Northampton’s Formula Student racing team receives £2,500 Rookie Award from Institution of Mechanical Engineers

FSN Racing have received a £2,500 ‘Rookie Award’ from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers towards their ever first racing car entry into the Formula Studentcompetition.

Formula Student challenges teams to design and build ​​​a single-seat racing car in order to compete in static and dynamic events, to demonstrate their understanding of the vehicle while testing its performance. The programme gives students real-world engineering experience as they conceive, design, build, cost, present and compete as a team. Run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the competition has the backing of industry and high profile engineering companies across Europe.

The Rookie Award cheque was presented to the team with an event held at Silverstone UTC on Friday 9 May. Student Mesha Potton, Business Manager for FSN Racing accepted the award from Mr Roy Chowings of IMechE, on behalf of the team.

Roy Chowings had the opportunity to look over the racing car and spoke to the team members about their work. When asked how he thought the team were progressing, he commented: “The team has a very interesting approach. What they are doing, in this first year, is going for relative simplicity, and an intention to finish which I think is really important. A lot of teams go for over complex and overcomplicated ideas, but don’t get to finish due to liability and technical problems. I sense this team has a very good chance of getting through the whole event.”

The FSN Racing team will be competing against 3,000 students from over 30 countries at the world famous Silverstone racetrack in July for five days of testing and racing. Made up of students from the University of Northampton’s Department of Engineering and Technology, who have created a partnership with Silverstone UTC to promote motorsports within the county, the FSN Racing Team features a mixture of all ages and specialisms. The team is unique in the competition as it is the first team to feature secondary school pupils working alongside University students for a common goal.

Team Principal Glen Adams, who is a 3rd year student at the University and also employed by Cummins Engines as a Quality Engineer, explained the team’s progress so far: “Having been working and competing in motorsports for over 16 years I am proud to say the team is on track with a car that is as close to the rule book as possible. It is all very exciting and we look forward to turning the engine over and seeing our efforts in action.”

Neil Patterson, Principal of Silverstone UTC commented: “We’re proud to be working with the University of Northampton in Formula Student this year as we are the first secondary level school to ever to do so.”

Dr Jon Adams, Head of Engineering and Technology at the University of Northampton added: “The students have all worked extremely hard to get to such an advanced stage within 18 months of first engaging with Formula Student. We all wish them the very best of luck.”

The team have secured sponsorship from companies including Santander, KB Railcare, BINDT and ThyssenKrupp, and are currently in talks with Mahle and Cummins Engines.

You can follow the team on Twitter and Facebook​. For further information, visit:

www.utcsilverstone.co.uk , www.formulastudent.com and www.northampton.ac.uk

Image (left to right): Glen Adams, Neil Patterson, Roy Chowings, Seyed Mirhadizadeh, Richard Albany-Ward​, Jon Adams, Mesha Potton.

​