“The main thing about this year’s car is the fact that we go from a rear wheel drive to a four wheel drive solution. We have four hub mounted servo engines, so we can individually control the torque of each wheel. The main benefits of this solution, compared to a rear wheel drive, are the fact that you can accelerate way faster and make much tighter turns. Acceleration-wise we go from 0 – 100 kilometres per hour in 2,8 to 2 seconds so that’s a major gain in performance for us,” says Terje Mork, Chief Monocoque.
THEORY IN PRACTICE Revolve NTNU is an independent student organization at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The team consists of 50 members who work voluntarily parallel to full time engineering studies. Each year a new team take on the challenge to develop, design, build and race a formula race car. In the process the students utilize all their knowledge acquired at the university in addition to develop a vast variety of skills, including composite manufacturing.
“We design our own components and parts and also the entire car is designed by our self. By being able to stay here at KONGSBERG we can actually get to put that design into a more practical arena. That gives us a much greater insight into how composite manufacturing actually works. It’s hard to gain this knowledge without being able to actually do it with your own hands. It’s a unique opportunity for us because there is pretty much nobody else in Norway who has this manufacturing capability ore expertise. It’s a very great opportunity for engineering students to gain a greater practical insight into how their design will work out ore bee manufactured,” says Terje Mork
MATERIALS FOR THE FUTURE Plastic and composites are materials for the future. Composite materials are widely used in the aircraft industry. As an example, 50 % of the weight of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner is composites. In volume, as much as 80 % of the aircraft is made in composites. Development is predicted to head in the direction of self-healing plastic materials and materials that change shape in response to strain.
“I think composites will be of great importance. You can see in the aerospace industry that it’s used more and more. Most modern passenger liners ore military aircrafts are made primarily from aluminium ore composites. For us as race car engineers’ composites is a great way to lighten the car. You can make a car that is as stiff as a steel frame chassis with half the weight and it’s just as strong”.
The result of the work is being revealed on the 3th of May. You may follow the latest news from Revolve NTNU on their official webpage.