Race is on to crown next Formula Zero Champion for 2009

Imperial students zoom into third place in the first and second round of the international race - News

Tuesday 25 August 2009
By Colin Smith

Imperial undergraduates are currently in third place following the first two rounds of one of the world’s greenest motor racing championships, which started in the UK last week.

The Imperial Racing Green (IRG) team are racing in the Formula Zero Championship 2009, which is a competition for top international universities where teams design, build and race their own electric racing carts, powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

These fuel cells are such a clean source of power that water is the only by-product that is emitted from the car.

The Championship is made of four rounds and last Thursday, crowds travelled to Surrey to watch the IRG team, along with teams from Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands compete in the first round.

The following Sunday, the championship moved to the Netherlands, where teams competed at the Kombikart circuit in the city of Nieuw-Zevenbergen. In both races, the IRG team came third. IRG Team Manager, Dr Greg Offer, from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering, says:

“The Belgians and Spanish both had really good cars and we felt third place for us was fair. However, in motorsport anything can happen and we are really looking forward to the next two rounds.”

In each championship, there is a sprint race, where teams compete to see how fast their cars can go, and an endurance race, where teams are tested to see how reliable and efficient each car is. Teams are awarded points, which are tallied up at the end of the race to see who is in the lead. Dr Offer says:

“The Imperial team has been working really hard on their racing cart and I am really proud of them. I think their work is beginning to pay off in terms of the car’s reliability and its overall performance.”

This is the second year that Imperial students have entered the competition. IRG is the largest extracurricular undergraduate initiative at the College, involving more than 100 engineering undergraduates in different related projects over the course of the academic year.

Each year, the team tries to make the cart faster, lighter and more fuel efficient. During this year’s summer break, the IRG team removed three radiators and cooling pipes and replaced it with one radiator.

The students have also installed new crash protection gear, replacing parts of the aluminium frame with plastic. The plastic crash protection gear does not conduct electricity, which also makes it a safer material to use in an electric vehicle. The car’s hydrogen cylinder was moved by the team from the front of the car and fitted underneath the driver, to improve the car’s centre of gravity, which helps the driver to turn corners more sharply.

This Sunday, the race moves to town of Genk in Belgium and then on to Alcañiz in Spain, where the IRG team hope to improve their position and take the lead.

Imperial Racing Green team compete in the UK
Scroll through the slideshow below to see the IRG team compete in the first race of the Formula Zero Championship, which was held in Surrey, UK, last week.