UWE Bristol Engineering showcase 2015

Project Supervisor
Dr Rohitha Weerasinghe
Kevin Daniel
Meng Mechanical Engineering
Suspension Design for an Electric Race Car
The chosen topic for this project is the designing of a suspension system
for the formula car. A Suspension system is a critical part to road and race
vehicles to get the ultimate performance package. By having a wellbalanced
set up and superior upgrades it’s possible to have a more
competitive car than other competitors. The vehicle suspension system is
responsible for driving comfort and safety as it carries the vehicle body
and transmits all forces between body and the road. But for a formula
racing car, comfort is least of the priority and the main aim for it is to
optimise the performance of the car during straight line sprints as well as
driving around corners.
The vehicle suspension system mainly consists of wishbones, springs and
shock absorbers. The spring in the suspension isolates the body from the
irregularities on the road and the shock absorbers damps the oscillations
of the body and the wheels. The geometry of the wishbones determines
important aspects of the design such as the instant centre and roll centre
which have a massive effect on the overall performance
Project Objectives
The main aim of this project was to construct
a suspension that will optimise the
performance of the car as much as possible
with a simple design.
Project summary
VSusp was used to analyse the
geometry then the data from this was
used to make a 3D sketch of the
suspension system on SolidWorks. The
CAD solid parts were modelled around
this 3D Sketch. Carbon fibre suspension
were also manufactured
Project Conclusion
The objectives were achieved because the all
the geometrical design aspects were within
the ideal parameters. The suspension is light
weight too because of the carbon fibre being
used as the material for the construction of
A-Arms