Updates, interview with a senior team member & more!
February Newsletter
11 March 2025
Previously this week:
On Tuesday 4th March we were gathered at Queen Mary, University of London for an evening of inspiration at Race for Diversity's event, joined by inspirational speakers:
Treasure Oyelade - Head of Operations at Motivez
Gerren Ntiri - Motorsport Engineering Student & Mission 44 Scholar at Oxford Brookes University
Cara Fox - Mechanical Engineering Graduate at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains
Ciaran Gray - Trainee Mechanical Engineer at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains
Zooming Ahead with QMFS: Meet Daniel from IC Suspension/ Sim Team Driver!
This month, we had the chance to chat with one of our dedicated senior team members from the IC Suspension department. Here’s a peek into their role, how they got involved with QMFS, and what keeps them coming back for more. Tell us a bit about your role in QMFS!
As a senior member of the IC Suspension team, I am deeply involved in designing and manufacturing critical suspension and steering systems. While these may not be the most glamorous parts of the car, they’re vital for ensuring top performance and safety on the track. I’m also a driver and race engineer for the sim team, where they not only give their best to race, but also calculate and form the optimal race strategies for each round, create specialised setups for each car we drive to maximise their performance, and also creating reports for the ‘Engineering Challenges’ that they are assigned each round, which are scored and count towards the overall championship.
What does your average day look like as part of the senior team?
A typical day for me usually consists of heading to uni early in the morning, since that's usually the best way for me to be productive, and either work on some coursework or do some studying/revision. Once I’ve had most of my lectures/classes for the day, I usually shift my focus to my FS work. Sometimes I might head over to the lab to do some work (which I’m trying to do more often) as there are often other team members present so it is possible to collaborate over certain areas of my work. An example of something that I’ve been working on recently (for my FS Sim work) is a script that essentially takes aero data and then compiles it into a neat aero map, which is essentially a bunch of tables and graphs that show how the aerodynamic performance of a car changes under varied conditions (ride height, wing angle, rake, etc).
How did you first get involved with QMFS, and what made you stay?
I was already aware of the team’s existence before I enrolled at QMUL, and I didn’t need any convincing to join since I was already really interested in motorsport and engineering in general. However, I did visit the team’s stall during freshers week (because why not?) and I had a chat with some of the current head of departments, which was quite nice. Before I joined, I was also pretty dead set on choosing suspension, since it aligned with my own interests in motorsport engineering, so that was pretty much my sole focus when I attended the associate sessions and completed my associate task. The process of joining was quite smooth and the team was very welcoming so it wasn't difficult to feel the part. In regards to what makes me stay, it's mostly just down to the fact that the work we do is very fulfilling and also because racecars are very cool, there doesn't need to be much else to it!
What’s the coolest or most unexpected skill you’ve picked up while working on the car?
While this may not sound surprising, a lot of the work in QMFS has really built up my proficiency with CAD modelling software. I’m glad that I’m getting better at it but also is something I still want to improve on as it would benefit me and the team, especially since it's essentially the bread and butter of most of the engineering departments. You can design quite a few cool things and I've got an idea or two for potential summer projects where these skills would be useful.
Life after QMFS—how do you think being part of this team has shaped your career goals or prepared you for the industry?
Before joining QMFS, I was already focused on pursuing a career in motorsport, particularly in endurance racing, which I'm passionate about. I enjoy both sim racing in my free time and watching endurance races. While working in Formula 1 would be exciting, my goal is to be part of a team involved in endurance racing. The work I’m doing at QMFS is helping me prepare for this, especially with my varied roles across IC Suspension and FS Sim. Formula Student is an excellent opportunity for gaining hands-on experience with large-scale engineering projects while still at university. It’s a great way to get a competitive edge when pursuing future career opportunities. Additionally, the skills I've gained here, especially with software that’s essential for engineering courses, give me a significant advantage over other students who may not have this experience. Although I’ve only been part of the team for a short time, I’m committed to staying on and making the most of the opportunities ahead. I’m confident that my involvement will continue to help me grow and reach my career goals.
If you had to describe QMFS in three words, what would they be and why?
‘Organised’ - From my time on the team so far, I’ve had the impression that Formula Student as a whole isn’t just an exercise in pure engineering competence but also one in organisation and management, especially with how complex a car can get and how many different departments need to work collaboratively, and QMFS seems to do that well.
‘Transparent’ - Mainly just based on the fact that the team feels so connected with how easy it is to reach out to people and how everyone is willing to help others. It's just a nice experience to be part of the team, in general.
‘Fast-paced’ - It’s all about working efficiently under pressure, especially in the suspension department this year, where we've had a lot of work on our hands, more so than usual. That's just the nature of the competition: designing and building a race car isn't an easy feat, year on year, and it requires quite a lot of perseverance and adaptability, but that is what makes it so rewarding to do.
If QMFS had an unlimited budget, what’s the most ridiculous but totally legal feature you’d add to the car?
Unsurprisingly, I’d like to go wild with the suspension. I suppose that there would be a lot of wiggle room with legality when the rules regarding suspension can be effectively summed up in three lines. Maybe we could go for a full active suspension system, despite how impractical that might be to implement. While we’re at it, if we really didn’t care about practicality or reliability, we could probably try and add as many active systems as possible to improve performance: aero, differential, etc. If (by some miracle) everything actually worked reliably and as intended at Silverstone, we’d have a pretty cool car on our hands!
Members of the Month
👑 (Operations) - Ainiy Syahpitri
👑 (Engineering) - Daniel Solan
👑 (Engineering) - Areeb Bhatti
Upcoming Events
Date TBC - Karting Event - Keep your eyes peeled 👀