The University of Queensland’s Formula SAE team will display its newly-engineered car at the 2003 Brisbane Motor Show starting on Friday.
The UQ Racing team will have a stand alongside leading names in the automotive industry during the annual event held at the Brisbane Convention Centre between Friday, February 7 and Sunday, February 16.
Spokesperson for UQ Racing Mark Calder said he was delighted to be able to show the public what the team of students had achieved.
He said during 2002 the car had undergone a major facelift. “We have used more Computer Assisted Design technology and data acquisition to improve the performance of the car,” he said.
At the 2002 Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) competition held in Victoria UQ Racing came tenth out of 18 entries. The event attracted 15 Australian universities and one each from the US, Japan and Germany.
Mr Calder said the team was now looking forward to this season and the 2003 Formula SAE Championships, to be held in Adelaide in December.
The restrictions placed on the car frame and engine by Formula SAE are limited so that the knowledge, creativity, and imagination of the students are challenged.
“Formula SAE is a design competition where the cars are designed, built and raced by university students. The project is an ideal bridge from theory to practice and is considered desirable experience by many employers,” Mr Calder said.
The UQ car is an open wheeled racing car which weighs 285 Kg and has a Honda 600cc motorcycle engine which develops 68Hp (with a 20mm restrictor).
It accelerates from 0 to 100Km/hr in 4.2 seconds, corners at 1.3g and has a top speed of 140km/h.
“The tracks they are designed to race on are very twisty and therefore acceleration and cornering is more important than top speed,” Mr Calder said.
The UQ team, based in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has 16 members and around 20 sponsors, who provide financial and material assistance.
CADsoft Solutions, for example, provides Solid Edge software, ELSA graphics cards, computer hardware, training, and technical support.
Media: For more information, contact Mark Calder (telephone 07 3365 2956, email: mcalder@itee.uq.edu.au) or visit www.uq.edu.au/fsae/home.htm
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