12th November 2019
We've had a very exciting evening as the team welcomed three special guests into the tech suite!
Our first guest of the evening was Nick Atkinson, an Engineer from Renault Sport. Nick very kindly kick started the session with an insightful presentation on the different careers available within Formula 1 before moving on to talk us through a number of different components / aspects that make up an F1 car. The talk was extremely interesting and has definitely inspired a few of us to consider pursuing a career within the industry.
With the presentation over, Nick spent some time with a few of the team having a more in-depth conversation about all things motorsport - including changes to the 2021 F1 rules and how this will effect the down force, explaining to us how modifying (& simplifying) front wing, rear wings and floor can help to reduce the disturbed air behind the car.....disscusions that has certainly given us lots of food for thought as we start to design a new car!
We also took the opportunity to explain to Nick the engineering behind both Dylan & Basil....and see if he had any tips for us moving forward into the 2020 season!
Our second guests of the evening were radio presenters Chris Cadman and John Clayton from The CAT (107.9 FM) community radio station in Crewe. Team captains Ella and Cate spent the evening giving them an insight into all things CAUC, before discussing potentially working together on something exciting in the near future (hopefully - fingers crossed!!!). Watch this space...and make sure you check them out & give them a listen! (You can check them out and listen live by clicking this link: CAT 107.9).
With the Christmas fair now only 10 days away, Erin and Rachel, with help from Eleanor and Meg, carried on with their preparations....which tonight involved cutting out the components of the Reindeer ornaments on the laser cutter ready to be assembled.
Alice and Lara spent the evening carrying out their own little experiment! Unfortunately, when we gave Basil his livery, the lacquer didn't harden correctly and has left the surface of him quite tacky (rather than the smooth finish we were hoping for). The plan is to re-do the lacquer, however first we need to attempt to remove it from the car without damaging the carbon fibre. Therefore using the old, damaged nose cone, Alice and Lara used Acetone to see if that would do the trick.
...by the look of Lara's face, I'm not so sure she appreciated the smell!!!!
Mission accomplished!! As you can see by the picture below, the Acetone did in fact work! However, as you can also see, in some patches it removed both the lacquer and the yellow paint beneath. Subsequently, our next task is to see whether we can successfully re-spray the bodywork without any hiccups! As we ran out of time, this will have to be done at a later date.
As you may have seen on twitter, we managed to break the horn mount in Basil at Silverstone. Whilst at the track, we were able to use cable ties for a temporary repair job. However tonight, it was over to Alex to start making some brand new clasps.
Meanwhile Bethan, with the help of Charlotte, continued working on the battery boxes from last week. Tonight, they were de-burring the edges of the aluminium plates that will eventually be fitted inside each box.
Finally, Rachel, spent her evening working with Richard testing some potential new car designs out on OpenFoam!
So one busy evening for us at CAUC! A huge thank you to Nick, Chris and John for taking the time to come in and visit the team. We loved chatting to you and learning about your respective industries!