3M BIC goes for gold with University motorsport team
3M BIC's Technology Director Dr Michael Wilson (second left) and Industrial Designer Paul Tallon (second right) alongside members of TEAM Hare with the HARE-14 car in the Atrium of the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre
Fri, 17 Oct 2014 10:59:00 BST
Huddersfield’s Formula Student team welcome the sponsorship of the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre
The 3M Buckley Innovation Centre (3M BIC) will sponsor the University’s Formula Student competition entry Team HARE for the second year running.
Team HARE (Huddersfield Automotive Racing Enterprises) is the University of Huddersfield’s student racing team for Europe’s most established motorsport competition, the Formula Student (FSAE), created by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) to influence new generations of engineers. The contest encourages universities from across the globe to design and build a single-seat racing car in order to compete in events at Silverstone in the UK, and countries including Germany, Hungary and Spain.
3M BIC is one of Team HARE’s Gold sponsors and has played an instrumental part in modifying the car design ready for the next 2015 season. The industrial design team at 3M BIC used 3D printing technology to create two intake plenum designs, 3D printing being one of the few and most cost effective ways they could make these, as well as a 3D model of the car and a steering wheel boss. They also created a 3D visualisation rendering, which showed the vehicle components coming together from an exploded view to the finished car.
Team HARE has been entering the FSAE since 1999. In 2013, the team ranked top out of all UK universities and became Team HARE’s most successful car to date. 2013’s success meant HARE-14 entered the following season as the number one team in the UK.
Team HARE-15 consists of 25 fourth- and fifth-year students, predominantly studying engineering – mechanical, automotive, motorsport and electrical – at the University of Huddersfield, with help from other courses such as business and graphic design.
3M BIC Technology Director, Dr Michael Wilson, said: “Being a part of projects like this one is really exciting. By giving the students access to 3D technology they benefit from being able to create parts for their car more cost effectively. We always enjoy working with the team to help improve the vehicle’s performance so that they stay top of the competition.”
Kyle Hinchliffe from Team HARE said: “It’s fantastic to have 3M BIC on board again for another year. The ability to utilise the technologies and skill sets available from them is of great benefit to the project and allows us to further develop on the successes of last season.”
- 3M BIC is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the University of Huddersfield and Kirklees Council.
