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The University of Wolverhampton has built an enviable reputation in academia for its University of Wolverhampton Racing (UWR) team. The UWR stable now consists of a team in the F3 Cup, the AR Morgan Challenge and the IMechE Formula Student Championship, not to mention the close ties to industry that are giving students an excellent step-up the ladder into a career in Motorsport. MTD magazine visited UWR to take a look at how UWR has built relationships with industry and the positive impact..

MTD spoke with Mr Syed Hasan, Head of the School of Engineering and Chairman of University of Wolverhampton Racing (UWR) and he told us: “This is an initiative within the university where we have created a racing team that is a completely student crew with a professional driver. The student led team is supported by a racing engineer and driver and we race in the F3 Cup, and this is moving us a step forward.”

When asked about the funding, Mr Hasan continues: “We started out on our own as an initiative supported by the university and as we progressed, we were very fortunate that we had industry partners to come and join us. Initially, this was relevant industry partners, but this is now more widespread and their support is very important for us. It not only contributes financially, but also technically. One of the major sponsors are Quickgrind cutting tools, not only for the race team but also the School of Engineering. Currently they are supporting the F3 Team as well as the Formula Student team, which is an IMechE competition. So, more or less, Quickgrind are part of our workshop furniture and they have given us donations in kind as well as financial support.”

Commenting on proudly supporting UWR, Quickgrind’s Graeme Hogg says: “We are now into our second year of sponsorship and the UWR has joined our Quest program, so we have sponsored them, we supply cutting tools, give technical support and financial support and the relationship has been fantastic.”

When educational facilities engage with Quickgrind, they receive the full support of the Quest Programme. Quest’s Technical Support Engineers educate academia staff and students alike in how to achieve optimal performance of cutting tools. Quickgrind engineers visit the university establishment, review the machine shop facility and processes and then report and implement best practice with regard to improving applications and machining strategies – giving academia access to the cutting edge technology applied in industry.

Engineering at universities has certainly evolved down the years and UWR has employed additive manufacturing with 3D printed inconel manifold and titanium printed wheel hubs as just a few of the additive parts in the race car. Talking through the support around such projects, Graeme says: “There are four 3D printed hubs on the car and we developed a multi-flute cutter specifically for additive machining. We machined the hubs to a 2 micron tolerance for the bearing to fit straight into the hubs. This was new for us, as we hadn’t previously done much with 3D printed titanium. It behaves somewhat differently from mainstream titanium. The results were fantastic, the flashes were cut off the parts and the hubs went straight into the car at Silverstone for race day.”

“The motorsport industry is all about quick turnaround and that is what Quickgrind is all about. We are currently working on more special tools that will be turned around for the UWR team in a week or so. Additionally, when a car is smashed on the track, the team can come to us and we can supply the cutting tools but also supply the programming and the technical support, which is something we’ve done to make sure the car is back on track for the next meeting.”

“The relationship is getting stronger and it pulls-in a lot of different aspects as well; as people get to know about us on social media through the university and UWR, we get involved in more diverse projects. The connection with UWR is working really well and we’re really pleased with the partnership. Our ethos of ‘Infinite Possibilities’ demonstrates that we don’t work as ‘catalogue people’ with standard products. We customise our products to suit the customer – why compromise when you can customise!”

“There are manufacturers out there that will use a standard tool flute length because it’s out of a catalogue, why not make the flute length longer or shorter, it’s not going to cost any more, as we are manufacturing on high-tech CNC machines. We will advise people to use a different flute length or radius and this stops people from using 2 or 3 tools for a job when one will suffice. Our manufacturing and support is stretching beyond industry and into academia and this bodes well for the future of Quickgrind,” concludes Graeme.