Quickgrind Partner with Newcastle Racing
As a cutting tool manufacturer that operates at the very cutting edge of technology, Quickgrind has teamed up with Newcastle University to work on its Formula Student racing challenge.
Explaining the project in a little more detail, James Wilson, Sponsorship Manager at Newcastle Racing says: “Formula Student is a global event that is recognised by the Society of Automotive Engineers and the UK event is hosted by the IMECHE and it’s held at Silverstone every year at the time near the British Grand Prix. Over 100 teams go and race their single seat vehicles that have been designed and built by students.”
This year, Newcastle University has manufactured its 10th car, the NRX which is the university’s third fully electrical car. Consisting of a honeycomb chassis with a steel and aluminium undercarriage, the 225kg car can hit 0-60mph times of under 3 seconds with a power to weight ratio similar to that of a Porsche 911.
Discussing how Quickgrind has been supportive of the project, Mr Wilson continues: “Quickgrind has helped us in a number of ways. They have provided financial aid, so we can buy some of the bits the team needs. They have also provided a lot of expertise for the machining of parts like the steering and suspension. And of course, they have provided the tools for us to carry-out the machining on our routing machine. Without Quickgrind, some of the safety critical features wouldn’t have been possible and this would have put our drivers on edge.”
Commenting upon the cutting tool support, Technical Support Engineer for Quickgrind, Mr Graeme Hogg says: “Firstly, we have supplied the university with our Alligator range of cutting tools as it is predominantly aluminium that is being machined. Added to this, we have provided the technical support for the machining and also helped with the sponsorship of the car with a financial package. So far, the university has machined the hubs for the wheels, the steering system, braking system and much more. The geometry of our tools enables the team to machine the parts efficiently on what is a low horse-powered machine tool. Our philosophy is to help the students and apprentices throughout education with the best available tools and to educate them on the geometry and performance parameters of tools and how they work effectively. This will hopefully give the engineers of tomorrow a good footing before they go out in the big wide world.”