Jaguar F1 Team in Schools Challenge

[Guest]

Well i read the rules and maybe missed some things...

Why not put a turbine to power the wheels?

I had a chance to check out the canisters, drew the following conclustions:
With an exit OD of 6mm and a wall thickness of 1.5mm, that leaves a 3mm ID.

So using a revised expansion ratio (Pi=48MPa, Pe=95KPa, k=1.289 CO2) of 129 the exit needs to be 34mm diameter

Hope this helps, now make it fast already!

[mjmurphy]

Thanks guest, I was thinking of something along the lines of a turbine, but even without that in place it will take less than 1.5 seconds to go the 20 meters so I dont know how much that will help.

[mjmurphy]

Pics of the winners from last years event can be found here.
http://www.science-of-speed.com/showroom.asp?id=243

It looks like the car that won internationally paid close attention to the wheels, they are almost enclosed. Is this still classified an F1 car, is looks more like a Le Mans car than an F1.....

[manchild]

Thanks guest, I was thinking of something along the lines of a turbine, but even without that in place it will take less than 1.5 seconds to go the 20 meters so I dont know how much that will help.

It would help car to accelerate quicker so you shouldn't discard that.

[mjmurphy]

Thanks manchild,

I figured it would help with overall aero I just didnt like that that car won because it doesnt really resemble an F1 car.

[manchild]

When I said that you should put something along the lines of a turbine I thought that you should take advice from Guest and shape that rear end over the cartridge exhaust properly. So I apologize if this caused misunderstanding.

BTW, I’ve been looking at last year winners and I don’t get it how and why that “batmobile” won!?
It is ugly, looks heavier than all other racers, overall finish is crappy… Perhaps it is just fast due to those skateboard wheels (if I’m not mistaken). That only confirms my suggestion that you must use wheels with ball bearings.

[manchild]

One thing that came on my mind looking at racetrack configuration…

Can you get the info about height of finish line infrared light beam and sensors?

This is important because the front end of your car must be at sufficient height to break the infrared beam. If the infrared beam is for example at height of 2 inches and nose of your car is lower than this, than the beam will be broken later - when the part of the car with sufficient height passes behind infrared beam instead of being broken instantly when the beginning of the nose goes by.

Check this out and take it in consideration.

[mjmurphy]

Good observation manchild, you never fail to amaze lol

About the turbine....good you elaborate? Thanks again

[mjmurphy]

Im just wondering, where will I get the most out of the engine (CO2 cartridge)? In the very back? Or a little away from the back?

[mjmurphy]

Also, with Solidworks and Floworks I can determine the lift of the car. Wont the upward lift reduce the rolling friction between the wheels and the track?

[bob]

Hi All

We are just starting off in the Jaguar F1 schools challenge. What options are available for virtual wind tunnel testing designs? I see Denford in the UK are offering an education version of Phoenics VWT, but have also seen reference to Floworks. What else is available?

We are already 'tooled up' with Boxford hardware (VMC300 CNC mill) and have experience of using 3D GeoCAM software to produce G+M code from ProDeskTop designs has the SolidWorks system any benefits over ProDeskTop for 3D modelling/Design?

Are all .stl files created equal in quality? (Sounds a daft question, but I have found it impossible to export data from ProDeskTop to Bryce and also have only had limited success importing IGES files into ProDeskTop, so I suspect that some of the import/export features of ProEngineer have been cut from the academic product)

It seems to me from early research that the ideal aerodynamics should be either completly neutral to give neither lift nor downthrust, but should give some lateral stability, so a vertical fin would be helpful (I think Thrust 2 had fins like this) very narrow solid disk wheels to reduce frontal area also seem like a good idea. I wonder about bearings? Duralumin running on polished steel has good bearing properties, I would suspect that the weight saving from not having bearing races would outweigh the reduction in frictional drag.

What is the velocity time graph like for these cars? Do they achieve a constant terminal velocity, or do they peak early in the race and then coast to the finish, or are they still accelerating as they cross the line?

Other than the organiser's website, are there any other sites devoted to the Schools F1 challenge?

Lots of questions

Bob