V8 Supercar driver Mark Winterbottom has put a University of Queensland student race car through its paces at the Mount Cotton Driver Training Centre.
The Gold Coast based driver who is currently 14th on the V8 Supercar Championship Series ladder, test drove the UQ Racing car on Monday for more than 50-laps around a 400-metre track.
UQ Racing is a group of mechanical engineering students who have designed and built their own car to race the Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) team series.
Winterbottom swapped his 1400-kilogram supercharged V8 Falcon for UQ’s 210 kilogram race car and said he was impressed with its technology, acceleration and responsiveness.
“It was pretty impressive actually. It is probably the most advanced thing I’ve ever driven,” Winterbottom said.
“It has all the luxuries of what a top racecar could be. It was really good to drive. I would say my V8 is probably a lot harder to drive.”
Winterbottom said it matched his V8 for acceleration from 0 to 100 kilometres an hour and enjoyed testing its steering wheel handbuttons and launch control which limits tyre spin on take-off.
The only adjustment after the testdrive was a tweaking of the sway bar which made the car handle better with less understeer.
“We’re really limited to what we can do in our class where that car can have whatever it wants, so technology wise it’s up there with the best of them.”
He was invited to testdrive and give feedback on the car by George Commins, a UQ engineering graduate and fromer UQ Racing team manager who now works with Winterbottom’s team.
UQ Racing made its international race debut in England in July and is preparing for its next race at the Victoria University Driver Training Centre from December 2-5.
Media: contact Lee Hanatschek from Orrcon Racing (phone: 0403 531 914, email: lee@bammedia.com.au), Michael Atherden from UQ Racing (phone: 0438 818 289) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (phone: 3365 2619, email: m.holland@uq.edu.au)
