In 2008 SURTES submitted their first operational car to the competition, a major step for the University. Now, in 2009, the team are entering the first University of Surrey Class 1 car. Manufacture has been a pivotal design criteria and every component has been developed with standard machining procedures in mind. Likewise, simple, proven assembly methods have been adopted throughout to aid both the ease of manufacture and retrospective maintenance, tuning and improvements.

Unfortunately it was not possible for the 2008 Surrey team to finish every detail of the build in time for the competition and so the car was entered into the static-only, class 2 event. During the scrutineering several key areas for improvement were identified which have been at the heart of this 2009 entry. The three foremost of these criteria are a change in the overall design approach, in terms of cost and manufacturability, a substantial emphasis on weight loss and finally a reduction in the extreme length of the rear portion of the car. It is the first of these points which is addressed in this report.

A radical benchmarking scheme was employed by the team to continually compare designs, statistics and cost of manufacture with those of other teams. Notable areas identified for improvement were the removal of excess chassis tubes and the use of novel processes, materials and components throughout. We set out to achieve a target of 220kg dry mass, using modern manufacturing techniques to optimise the ratio between mass and cost.

The completed design provides practical engineering solutions to a number of challenging technical hurdles. Materials and manufacturing research allowed the team to utilise materials with high specific strengths and so minimise the mass of components without sacrificing performance. The total measured dry weight of the completed car is 195kg, 93kg lighter than the 2008 entry and 25kg less than the intended project target. This was all achieved at a total calculated cost of just over $15,000. From the elimination of rod ends in bending to the overall project coordination and from the theoretical calculations to the physical application of manufacturing processes, the Surrey 2009 car provides a competitive race car design capable of providing Surrey students with their first involvement in the Formula Student dynamic events at Silverstone.