Written by Angela South
Track Day 25th April 2025
The team arrived at Sydney Motorsport Park on the 25th of April. The premise of this track day was to determine if the Anti-Roll Bar (ARB) would improve the cars suspension and handling, as well as understanding the vehicle’s tractive limits when driving and accelerating through slip testing. This testing will help validate the data received from the engineering software OptimumK and MoTeC. The team was joined by our Faculty Advisor, Evan, and Alumni/2023 Team Principle, this was great for the team to have their knowledge and feedback during this track day.
The day started with the team having a mandatory safety and track briefing to ensure that all team members understood the safety procedures and requirements. Right after the first shakedown was completed, it was time to start the ARB Testing.
The first test was conducted without the ARB to establish a baseline. The car was stable but had a few difficulties with corners and some understeer. The next test involved a softer ARB setup, which showed a noticeable improvement in handling according to the drivers’ feedback. The team then moved onto a middle setting ARB setup, providing stiffer control in the handling. The final test was a stiff ARB, during this test the car felt twitchy, and the drivers noted a higher rotation and unpredictability for corners.
The car was brought into charge and right after we continued to test our suspension on a new track layout to try and gauge how the car would behave in various conditions. The track was a small slalom with approximately 8 cones with an elongated right-hand turn. The primary purpose of the slalom is to get transient data, and the primary purpose of the elongated right-hand turn is to get steady-state data along a longer radius. The skid pad only tests one scenario but the team wanted to see how the car reacted under a longer more constant procedure.
With the track day finishing the team packed up the vehicle and departed from Sydney Motorsport Park, on the way back to UOW. Unfortunately, the team were unable to complete their power train testing, so we need to set up another day to test these issues. Although this was a setback, the day still proved to be highly beneficial.
Having the guidance and input from both our Faculty Advisor and Alumni was also a key highlight, as their experience offered valuable perspectives that helped the team interpret results and identify areas for improvement. Overall, the track day gave us the opportunity to validate important engineering decisions, refine our testing process, and highlight where further development is required before the next stage of competition preparation.
