Race team revs-up for international pitstop

A UQ motor racing team will make its international race debut in England next month against some of the world’s quickest university teams.

Since January, the UQ team has been building a new car to race 60 competitors at the English Formula Student competition, north of London, from July 9-11.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) competition lets undergraduate students design, build and race small formula-style cars.

UQ`s Racing Team, the reigning Australian champions, will be judged on the car’s costs, design, presentation and manufacturability.

They will also be judged on acceleration over a 75-metre sprint, handling on a figure-eight circuit and endurance and fuel economy during a race around a tight go-kart like track.

UQ team manager Michael Atherden said their car reached 100kmh in under four seconds and had a top speed of 160kmh thanks to its 600cc Honda motorcycle engine.

This is their third car, which boasts a tweaked differential, stronger chrome-moly chassis and about 700 metres of wiring.

It is lighter than its predecessors at 225kg, not light for the style of car, but still a “well sorted package”.

“We’re quietly optimistic about our chances,” Mr Atherden said.

They only had six months to rebuild the car after doing comprehensive computer modelling to improve the chassis.

Their goal is a top three finish against mostly European teams, who have been preparing for 12 months.

The team is also building a special crate to protect the car in transit.

Transport has been a logistical and financial challenge, as flying the car to England and shipping it home was quoted at $7500.

The University has provided the workshop space to build their cars and $15,000 in funding this year, which has been topped up by sponsors.

Six UQ team members – Mark Fenning, Frank Evans, Micheal Plouffe, Nick Myers, Tania Rautenbach and Mr Atherden, will fly to England.

Four of them will drive the car, probably on a mixed concrete/bitumen track.
“We don’t actually know what the layout of the track will be. It’s not like on TV where you have a set circuit.

“Because it’s a student competition they also don’t want us going at ridiculous speeds.

“So they make the tracks purposely to keep the speed down.”

The students have paid their own airfares and leave on June 28.

For more information contact Michael Atherden (phone: 0438 818 289, email: fsae@mailbox.uq.edu.au) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (phone: 3365 2619, m.holland@uq.edu.au)