University of Portsmouth

The UPR-09 is the ninth chassis from Portsmouth University’s team UPRacing.

After finishing the endurance for the first time in 2016, they have come back with a new and improved design. Although early development saw them attempt an aluminium honeycomb monocoque, with limited testing time they chose not to use the design for the 2017 season, instead opting for a new lighter steel spaceframe chassis. A rear aluminium bulkhead has been used to improve tolerances and load paths for the rear suspension and differential mounting and downsizing the wheels to 10” has maximised the benefit from the reduction in unsprung mass. Anti Dive has been incorporated into the front and the engine has a new custom dry sump system to improve oil pickup reliability, adding mass to the car, but improving reliability. The electronics feature a new CAN system to reduce the number of wires, thus reducing mass. A new circuit board has been designed to improve fault finding. The team has been focusing on knowledge transfer to improve the potential in the future.

www.upracing.org.uk