“Qi Ji II” Created by TJU Students to Catch a Dream in Shanghai

The “Qi Ji II” Formula Race Car, created by the Harley-Davidson Race Team from Tianjin University (TJU), made its debut for the 2012 race season on October 12, and then was taken to Shanghai for the 2012 Formula Student China (FSC) the following day. Among the three teams from Tianjin, the Harley-Davidson Race Team developed for over one year, and the “Peiyang Power” Race Team, who has built four cars, were both from TJU.

Representatives from associated TJU departments and sponsors attended the launch ceremony. They thanked the students and instructors for their painstaking efforts, spoke highly of the students’ technological innovative activities, and extended best wishes for their new journey.

At 1.4m wide, 2.6m long, and with a 40mm minimum ground clearance, “Qi Ji II” weighs only 240Kg, 100Kg lighter than “Qi Ji I”. To make the car 1/3 “slimmer”, over 60 team members carried out drastic reforms to the design of “Qi Ji I” over a five month period. A light and durable 4130 steel frame was chosen to make the body shell, and the chassis parts were redesigned to be lighter. On the premise of safety and stability, team members also optimized the car’s truss structure by removing unnecessary bar frames and further lightening the car.

“Qi Ji II” contains many creative inventions made by the team members which will assist the driver tremendously. According to Liu Wei, one of the team members, they made the dashboard with a microcomputer, on which an indicator light was designed to show the gear and engine speed. “With the indicator light, the driver can view the best time to shift and maximize speed instead of just following their experience and feelings so as to maintain peak condition during the race,” Liu added later.

Besides, a pneumatic shifting technique developed by the team members themselves was also applied to the car. In addition, a cylinder was used to replace the gear lever and the shifting mechanism to shorten the time for shifting apart from reducing the weight of the car.

Liu Wei said: “The legendary Pegasus “Qi Ji” soared in the sky when it grew up. So we designed the rims of the race car “Qi Ji” to look like two wings preparing for take-off. Meanwhile, we choose red and black in an attempt to create a visual marvel!”