This summer, Sheffield Hallam’s Formula Team, SHU Racing, will compete in Europe’s most established extra-curricular engineering competition at Silverstone. Each year, a team of over forty students from various academic backgrounds, ranging from foundation to masters level of study, design and build a single-seat, open wheel race car to compete against over 100 university teams.

SHU Racing offer students a working environment where team members can learn and apply their new skills to a real-world project, gaining invaluable experience to prepare them for their future careers.

Alumni who were members of the team as students regularly return to support the current Formula students by offering technical expertise and help with specialist areas which they have experienced in their graduate careers, such as carbon fibre manufacturing.

The current Project Manager and Lead Aerodynamicist is Findley Scrivener, a masters student studying Mechanical Engineering. Findley spoke to us about the benefits of alumni engagement with the SHU Racing programme:

How do alumni support the SHU Racing team?

“Each year, the team pushes to design and manufacture a faster car. Our 2022 Team Principal and Chassis Manager, Ollie, periodically checks in with the team and has mentored the current Chassis Manager for a few years, guiding the development of our first-ever carbon fibre chassis, manufactured entirely in-house.

At the race weekend, several alumni visit Silverstone and watch the event, with managers from up to 4 years ago attending and giving their insight on the year's developments. I have personally benefitted from this as I spoke with Matthew, the Aerodynamics Manager from 2020, who advised me on the design of aerodynamic under floors and sidepods, facilitating the new design we've optimised for the 2023 season.”

Are you enjoying your role as Project Manager?

“As Project Manager, I've had the pleasure of overseeing the team's long-term development, including teaching new members about automotive design and manufacturing. Since the start of the academic year, I've been teaching students about aerodynamic design and analysis for race cars, something not already taught in the University curriculum. This teaching began with final year students completing their dissertations on the SHU Racing car, but has now extended to the entire team, ranging from foundation to final year students.

I’ve been able to support students with incredibly important assignments such as dissertation topics and I’m looking forward to being able to mentor and support SHU Racing students after graduation.”

The support alumni provide to current students, as seen here through the SHU Racing programme, encourages them to take up new opportunities, allowing them to develop and learn in a supportive environment. If you’re interested in hearing from us about future volunteering opportunities, please update your details.