Steel City Racer
takes on the world
02-May-2002
A farewell event will
be staged at the University of Wollongong tomorrow (Friday 3 May) for
the 10-strong student racing team competing as Australia's sole
contender in the United States Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers)
competition.
Formula SAE is an
event for small, open-wheel racing cars designed and built by university
students. The competition was established in the USA more than 20 years
ago to encourage innovation and initiative among student engineers.
The team will leave
for the United States on May 8 and the competition will run from May 15-19
in Pontiac, Michigan. The winner of the overall competition against about
130 of the world's best university racers will be known on May
20 (Aust time).
The University of
Wollongong's Steel City Racer recently led home 14 of Australia's
universities in the second annual running of Formula SAE-Australasia held
at Lang Lang in Victoria in December 2001. Only the USA's highly-regarded
Rochester Institute of Technology outperformed the UOW team by the barest
of margins. It was the first time the UOW team had ever competed in the
Australasian competition gaining UOW a reputation as the best first year
team to compete in the 20-year-old competition.
UOW Racing designed,
built and tested its racing-winning Steel City Racer in less than a year.
Since its run in the Australasian competition, the car now has 25 per
cent more power and weighs 11kg less. Major sponsors for the US campaign
are BHP Steel, Mitsubishi Motors Australia, PBR Brakes and the Society
of Automotive Engineers Australasia.
Among those who will
attend tomorrow's team farewell will be the Pro Vice-Chancellor
(Operations), Professor John Patterson. Also in attendance will be this
year's new racing team who are putting together their design and
beginning to seek sponsors.
Media please note
Farewell event time: 10am Friday 3 May.
Venue: Duckpond
(near the UniBar), University of Wollongong.
For TV: Overlay
footage of the Steel City Racer in action will be available at the event
tomorrow in Betacam SP format.
Contact in Australia
and the United States: Derek Powell, US Campaign Project Leader, on
0402 110313. The phone will be set up for international access. Derek
can also be reached on his email at derekpowell@fishinternet.com.au
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