Student designed Formula car best in Wales

A year's worth of oil, gears and sweat has yielded the University's Formula Student race team an overall 8th place finish at Silverstone, out of 120 other competing student teams hailing from as far away as India, China and Australia.

This year the team entered with their fastest and lightest ever prototype and based on their performance at a number of competitive Formula Student events, are now ranked as the top Welsh university team and third overall in the UK.

Ryan Marks, a member of Cardiff Racing and PhD student at the School of Engineering spoke of the team's elation at having achieved their strongest ever finish: "As the car came into Parc Fermé at the end of the endurance event I can just remember the euphoric feeling as our team gathered around and hugged one another in a scream of cheers. It was like we had won the world cup or something.

"In our last race event we came in 6th beating TU Delft who hold the world record for the fastest accelerating electric car. We were expecting a top 15 finish overall but when I saw the final results published later that evening I was overcome by a fit of shouting and cheering. We had been aiming for a top ten finish and to achieve it was a reward for a year of hard work by everyone on the team.

"Cardiff Racing offers a unique opportunity for the students to apply the theory that they have learnt in the classroom to a real-life engineering problem. Our students are in high demand by top industrial engineering companies. Our graduates and placement year students have gone on to work for the likes of Williams F1, Rolls-Royce, Airbus and Babcock Marine."

Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Karen Holford, College of Physical Science and Engineering congratulated the team on their success:

"I am very proud indeed of the Cardiff Racing team. They are great ambassadors for the University showing that with hard work, dedication and team spirit we can achieve great things. This would not be possible without many hours of work from the student volunteers and the excellent technical support from staff in the School of Engineering.

"The reward for the students is not only the thrill of being successful at Silverstone in the presence of world leading engineers, but also the employability skills they have gained. This success is the product of 10 years of learning and I know that this team will pass on their skills to our future students."

Made up of students from the School of Engineering, Cardiff Racing's entry of the CR10 marked the 10th car to be submitted by the University to the Formula Student competition in as many years. The vehicle was designed by team with sustainability in mind, dispensing altogether with carbon fibre and opting instead to use biodegradable flax fibres to build the car's components.

Formula Student is the World's most established and competitive global student motorsport competition. Universities worldwide compete to design, build and race the best single-student car using cutting edge innovative technologies, while allowing students to develop their engineering skills and knowledge.

The team have developed a community engagement arm that has visited local schools and science shows to inspire a new generation of engineers. In the weeks leading up to the competition they raised over £1500 for Ty Hafan hospice.