I joined the Queen’s University Formula Design Team in my first year of university. In the summer before the school year, I was introduced to the world of Formula 1 and knew that the design team would be an exciting opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to design racecars!

In my first year on the team, I was on the Electrical Sub-team. My main task was to design all electrical components for the vehicle and ensure all systems function correctly. More specifically I designed the electrical harness for the entire vehicle in conjunction with the other students. Additionally, I learned to design PCBs using Altium Designer where I completed several individual and team-based projects. These included ECU, steering wheel HUD, brake lights, and much more.

At the start of the second year, I transitioned to the Chassis Sub-team. This involved designing and manufacturing the chassis of the vehicle. The main goal was to create a high-performance space frame chassis to house the components of the vehicle and the driver. I learned the design and manufacturing process of metal space frame chassis. Once the preliminary designs were completed, I learned how to use ANSYS to validate the designs and compare the results to hand calculations. Additionally, in conjunction with ANSYS, we used torsion test rigs to improve the chassis design and find the right balance between strength and weight.  Additionally, I designed jigs to understand driver ergonomics and ensured the chassis could accommodate all aspects of the vehicle. ​

My design team experience has been a fantastic way to take the knowledge I learn from the class room and apply them to real world applications. It has also advanced my software abilities such as SolidWorks, ANSYS, Altium Designer, Arduino IDE and MATLAB to name a few.