Harwin’s Datamate connectors feature on Imperial Racing Green’s Formula Student Electric Race Car

Imperial Racing Green is an undergraduate teaching project at Imperial College London involving almost 100 students across 8 different engineering departments. The first project of its kind at the University, Imperial Racing Green draws on expertise from across Imperial College's Faculty of Engineering, building low emissions, hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric vehicles to compete in worldwide races. It is the also the only UK team to participate in Formula Zero, alongside teams from the USA, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.

The Imperial Racing Green design team is using Harwin’s high–performance 2mm pitch Datamate connector system in the battery management system of its latest electric track vehicle IRG04 which is entering the 2010 IMechE Formula Student Class 2 (Design) Competition and will be entering the 2011 Class 1A event as a race-ready track vehicle. Explains team member Amit Meghani: “Our karts reach speeds of 50-60mph and therefore the interconnection system must withstand a great deal of vibration. As we travel around the figure-of-eight course the kart will also be subject to forces of up to 3G so shock performance is vital too.”

The team is using Datamate J-Tek which features jackscrews for additional security. Adds Meghani: “We are very satisfied with the performance of the product and the support that we have had from Harwin’s applications team. We are proud to name Harwin as a bronze sponsor for our race campaign.”