Technology

Warsaw University of Technology students are building racing car with completely new design

Credit: PAP
Credit: PAP

The WUT Racing team of the Warsaw University of Technology, which is building racing cars, has stood on the Formula Student podium in 2024 twice. The Warsaw University of Technology students are already preparing for the next season.

Video material available at: https://wideo.pap.pl/videos/78338/ and https://wideo.pap.pl/videos/78339/

'This is a very interdisciplinary project. Building a racing car requires knowledge and experience in many technical fields', says Marcin Płatek, president of the WUT Racing Science Club at the Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering of the Warsaw University of Technology.

He adds that the WUT Racing team of around 80 people, which designs and builds racing cars, consists mainly of engineers passionate about motoring, experts in the field of vehicle mechanics and dynamics, materials engineering, strength engineering, thermodynamics, aerodynamics, electronics and electrical engineering. 'Our structure is divided into eight departments, five of which deal with technical issues, and three with marketing, logistics and operational issues', he explains.

According to Płatek, student racing cars began over 30 years ago, when SAE International - an international organization associating around 130 thousand motoring engineers - created a field for teams from technical universities to compete. Vehicles designed by novice engineers race in the Formula Student (FS) competition.

Formula Student, considered a kind of forge of staff for Formula 1 engineering teams, consists of several parts. It includes static competitions (technical design evaluation, cost estimate presentation, business presentation), multi-stage technical inspection and dynamic competitions (acceleration test, cornering test, qualifying lap, and race).

The fifth design by the team from Warsaw University of Technology, the WUT-5 car, which started in 2024, had an 86 HP engine, weighed 219.5 kg, with 4.0 s acceleration and a maximum speed of 121 km/h.

'The main assumption of the WUT-5 project was to correct the flaws and improve performance of previous versions. And we succeeded', says Kamil Połowczyk, deputy coordinator of the WUT-5 project and its former technical leader.

He adds that the previous WUT-4 car had problems with the cooling system, among other things, and these problems have been solved in the fifth version of the vehicle. 'Another change is the strong development of the aerodynamic package. Due to the characteristics of the track - and the tracks are very winding - we do not develop high speeds, we mainly pay attention to aerodynamic downforce', he emphasises.

Members of the aerodynamics department redesigned, among others, the front and rear wings and the floor of the car. This allowed for a 37 percent increase in downforce.

Kamil Połowczyk reminds that the WUT-5 took second place at the FS East (Hungary) competition in the long-distance Endurance race, and third place in the Acceleration test at the competition in Poland.

The WUT Racing team, which has been in existence since 2011, already has a plan to build another car. 'We are moving away from a fully internal combustion engine design, to a hybrid system based on an electric engine, which will provide drive to the same axle, and at the same time increase the total power of our vehicle. It will be a completely new design, with a new supporting structure, with an appropriately connected chassis and suspension system, and with an aerodynamic package strictly prepared for specific tracks', explains the deputy project coordinator. Work on the new WUT-6 design began in the winter, so that the car would be ready for the competition held in the summer. 'The most important thing is that our successes are not worse than last year. We aim high, we want to reach for the highest steps of the podium. But we will not succeed without a reliable design', concludes Kamil Połowczyk. (PAP)

Anna Bugajska, Aleksander Rajewski

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