At the heart of our project are enthusiastic people and we boast a team of driven and unique individuals who are experts in their own specialisms and from different backgrounds and diverse subject areas. These include students from Automotive and Mechanical Engineering, to Business, Media, Sports, and Journalism, with previous team members having studied Pharmacy and Nursing courses.
To make it on to the track is our main goal and is a huge achievement each year and the fact that the competition is held at such a prestigious location as Silverstone is incredible. For many of us, it’s the first chance to be involved directly and experience a major motorsport event on this scale.
SUN Racing History
The University of Sunderland's racing team, SU Racing, was formed in 2003, but limited at the time to design and development. It wasn't until 2004 that the first Sunderland car was born – the SU04.
This car was designed from the ground up and built by a small team of five students in just three months. It was one of the heaviest and largest cars at the 2004 Formula Student event, running on road wheels and tyres straight from a Nissan Micra.
The majority of the drivetrain was taken from the same Micra and all sat within an in-house gas welded box section chassis powered by a very temperamental Kawasaki GPZ 500 straight twin engine.
Although this car was very large and very heavy, it was built in a short time period and made it to Formula Student. This paved the way for the future of SUN Racing in Motorsport and regular entries at Silverstone with custom components beginning to be manufactured.
For example, the 2009 entry was notable for its dramatic Cooper/Lotus 1950's styling and was fitted with an inline 4 DOHC Honda CBR 600 FY engine. This was the first SUN Racing car to use a four cylinder engine and to be fitted with fuel injection. The car was regarded by many, including a great number of officials at Silverstone, as one of the best-styled cars at the 2009 event.
Get involved
As our cars develop each year based on previous lessons learned and current best practice, we are always looking to improve the prospects and refine the skills of our team, which will hopefully make us stronger and more successful each year.
With the support from the University of Sunderland and the Institute for Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice (AMAP), we have a very bright future ahead of us.
If you would like to join us and make a real difference, or if you’re just interested in the Formula Student competition and would like regular updates about SUN Racing and what we’re up to then please get in touch, or come and meet us and see what we do.