Newcastle Racing 5 is first on track, thanks to Autodesk Inventor

Every year, the goal is to design and build a brand new racing car in order to experiment with the capabilities and accuracy of a CAD software application – and to competes in the Annual International Formula Student Championship, which takes place at Silverstone race circuit in July. Chris Royle, a mechanical engineering student and technical director of the racing car engineering team, says that the team has been guaranteed access to the latest Autodesk software, in addition to free licences for student use off-campus, which Autodesk provides to all engineering students. “Although we are well versed in the software, by nature of the department, it is a great comfort to have Imass close by to support us if we need help with anything, and it’s fantastic to have access to the latest technology.” “Autodesk is a sponsor too, so we’re allowed to download student versions of the software for free, for use at home,” explains Sam Adcock, who is responsible for designing the wheel package for this year’s racing car. “This is a massive advantage, speeding up our work considerably because we can keep working on the project round the clock, wherever we are.” He explains that Autodesk Inventor software provides digital prototyping, so that models can be built on screen and viewed in 3D. The resulting digital prototype enables users to validate design and engineering data as they work, minimising the need for a physical prototypes, and reducing costly engineering changes that might otherwise be discovered in production. Prized capabilities to the Newcastle University team include the ability for the various project members, each of whom is responsible for their own part of the car’s design, to work concurrently on an up-to-date version of the virtual model. This, in turn, can be visualised in accurate detail, with the knowledge that if one aspect of the design is changed, the knock-on effect will be dynamically calculated and redrawn across the model. “The ability to simulate any component, by entering all the material properties, is excellent,” adds Royle. “This has enabled us to see real colours, texture, stress analysis and the interaction with all the other components. This ensures the finished product will work first time.” “In the old days, you would have had to go through the long, tedious process of producing costly prototypes,” Hale notes. “Now, the first device we produce is the device. The team hasn’t had to waste time producing drawings on paper, either. We can simply print them out and send them off or email them to third parties – for example, the manufacturer laser-cutting the components for the main chassis.” The ability to work concurrently on different aspects of the design has also been pivotal to turning the project around so quickly, he emphasises. “Creating an entire car is a very complicated project. Without Inventor it would have been very difficult. The software enables everyone on the team to see all the same information in one place, on the same model, and to work on their own parts of the project even if this will have a knock-on effect on other aspects of the design. All of this is taken into account automatically,” says Royle. Newcastle Racing 5, as the current year’s team is known, began designing its car in September 2006. Detailed design began six months later, and the rolling car model is now complete. “The complete design has now been put out to manufacture, so it will have taken a year all in all,” says Hale.