Phoenix Racing – Twenty Years

Since 2003, Phoenix Racing has been running at the Formula Student UK Competition by the brightest engineering students at Coventry University, helping to kickstart our careers into the motorsport industry in disciplines from Rallycross all the way to Formula 1. Even after 20_­ years, Phoenix Racing in 2023 is still run by a group of enthusiastic motorsport engineering students, with most of them returning from industrial placements acting as GT3 race engineers, F1 powertrain design engineers, and composite manufacturers, to help produce a competitive Formula Student car while putting our skill set in a practical environment. For the 20^th year, Phoenix Racing has set the goal of achieving our first overall Top 10 finish at the FSUK competition, using everything we have learnt, our commitment to the ICE engine, and our manufacturing facilities to build an incredible Formula car.

The Team: Engineering Students

Phoenix Racing is run by the enthusiastic Motorsport Engineering students at Coventry University, with the Formula Student project directly part of our group dissertations to take a previous year’s design and either evolve the design or start from the ground up with new and improved design criteria. This ensures that every year a brand-new set of designs that have had manufacturing, cost, and feasibility considerations already made for them are available to the team, only requiring at most minor changes before they can be implemented to the car. Phoenix Racing however is still open to the full mechanical engineering school at Coventry University, allowing for a mix of people with different skill sets and expertise to join the team and help to produce a competitive car.

We know how important it is to ensure that the team is represented by a diverse group of highly skilled students, especially within the niche environment of motorsport which currently lacks in this department. To ensure representation within Phoenix Racing, we have been encouraging every student to be a part of Phoenix Racing regardless of their gender, ethnicity, sexuality, or disability.

The Ethos: We Design AND Manufacture

Coventry University has always pursued the mindset of providing us engineering students with both skill sets of designing and manufacturing components, as it will allow us to rapidly learn how to design components that have manufacturability as one of the critical criteria. Phoenix Racing is no exception to this ethos, where we focus on maximising the percentage of components that can be manufactured in-house without compromising on quality. This allows us to reduce our overall outsourcing costs as well as provide us with valuable skill sets such as welding, composite laminating, and various sheet metal manipulation processes.

Even with this ethos, Phoenix Racing still understands the importance of having sponsor partnerships with other companies to provide us with funding, and software to help with our designs and manufacture components that cannot feasibly be made in-house, such as brake line hoses and composite moulds.

The Commitment: Internal Combustion Engines

Throughout the Formula Student competition worldwide, a shift has been emerging, with teams moving away from Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) powertrains towards Battery Electric (BEVs) powertrains. While Coventry University has conducted significant research and poured resources into EV development with companies such as JLR, Phoenix Racing has always advocated for conducting research into producing ICEs that can run on sustainably sourced fuels, whether that is petrol from carbon-capturing technologies or second-generation ethanol. Along with several other commitments throughout the motorsport world being made for ICEs, with Formula One most notably prioritising fully sustainable fuels from 2026, Phoenix Racing is adamant to find another alternate path to sustainability to secure the future of the ICE that billions of humans around the world have relied on for over a century.

The Car: PR87-23

With every new year, a new chassis is created within the PR87 family to create a competitive car against the ever-stronger competition we face. The PR87-23 will be the 2023 iteration of the family, evolving the previous year's car in terms of both the dynamics and aerodynamics of the vehicle.

A brand-new aerodynamic package has been developed, with the sidepods of the vehicle being a complete departure from the previous year's designs. This has allowed the team to significantly increase the downforce-to-drag ratio at the speeds at which the vehicle is expected to perform. The new three-tier rear wing is the prime example of this, with the wing profiles and shape chosen to improve downforce generation below 100km/h and reduce manufacturing complexity. The floor has also been a key focus this year, with a venturi floor design to actively produce downforce compared to the previous flat floor design.

The dynamic package of the vehicle has also been revised to work more effectively, allowing for more adjustments to be made to the dampers, tyres, and ride height, maximising our ability to make an optimal setup for each dynamic event.

The vehicle is powered by the 4-cylinder powertrain from the Honda CBR600RR, as used for several years by the team. Its ability to produce a high amount of power and torque while maintaining Honda’s legendary reliability allows the team to be completely confident with the powertrain package. However, a new intake system has been developed, utilising 3D-printed carbon fibre components for the plenum and intake runners to reduce manufacturing complexity, as well as a secondary set of injectors at the plenum to maximise performance at the high RPM band. A new 3D-printed oil sump has also been manufactured from Nylon-12, allowing for a more lightweight design with a simpler manufacturing process compared to CNC milling, reducing cost and lead time.

With all these major updates to the vehicle, as well as incremental optimisations throughout the car, the PR87-23 will be the most complete vehicle Phoenix Racing has produced to date.

The Path: September to Now

Phoenix Racing has had an eventful year building and developing the PR87-23, with several challenges thrown at us during the process. Ranging from limited personnel with specific expertise such as welding to waiting upon delayed supplies, Phoenix Racing has pushed through it all by planning methodically and ensuring that multiple areas of the vehicle were developed and manufactured simultaneously to reduce the severity of the delays.

The team has also vastly developed under the static events this year, which has allowed each team member to understand and learn the importance of crucial documents such as the costing report, SES, and design packs, which will help to give us a significant boost in points from last year's results. We have never been more prepared for the static events this year, which will be shown by our performance and will continue to help us throughout our future careers working in the motorsport industry.

The Sponsor: RS Grassroots

RS has been an essential part of Phoenix Racing, with many of our components sourced from RS due to their proximity to our location as well as the wide range of components available that are required, from specific engine loom connectors and tooling to general workshop components that have been essential. The listed components below are some of the wide array of components acquired from RS:

• 55A Rated Wires
• Anti-Vibration Mounts
• ATM Connector Socket, Connector Plugs, and Wedgelocks
• Brass Threaded Inserts
• Cable Ties
• Connectivity Elastomer Loom Joints
• Copper Crush Washers
• Deutsch Connectors
• Hand Ratchet Crimping Tool
• K-Nuts
• Loctite Adhesives
• Loom Heat Shrink
• Neodymium Magnets
• Raychem Boots
• Scotch Tape
• Shoulder Bolts
• SPST Toggle & Momentary Push Button Switches
• Threaded Steel Rod Ends

The Summary: Goal of a Top 10 Finish

The team's goal has always been to reach the Top 10 overall at the FSUK competition. Phoenix Racing has come tantalisingly close to that goal with a 12th and 11th in 2021 and 2022, respectively, and we plan to reach that goal by pulling out all the stops with both our car and our static event structure. It will be our 20th year at the FSUK competition, and we will make it our best one yet for Phoenix Racing.