New Steel City Racer bids for hat-trick of Australasian titles

Dec 01, 2003

The University of Wollongong’s world champion Steel City Racer team unveiled its new race car today on 1 December before leaving on its quest for a hat-trick of Australasian Formula SAE-A titles in South Australia from 4-7 December.

The team, which won its second successive Australasian title in Melbourne last December before winning the international competition in Detroit in the United States in May, has built a new car that improves on the winning design of the past two years.

Steel City Racer Project Manager Fergus Wilson said the car had been designed by refining the successful principles of the 2001 and 2002 cars.

"Designing this car has been a case of evolution, not revolution," Fergus said.

"The new car is lighter and faster, and we’ve looked at a few areas that we felt needed improving. For example, we’ve strengthened the suspension, and improved the car’s electronics and data-logging. We’ve also completely re-worked the engine to provide more power."

The UOW Racing team is made up of 30 students studying Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Commerce who have designed and built the car.

The new Steel City Racer will compete against cars from other Australian and New Zealand universities in the competition run by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Australasia. The competition is based on a series of design, engineering, performance and endurance categories.

Academic supervisor Dr Oliver Kennedy from UOW’s Faculty of Engineering said it was "fantastic to see the team’s enthusiasm and the knowledge that they are getting from their involvement".

"Wollongong has an extraordinary record in this competition, which has made it very hard for this year’s team. They have done a fantastic job to prepare what we believe is an even better car than the two previous Steel City Racers," Dr Kennedy said.

He also praised the steadfast support of the University and the team’s sponsors for the project.

This year’s competition will be conducted at Mitsubishi’s test facilities at Tailem Bend near Adelaide from December 4-7, and Wilson said the team was well aware that rival teams had the UOW in their sights.

"Having won the Australasian title for two years, then winning in the United States in May, means we are the team everyone else wants to beat," he said.

"But we’ve also learned a lot from the past two years. We believe the new Steel City racer is a stronger car all round, but it needs to be because our competition is getting stronger."