Welcome to our Summer 2021 Newsletter. This is our third in a series of newsletters that focuses on a small group of subsystems. This month we focus on the Engine, Suspension, and Vehicle Dynamics.
Engine
Engine has been focused on making our pneumatic shifting system more reliable. Previously, the system was not as dependent as it could have been, making it challenging for the drivers to be consistent and produce useful data to the team. We are mainly working on how to achieve a higher operating pressure to deliver greater shifting force, overcoming more vibrations. We will have to modify the fittings and the tank to compensate for the extra air mass.
We are also reworking our exhaust routing while verifying our cooling performance, measuring where we may be able to improve given our larger and more powerful 450cc engine over previous years’ 350cc engine.
Suspension
We have been making great progress. Since the ergonomics have been decided, we have been able to start finalizing the steering geometry. We determined the position of the steering wheel via the ergonomics jig pictured above which is the most dedicated focused effort we have ever made to optimize driver position. Our drivers are very excited to see how it turns out! Since our last design review, we have been working to refine the design of our solid parts, always chasing increased rigidity and reduced weight.
Vehicle Dynamics
VD has been working to improve our understanding of our limited slip differential with a new approach to modeling clutch lockup inside the differential. In years past, determining optimal slip has been a challenge, so we look forward to seeing how this new modeling approach manifests itself in our testing. We are also researching camber curves, specifically the geometry we need to achieve the ideal camber curves we derived earlier this year. This is an important step towards us extracting the maximum potential from our direct actuation suspension we switched to for B20.
Thank you for your continued presence in our community. We will be back at the garage in full force next month, and cannot wait to share with you all of the work we can do once we are finally reunited as a team for the first time in 16 months.
Want to receive the latest updates? Sign up for our mailing list!