Powering Cardiff Racing’s electric future
Bringing engineering expertise to the electric grid: Cardiff Racing enters a bold new era as it prepares to debut its first EV at Silverstone.
Students Amelia Hopewell and Tejaswini Saravanabavan tell us how their team are taking decades of combustion car experience into their first electric powertrain for the FSUK at Silverstone Formula One Circuit, the home of Motorsport.
Cardiff Racing has never shied away from pushing the limits of what we have been able to achieve, and as the transition from combustion to EV is made, this year is no exception.
This year marks a new chapter for the Cardiff Racing team, after over 20 years of making combustion cars to participate in the national Formula Student competition.
Formula Student is a competition run by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (iMechE) that allows engineering students across the UK to develop their skills through the hands-on design, manufacture and build of their very own race cars. During the competition, teams face a series of dynamic and static events that mirror the high pressures seen in motorsport today.
Cardiff Racing has established a strong legacy at FSUK, becoming the first ever UK team to win the competition back in 2017 and securing second place overall in 2024.
The transition to an EV poses several new challenges, from building our first-ever battery and electric drivetrain, to adapting to stricter safety requirements. The shift to electric isn’t simply a new technical playing field but a complete reimagining of how the team learns and collaborates, all within a shorter timescale.
This has meant developing a completely new aerodynamic package for the car, as well as creating several new electrical circuits for various operations of the new car.
Behind the scenes of all this, an immense amount of time, planning, and hard work goes into from all Cardiff Racing members to ensure its completeness.
“I have found the shift from combustion to electric particularly rewarding, as it has required a complete mechanical redesign of the car, including the rear chassis and an entirely new aero package. With support from ESAB through specialist welding training in the build-up to manufacturing our spaceframe, we’ve been able to approach these challenges with real confidence.”
— Morgan Lougher, Chief Mechanical Engineer
Industrial partners
At the competition, all cars must undergo scrutineering and prove they are technically compliant before competing. Reliability is at the core of success for any motorsport team.
Aside from academic support, our sponsors play a pivotal role in shaping the car. When it comes to the components we build in-house, we are always cautious to ensure we do everything to the highest standards possible and are selective with our choice of suppliers. We choose to rely on Accu components for fast delivery and high-quality components for most aspects of the car's assembly.
We would also like to thank Cummins and Accelera for their continued support as we work to get our latest car, CR22, ready for competition this summer. Cardiff Racing alumni have gone on to work for Cummins, and some of the current teams have also been lucky enough to complete their industrial placements there.
“We have discovered through our development that we need to comply with many HV safety rules, which Accu.co.uk have made possible. Accu.co.uk have helped support us through this by supplying specialist, rules-compliant components that have eased greatly with design decisions within our first EV battery pack.”
— Joe Doyle, Team and Operations Lead
Looking to the future
Since the team’s first competition entry in 2003, Cardiff Racing has developed a new car each year and we strive to learn from the past. We learn from our weaknesses and look to the future and hope to continue representing Welsh Engineering at Silverstone and beyond.
“This year has allowed me to further develop the skills I learnt on my industrial placement on Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) to be applied within the Cardiff Racing team. Our continued support with Cummins and Accelera has been especially vital, as they have supported us with design and troubleshooting our brand-new electric powertrain, without which our EV would not be possible.”
— Jed Alley, Chief Electrical Engineer
Written by Amelia Hopewell (Mechanical Engineering, BEng) and Tejaswini Saravanabavan (Electrical and Electronic Engineering, MEng)
