Steel City Racer's sights on international competition

Dec 10, 2003

The University of Wollongong's UOW Racing team has its sights set on defending its world championship in the Formula SAE international competition after finishing second among Australasian universities and fourth overall in the Australasian championship at the weekend.

UOW Racing project manager Fergus Wilson said the team was disappointed that it had been unable to successfully defend the Australasian Formula SAE-A title it won in 2001 and 2002, but had taken a number of positives out of the competition at Tailem Bend in South Australia. He said the team was on track to defend its world title in Detroit next May.

Visiting United States university Georgia Tech won the Australasian title from a Swedish entry, with the University of Queensland and UOW Racing third and fourth respectively.

"We had a few technical problems including a burst radiator hose and sticking throttle which affected our results," Wilson said. "It was disappointing because the new car had tested faster than last year's Steel City racer. Unfortunately things just didn't come together for us in South Australia. Under the circumstances, we were reasonably happy to come second among the local entries."

Wilson said the team had learned a lot from the competition, and was determined to improve for the trip to Detroit next year to defend the international title.

"We came away with a lot of ideas on how to improve our car for the trip to the US. We know the car is fast, but we have to work on a few other aspects. The good thing is that we know what needs to be done."

Formula SAE is a competition conducted by the Society of Automotive Engineers, to provide university students with the opportunity to design and build race cars for a competition in which they are judged on a range of categories including design, presentation, cost analysis and performance sections including endurance, acceleration, autocross and skid-pan.

It is supported by Australia's four automotive manufacturers Ford, Holden, Mitsubishi and Toyota. This year's event was held at Mitsubishi's proving grounds at Tailem Bend near Adelaide.

For more information, contact Fergus Wilson on 0411 374 753.

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128