t35 December Newsletter
Happy Holidays to the UW Formula community! We hope you all are staying warm, safe, and enjoying the holidays. A huge shout out to our team members who have been dedicated to working hard to progress with our T35 car after our recent design freeze. With the ADRs, CDRs, Design Freeze, drives, and other activities this quarter, we’ve had a rewarding quarter of hard work. We’ll be heading into manufacturing season Winter Quarter, and are excited to start the process of putting everything together!
CROWDFUNDING
There are only five days left to donate to our crowdfunding campaign! Your contribution will help propel our team at the forefront of innovation and help us push the limits of our T35 car. Thank you so much to those who have already contributed to our team. We’re close to our goal of $10,000, and we could not have made it this far without everyone who has donated to our team. For those of you interested in supporting the team, click the link below!
ADOPT A CELL
Our cells still need a home! The last day to adopt a cell is December 27th and your contribution will not only give our cells a home, but help directly support our car. Adopters who donate $50 or more on our crowdfunding site will receive a picture of and a thank you note from their cell!
DECEMBER DRIVE
Our team headed up to PACCAR again for another critical drive this month. We used the data from the drive to analyze mass sensitivity, acceleration, and our rear wing. The data we collected will help us when our T35 car is fully in action, and help us be as competitive as possible at competition!
HOLIDAY PARTY
In the spirit of the holiday season, the team enjoyed spending time together with a potluck and Secret Santa! It was great to see members from all different subteams celebrate together. We were especially impressed by everyone’s cool sweaters and thoughtful gifts. Click to see some more pictures of the fun we had!
MERCHANDISE
We're thrilled to announce the launch of the UW Formula Motorsport Merch Collection, a unique collection is a perfect blend of retro chic and modern flair. Available to purchase are vintage tees and hoodies that embrace the spirit of classic racing, as well as durable everyday tote bags.
Whether you're on-campus or in the city, our merch is designed to make a statement. And the best part? Every purchase supports the UW Formula Motorsport team, fueling our passion and drive to be the best in the Formula SAE competition.
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Team Feature - Aerodynamics
Our first sub-team feature this year is going to be our aerodynamics team! They are in charge of designing, manufacturing, and testing the aerodynamic package of the car. The picture above shows an integration of our aero package! We’ve asked aerodynamics sub-team lead, Henry R., a bit more about what the sub-team has been up to.
What has the aero team been doing this quarter?
Through the end of fall quarter, the aero team has wrapped up the initial T35 aero design. The new package produces over 20% more downforce than T34, and at top speed, it produces more downforce than the car weighs, meaning T35 can theoretically drive on the ceiling. This year we also spent a lot of time reducing the weight of the package and we succeeded in reducing predicted aero weight by 10 lbs. The aero team also tested components of the T34 cooling system to identify and improve issues. The cooling system is critical to how the car performs on hot summer days in Michigan. None of this would have been possible without our CFD and FEA tools, thanks to ANSYS. In fact, we ran over 100 full car level Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations in the search for greater performance.
What is the aero team planning on working on during Winter Quarter?
Moving into winter quarter the team will stay very busy. First, we need to finish the machining process for any new molds. These molds will then need to be painted, thanks to our sponsor Common Fibers and sanded before they can be used to make wings. We will also be receiving the undertray mold as a donation by Janicki, one of our industry partners. Then we will begin laying up the carbon fiber components. The parts we layup are cured in the autoclave, oven, and hot press in the ME composites shop. Finally, these components just need to be assembled and we can start testing the new T35 aero package.