Acadmics follow Formula Season

Professor of Computational Mechanics, Professor Vassili Toropov, and Research Assistant, Dr Luis Alvarez, of the School of Engineering, are engaged in improving the design of one of the world's most famous sport cars in collaboration with Jaguar Racing and Altair Engineering UK Ltd.

The major parts of the car are made from space-age composite materials for maximum performance and minimum weight. Even though the rules of FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) put a limit on the total weight of a car, reducing the weight of its components allows changes to the distribution of weight, allowing the car to go through turns quicker.

Engineers from the University have developed a technique for optimising the designs of composite elements of the Formula 1 cars and applied it to the design of the front wing.

Left: Professor Vassili Toropov with one of the Jaguar Racing sports cars.

The roll call of drivers who have raced Jaguars reads like a Who's Who of motorsport - it includes Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill and current drivers Eddie Irvine and Pedro De La Rosa.

With the Formula 1 season into its third round out of 17 to be raced this year, the new Jaguar is proving competent, but more work needs to be done if its drivers want to catch up with current lead Michael Schumacher and Ferrari.

Professor Toropov said: "We are really only starting to scratch the surface. The possibilities for the use of design optimization techniques in the design of Formula 1 cars are phenomenal. These teams can manufacture almost anything as long it improves the performance. We want to make sure that Bradford Engineering is clearly on the map and we feel this is one of the best ways to do that."

Next >

N&V home | N&V May home | Welcome | Contents | Events | Comments | Corp Comms Home | Uni Home