Oxford Brookes University

[Ranald]

Hi everyone, I have been reading postings on this site for a good year now and have only just felt compelled to post my self.
I have recently started my motorsport engineering degree at Oxford Brookes University. Within the Uni' I have joined the OUMF (Oxford Universities Motorsport Foundation, http://www.oumf.org) where, along with a group of other students are running an Alfa Romeo GTAm 2 litre and currently building up a sister car, both to race specification.
Finally the reason for posting in this section. On November 9th we (OUMF) are having a special lecture/seminar from none other than Geoff Goddard, also a lecturer at Brookes, on race engine design and tuning. I am sure you're aware of Geoff Goddards achievements in F1, Indycar, Sportscars, touring cars, nascar and more with Cosworth particularly. If there are any questions that you would like me to ask Geoff I will see if I can get a couple in.

Thanks,

Ranald


PS I hope this post doesn't sound like a bragg.

[wazojugs]

Welcome to the forum

[Tom]

Welcome Ranald to THE forum,

I'm applying for Brookes next year, I've no idea how good it is or how hard it is to get in, any info much appreciated.

Good to see another forum member on there way to stardum, the merchanics are the real winners, they do all the work.

Good luck.

[Ranald]

Thanks for the welcome guys.
Tom, I strongly reccomend Brookes for Motorsport or Automotive Engineering or any kind of engineering to be honest. The teaching is very good and with people like Geoff Goddard teaching you, you could hardly be in better hands. The University has fantastic industry links, probably the best around, and the Brookes name carries a fair bit of clout within the industry. Plus the whole engineering department is moving to a brand new £30million building with brand new facilities an equipment in January.

Ranald

[Phoenix]

That school sounds great. Do you kow of any other schools with such prestige?

[Sawtooth-spike]

Arhhh Oxford Poly.

I did hear they did good motorsport stuff. I know bolton does motor shop degrees, not sure how good they are.

[Scuderia_Russ]

Welcome to the board Ranald.

-Geoff Goddard----> "Lecturing staff at the University comprise similarly highly-qualifed members from the motorsport fraternity, including former Cosworth Chief Engine Designer Geoff Goddard. Geoff’s CV includes Michael Schumacher’s frst race-winning engine through to a position managing the TWR/Arrows engine development team, who subsequently went on to develop RenaultF1’s 2005 V10 F1-winning engine; his complete list includes the design of over 70 race-winning engines."

I've no doubt his lecture will be one you won't want to miss, sounds fascinating. I hope the degree is going well. Oxford Brookes seem to have it sussed from what I have read. People should be careful though, Milton Keynes College for example claim t run a motorsport engine programme using engines from two Ford Probes... this isn't motorsport. Similarly other places give students on so called motorsport courses practical tasks to perform on road cars... this isn't motorsport. So if you're thinking about getting into a mototrsport course make sure you take your time looking into it!

That Alfa looks beautiful by the way. I hope you'll keep visiting the board in the future to let us know how you are getting on Ranald. (especially with the Alfa )

[Ranald]

Scuderia_Russ you are absolutely right about Motorsports Engineering courses and that you have to be careful when chosing a course. Many institutions claim motorsports degrees when really they are just automotive degrees. Another problem is that the market for motorsports based degrees is becoming saturated which makes chosing your University even more important.
I am going to be in the workshop tomorrow night, so I will try to get a couple of pictures of the 2nd car in its current state.

PS Thankyou for the warm welcome everybody.

[Scuderia_Russ]

Might be worth starting a new thread just on the Alfa and any good stuff you get up to. Persoanally I find projects like this fascinating and I'm sure others on here do too.

[NickT]

Hi Ranald,

Welcome to the mad house, looking forward to more of your postings. As for questions:

What are the most commonly used coatings, where are they used and what impact have they had in terms of design.

What are the fundimental differences between engine design in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and currently. I suspect many things are done in a similar way but the difference is in the details and materials used.

What is the future for valve actuation and why are we still using poppet valves and springs.


Can't think of anything else at present but if I do, I'll drop you a line.

Cheers