UH Racing to maximise Formula Student learning opportunity

August 10, 2022

It was good to hear from University of Hertfordshire Formula Student team - UH Racing celebrating its 25th year taking part in the build-a-race-car-from-scratch competition with electric vehicle UH25.

No stranger to the EV format, UH Racing pioneered the first competing electric Formula Student car back in 2009 and 2010. Alas when it came to the Silverstone event in July 2022, a safety issue with the accumulator prompted a decision not to run the car.

Joshua Finch, Lead Suspension Engineer and Head of Static Events, UH Racing told us what happened:

Dear SPAL Automotive,

I am writing to you on behalf of UH Racing, to express our sincere thanks for all of your support this past year, and to provide a summary of the team’s experience at competition in 2022.

As ever, Formula Student (FS) has challenged us more than we could have anticipated. Those of us who are graduating go out into the industry as better engineers, and those of us who will carry on with the team do so with a far greater understanding of both the competition, and the variety of engineering disciplines required to get there.

This year, despite our best efforts, an issue within the design of our battery pack resulted in the car being unable to run in time for competition. Whilst the team were devastated that we could not compete dynamically, we held our heads high and focused hard on delivering a good result in the static events. As a result, we achieved our best static events position for many years at FSUK, finishing 3rd. Consequently, we achieved 12th place overall at the competition out of 54 entries despite not having a running car, something the team are immensely proud of.

The move to an electric powertrain has been a steep learning curve for many teams, and we are not the only ones to fall at the final hurdle. Nevertheless, we are close to having UH25 functional and testing, and the groundwork for UH26 is already beginning to take shape.

Without your support, we could not do what we do. UH Racing is far more than just twenty-three students, and UH25 is as much your achievement as it is ours. We hope that you remain a part of this journey into the future, and we are incredibly excited for you to see what UH25, and UH26, can do.

Joshua Finch
Lead Suspension Engineer and Head of Static Events
UH Racing

Moving from ICE to EV format

Matthew Morris MD, SPAL UK which provides the team with thermal management support via its high-performance cooling fans said:

“I admire the attitude of these engineering students who have been disrupted by Covid in so many ways but remain determined to take away the lessons and come back stronger. It is a big shift to go from long established ICE technology to a developing EV format and they clearly understand that encountering challenges makes them better engineers and that they can add value by focusing on the transfer of knowledge to the ongoing team who will build UH26.”