Wollongong team races to victory

10 December 2001

Twelve months of hard work and dedication have paid off for a team of engineering students from the University of Wollongong, who raced to victory at their first race meet on the weekend.

The team of 32 final year engineering students from the Faculty of Engineering and their race car the Steel City Racer, stole the limelight at the four-day 2001 Australian Formula SAE competition held in Melbourne. The team came away from the competition with a boot full of awards, including the International Autocross Award; the Holden Achievement Award; and the Engineering Design Award, the Skid Pad Award, the Autocross Award, the Endurance Award and the Overall Performance Award in the Australasian Division.

Despite winning a number of awards and beating all of the teams in the Australasian Division, the UOW team was just beaten out for overall winners by an international racing team from the United States. However UOW team manager, Derek Powell, said that the UOW team was ecstatic about the performance at their race debut, beating all 13 Australian and two other international universities represented at the competition.

"We are really happy with our performance, especially as it is the first time that we have entered the competition. We left the other Australian university teams for dead," said Mr Powell.

Mr Powell said he would like to thank the team and sponsors for their contribution to the Steel City Racer. He said several local sponsors had played a vital role, contributing both cash and in-kind, and in many cases providing crucial expertise, including the University of Wollongong and major team sponsor, BHP Steel.

The Formula SAE-A program is designed to develop the technical and business skills of young engineers from both Australian and international tertiary education organisations. It requires each of the student teams to design, engineer and construct an open-wheel racecar. The climax of the program was the Australian Formula SAE competition, which was held in Melbourne last week.

For further information contact UOW Racing team manager, Derek Powell on 0402 110 313.