Formula UBC Racing designs, builds, tests, and races a new single-seat race car each year. The team participates in an annual student competition put on by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Every May the team trailers down our car to Michigan and competes against approximately 120 international teams. Throughout the year, students take parts or entire subsystems through all the stages of design. Starting with problem definition and concept generation, the team performs simulations and iteration, manufacturing, off-the-car testing if applicable, and finally implementing the design onto the car.
ECE students are involved in sensor integration, data acquisition, vehicle wiring harnesses, power distribution, and driver-controlled pneumatic systems like paddle shifting and opening/closing the rear wing for the Drag Reduction System (DRS). Anything from a tire temperature sensor to a brake light can be designed by students on the team. Integration into the vehicle and the design process for any individual part often requires inter-disciplinary team communication to make good design justifications, like how to mount new parts in CAD so nothing interferes once the parts go on the car.
ECE students can expect to learn about most of the electrical modules, sensors, and interconnecting harnessing on the car and in doing this they will be able to learn skills like making a wiring harness, implementing CAN bus communication, C- based STM32 microcontroller firmware, and PCB design in Altium. In addition to learning new skills, you will be in a student-led environment and surrounded by people who have similar interests so it’s a great place to make friends and have the opportunity to work on projects together.
To learn more about Formula UBC Racing, visit: https://www.formulaubc.com/
