFR
Facebook – SheffieldFormulaRacing
Instagram: sheff_racing
