F1 IN SCHOOLS HELP - Car Design

[lightpursuer]

Hi my name is Brett and I have been competing in the F1 in Schools competition for the past year in Australia, this is the second year I am participating in this program. So I am trying to put in a huge effort to do the best.

I am the Design Engineer for my team, consisting of 4 people (inc. me) The others are Graphic Designers, Team Manager and Team Manufacturer.

I found this website while browsing Basilisk Performance's topic found here
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7438
and so like them, I thought maybe i could find some help here.

The program involves us designing, making, testing, racing it down a 20 metre track and analysing our car the cars are only 200mm long and have a minimum weight of 55g. Check out the full rules here: http://rea.org.au/wp-content/uploads/20 ... les-v1.pdf

Here are some pictures of my car. Currently, I don't know the exact drag reading as this morning I tested the car and it said 16grams of drag and 8 grams of lift. I did nothing to it and now it says 21grams of drag and 1 gram of lift. I use Solidworks
Please help me reduce the drag and anywhere that could help make the car go faster.

[dan217]

Well first your spoiler needs to deflect more air away from the wheel. Flow simulation on solidworks does not tell the whole story as it doesn't account for the fact that your wheel will be rolling which increases drag further. Just don't get any air in your wheels. The number produced by the virtual and real wind tunnels do vary. When i tested my cars out the numbers varied by about 2 grams. I don't believe the fact that you got 16 grams of drag I expect it to be in the 21-22 range. The thing at the back end of your car behind your canister wont be machinable. The turbulence division bit. Look at how sharp it is ! You won't be able to go that thin. How long is that car?

[AfonsoF1]

Hello to you all.
I’m at F1 in Schools in portugal and the regionals are in April.
I participated last year but did not qualify for the nationals because our presentations and the car were not very good.
this year I’m focused.
So I wanted to ask for help and tips on the construction and design of the car and also on the presentations and decoration of the stand and portfolio .
Any tip or help would be Incredible because I want one of my biggest objects to be realized : Win the regional and national.!!!!!!!

[Mr5in1]

Hello to you all.
I’m at F1 in Schools in portugal and the regionals are in April.
I participated last year but did not qualify for the nationals because our presentations and the car were not very good.
this year I’m focused.
So I wanted to ask for help and tips on the construction and design of the car and also on the presentations and decoration of the stand and portfolio .
Any tip or help would be Incredible because I want one of my biggest objects to be realized : Win the regional and national.!!!!!!!

This sounds really exciting and I wish you all the best, do you know what category / age group you are competing in. I note the rules and car designs vary based on this

I'm a STEM ambassador in Scotland and have not had the chance to volunteer for this yet, so jealous! What I can say is when it comes to presentations and displays, less is more cover what you need using pictures and less words always ensure everything is clean, easy to read (large enough writing) and keep a consistent approach like using the same colours and font in the presentation.

I wish you all the best