ATL Composites has contributed expertise and products to the Griffith Racing Team (GRT) in the annual engineering competition known as Formula SAE-Australasia.
Competing against other university teams from around Australia and Asia, GRT took to the track with their EV they dubbed “Lisa”.
The Griffith University team is composed of students from a range of engineering and business disciplines who each year, design and manufacture a petrol or electric open-wheel race car from the ground up.
Formula SEA-Australasia comprises events that showcase each team’s business and marketing strategies, financial management and engineering design.
The competition also focuses on pushing the student to test their vehicles to their absolute limits on the track in a variety of dynamic events.
This year, GRT was among 19 competitors who converged on Winton Raceway, Victoria, for five days of competition in various categories, 8 to 11 December.
As James Nelson from GRT explains, “The competition ruleset is relatively unrestricted compared to other motorsport disciplines, so students are encouraged to pursue pure innovation with unbounded creativity, focusing this year on aerodynamics.
“With the first development of an aerodynamic package since 2019, the team contacted long-time supporters of the team, ATL Composites.
“ATL has always been extremely supportive of the team, providing resin, fibres and consumables for all of our composite panels on the car. These include aerofoils, endplates, nosecone, side panels and floor panels.
“To build ‘Lisa’, we used KINETIX R246TX as our resin of choice for its mechanical properties and ease of working in conjunction with Divinycell PVC foam cores and ATL’s supplied fibreglass and carbon fabrics to create our aerodynamic components and body parts. KINETIX R246TX is a solvent free, thixotropic epoxy system that reduces vertical drainage and cureds at room temperature or low elevation temperatures. We also used Techniglue R60 and R15 Toughened Adhesive for bonding various components on our car with varying substrates.”
FSAE-A is divided into static and dynamic events. Static events involve each team presenting an overview of their costs, design rationale, and business decisions around the team and their car.
“We are proud to say we won first place in the cost event, and sixth place in the design event. This placed us the 4th highest EV team for static events,” says James.
“Dynamic events were unfortunately a different story,” he continues. “Our electrical team worked tirelessly over the event to fix issues with our motor controller, but we were ultimately unable to compete in the driving events. Since this was our first competition as an EV team, we are still very proud to have passed both the electrical inspections, meaning we were allowed to compete in dynamic events.”
“All in all, competition this year was a very beneficial experience for us. With plans to carry over the majority of systems to next year’s car, we believe we will be able to design a very optimised and competitive package for 2023.
“ATL Composites are currently the largest sponsor of the team, and we would not have the car we have today without them. Through sponsoring of fibreglass, carbon fibre, resins, and layup materials, we have been able to take our bodywork and aerodynamic devices to the next level.
“Again, a massive thank you to ATL composites for supporting the team.”
GRT has progressed in leaps and bounds since its inception in 2014. These achievements range from third overall at the 2019 FSAE-A competition to countless University awards.
Looking to the future, GRT is developing an electric vehicle heavily focused on its aerodynamic package and exploring concepts for the next generation of autonomous vehicles.
“This marks a significant step towards a green and more sustainable future for the team whilst also implementing a significant performance boost,” James states.
“To add further excitement, we are beginning research to evolve the electric vehicle into a fully autonomous race car for the future of the team in the next three to four years.
“We also plan to further improve our components for next year with the use of Duratec tooling products to produce moulds with a high quality and robust surface finish to achieve the best quality possible.
“We have been further supported with the supply of various bagging and release films, bagging tapes and breather material from ATL.
“All products have been of a high quality and delivered within short notice. Without the help from ATL Composites, GRT would not be able to achieve a highly competitive aerodynamic package.”