22/09/2020
On Wednesday the 16th of September the UTS Motorsports Electric team completed a successful downforce and drag test at the Sydney Motorsport Park precinct.
An early seven o’clock start meant much of the track was covered in fog as the team first arrived and began to quickly set up.
Conditions soon cleared however to reveal clear skies, setting a productive tone to the days proceedings.
The main objective of the day was to record the levels of downforce and drag that the car was producing, so the team decided to run the car with and without the floorpan and side pods in order to compare this data.
Proceedings began with a series of coast down tests – which is when the driver accelerates and then lets the car roll to a gradual stop.
This allowed the team to closely monitor the overall drag of the car, as more drag would ultimately force the car to become stationary sooner.
The team then began to conduct multiple skid pan tests, which assesses the cars handling and overall driveability.
Jack Gutmann took the car out for the first of several short runs without the floor plan and side pods.
The team then proceeded to fit these modifications back onto the car, with Sean Irving doing the rest of the days driving.
The team also experimented with numerous set-up alternatives throughout the day for the skid pan test, softening the suspension and changing the tyre pressures to produce an overall increase in performance.
“Overall it was a good day and driving the car was also good to get a read on its overall performance”, said Jack who drove the car throughout the first session.
“We are struggling with a little bit of understeer (going straight when the car should be turning), but what we are doing with the car is certainly improving this which is positive”.
“We also need to look at the data first, but the car is acting very similar with and without the floor plan from my point of view.
“There are little differences with the floor plan on, but we also kind of expected that the plan and side pods were not going to do have much impact at lower speeds and that we would only really see an improvement for the high speed stuff”.
The team will now return to the workshop to analyse and compare the valuable data that we have acquired throughout the day.
UTS Motorsports next test day is scheduled for after the final exam period.
William Owens – Media Co-ordinator