University of Sunderland

SU Racing formula student team was founded on 2003 producing its first car on 2004. The team has since evolved and was reformed on 2015 with 21 ambitious members with students from various educational backgrounds, of diverse nationalities.

The SU16 vehicle was designed to be reliable, fast and safe. It is a high performance vehicle with a low environmental impact at a competitive cost. This was achieved by simplifying designs, reducing part count and use of low cost easy to machine material to keep the maximum production of the car in-house. Other key design features include interchangeability of parts, use of standard bolts and high customisability.

The design approach of SU16 has focused on enhancing the mechanical grip of the vehicle. Weight distribution and suspension geometry configuration has been designed to improve overall performance of the vehicle in various dynamic events. Damper units have been custom made by Maxton based on the team’s designs and specifications. A smaller capacity engine was selected to optimize performance by reducing overall vehicle weight and also improving fuel economy. This engine also provides good acceleration via detailed design of sprocket ratios allowing various sprockets to be used interchangeably to optimize for various driving conditions.