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Formula Student is a competition held on yearly basis in multiple countries around the world. Students from different universities participate in this competition implementing some of the most sophisticated techniques in design and analysis of Formula Student car performance. In this research a track simulation tool is developed using Python to analyze the effect of different systems on the car performance, and to test the performance of the car on the Autocross track. For simplicity, the car is modeled as point mass in straight roads and corners. Intensive studies were carried out leading to a conclusion that, in some cases, point mass modeling leads to some inaccuracy and in others it provides the solution. Therefore, to achieve simulation accuracy, the point mass model was replaced with four degrees of freedom, or “bicycle”, model counterpart when it couldn’t provide an accurate solution, and the difference between both models results are discussed.

A throttle valve is one of the main components of the intake system of a vehicle and is used to control the air flow rate into the combustion chamber at different engine speeds. Consequently, it has considerable effect on the engine power and performance especially at high engine speeds. The butterfly throttle valve is more common in commercial vehicles due to its simplicity. However, the butterfly throttle plate may affect the engine performance by incurring some pumping losses at high engine speeds even with the plate at wide open throttle (WOT) position. Hence it is proposed in this research work to replace and compare the performance of a spark ignition engine butterfly throttle valve to a newly designed barrel-shaped one with regards to the induced air mass flow rate. The main benefit of the proposed barrel-shaped throttle valve is the elimination of the flow restriction at WOT and high engine speeds.