What We Do
What is Formula Student?
‘Formula Student (FS) is
Europe’s most established educational motorsport competition, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Backed by industry and high profile engineers such as Ross Brawn OBE, the competition aims to inspire and develop enterprising and innovative young engineers. Universities from across the globe are challenged to design and build a single-seat racing car in order to compete in static and dynamic events, which demonstrate their understanding and test the performance of the vehicle.’
-via the IMechE
What is OBR?
Founded in 1999, OBR has
developed and grown into one of Europe’s elite Formula Student teams, collecting seven UK Top Team awards; more than any other University. We have broken records, broken barriers, and fuelled the engineers and leaders of the next generation – whilst consistently building an elite open-wheel racing car.
What do we do?
Here at Oxford Brookes we have always aspired to be one of the top teams in the world, using engineering innovation at the highest level. Our students design and build almost every aspect of the car, including chassis, suspension, aerodynamics and powertrain. We also compete to win in static events such as Cost and Business. Also part of our Off-Track team is media, marketing and sponsorship. With support from our university, we are able to win events like the Design competition at FSUK in 2014, as well as winning the highest number of points of any UK team.
We Are Electric!
After a long and successful history of combustion entries in the formula student competition, OBR made the shift to electric for the 2020 season onwards. With a new team structure and a class 2 project to serve as a R&D platform, OBR aims to develop a platform to not only take on the top FS teams in the world, but to also serve as a test bed of innovation for electric vehicles and controls software.
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The concept is based around a 4WD in-hub motor configuration with AMK AC servo motors mated to a compact epicyclic gearbox capable of producing over 300 N-m of torque at each wheel. Energy is supplied from a 600 V, 6.6 kW-hr battery pack using LCO pouch cells with a peak output of over 130 kW. All of this is managed through an open controls platform ideal for implementing torque vectoring and advanced vehicle controls to unleash the full performance potential of an EV competitor.
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With the design of the car in full swing and test and manufacture on the horizon, there is an opportunity to be on the forefront of not only performance, but also the industry by gaining both the knowledge and hands on experience working with electric vehicles.