IIDEA Limited have manufactured some suspension components for the SHU Racing Teams 2017 Student Racing Car. Here at IIDEA we are proud to sponsor the SHU Racing Team and to supply components to this outstanding team of young Engineers. For the 2016 season, we supplied the team with a set of hubs for their car, this year in addition to again supplying hubs (this time in aircraft grade titanium alloy), we have just delivered some light-weight suspension uprights / hub carriers this time in aircraft grade aluminium.
Titanium alloy grade 5 is approximately 4.48g/cm3 whereas alloy steel is around 7.85g/cm3 meaning that for similar size components titanium is only about 57% the weight of an alloy steel component, or a steel component is 75% heavier than a similarly sized titanium one. The hubs this year have had a slight change to the design with a slightly more substantial flange so a direct comparison is not possible, however, the use of titanium has saved around 2kg from the weight of the car.
The suspension uprights or hub carriers are manufactured from aircraft grade aluminium which has a relatively high strength despite the density being so low with the same volume of metal weighing only around a quarter as much as an equivalent size piece of steel!
We are excited about this project and eagerly await seeing the finished car assembled and are even more keen for the summer to see how the car will compete against the extensive competition at Silverstone. You can learn more about SHU Racing from their website, or about the Formula Student Competition from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Formula Student website.
