Cohesion is essential for team harmony and performance. It is universally sought in sport teams. The benefits have been extensively studied and are a requirement of team success. Counter to wide held belief, cohesion is not an intrinsically positive phenomenon. This thesis aimed to develop more understanding of the potential disadvantages or costs of high cohesion in sport teams to fill a significant gap in the literature. Study 1 examined the extent and nature of these costs. Athletes perceived similar costs. Fourteen categories of costs were identified with perceived pressures and communication issues demonstrated to be strongly significant. Study 2 was framed in narrative theory to explore costs experienced over the life-span career of a retired professional motor sport co-driver. The most significant costs experienced were pressure to perform and pressure to conform. The key influencing factors were a performance narrative along with what was identified as a new narrative type, the team performance narrative. Study 3 utilised the lens of narrative theory to explore when and where costs were not experienced by a current elite motorsport sport driver and his team. Buffers were indicated. Study 4 was a case study of a high performing team where across the entire season team cohesion was high but performance wasn’t reciprocated accordingly. High cohesion produced costs of conformity and normative influence, rigid demands and methods with narrow goal focus, communication issues and pressure to perform. These costs are all inter-related and interacted to have a negative impact on performance. This thesis raises awareness of the potential costs of high cohesion in sport teams and, by offering a new model – the Cohesion Costs’ Reduction Model - for identifying strategies to minimise these potential costs, aims to improve individual wellbeing in a team and improve team performance.

<p dir="ltr">Car design is a complex task because of how highly integrated system of systems it is. Fine?designed car models take years of design and optimization and are usually done by specialty teams who are dedicated to each sub-system. This thesis delves into designing a simplified electric race car from scratch with focus on the performance envelope of it. First, a 3D CAD model was done using SolidWorks. That section deals with spatial engineering and strategic placement of major car components for best performance. Having most of the parts in place gives a rough estimate of CoG (Center of Gravity) location, which is needed for vehicle dynamics analysis, which are discussed later in the report. The target for this project car is to have innovative aerodynamics features which might not have been used before because of bulky internal combustion engines restricting available space. One of them is an airfoil-like fascia which makes the center part of the car act as a one big wing. That is believed to give a significant reduction in drag loads on the car. The approach for aerodynamics design and analysis started with a model representing the car’s OML (Outer Mold line) which was simulated separately using Siemens StarCCM+. After understanding the car’s body aero behavior, a rear wing was added to provide extra rear downforce for better handling and stability. The rear wing design was explained in detail. Unfortunately, due to time restrictions as well as software access issues, the aerodynamic analysis of the full car with rear wing is left for future work. After having an estimate about aero loads acting on the car, vehicle dynamics analysis could start. The first subject studied in vehicle dynamics was front-view suspension geometry analysis. Taking the available packaging and geometry into consideration, a 2D model was done in SolidWorks to optimize camber gain. This analysis gave the motion ratio of the front and rear pushrod suspension system which was needed to analyze the performance of the one-eighth car model, ½ car pitch model, and ½ car roll model. These models gave insights into the decision-making process for spring and damping rates to reach a good balance between performance and comfort. This project acts as a hub for further development and studies related to car design.</p>