UC mechanical engineering car clocking fast speeds

Details: University of Canterbury (UC) mechanical engineering students have designed and built a racing car that has clocked 0 to 100km an hour in under four seconds.

The racing car they are trialling is to compete in the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers Australasia design competition in Melbourne next week (December 12).

Thirteen UC students have designed and built the car for their final year project. They have been carrying out tests by the Wigram Air Force Museum in Christchurch on a large tarmac area outside the hangars.

``We have been getting up to speeds of 100kmph in less than four seconds, which puts it in supercar performance category. The final testing on the car went as good as we hoped it would before it was shipped to Melbourne a few days ago.

``Just as importantly, we could see the level of driver skill increasing as the students had more time in the car. I feel that the car and the students are both well prepared for the competition, but still we are under no illusions as to the difficulty of doing well against other equally well prepared teams that have lots more experience. We are happy to be the underdog though.

``We have 10 students travelling to the event, plus myself and senior lecturer Dr Don Clucas. Six of the students will be driving in the various competition events and others team members are providing technical and logistics support.

``We have been testing there twice a week for the last three weeks. The staff at Wigram are very enthusiastic about supporting UC students, which we are very grateful for, as without this facility we would be unable to do our car and driver development.

``Our car needs to measure up to the competition’s dynamic events including an endurance race, an autocross race, acceleration test, maximum cornering speed on a skid pan, and an economy test. It also needs to meet a design report, public presentation, and a cost report. Points are added up from each event do determine the overall placings.

``One of the female students on the project, Abby Neave, will be driving in both the acceleration and autocross events and is as enthusiastic as ever. She has done a considerable amount of driver training and has proved herself very capable behind the wheel.

``The financial implications are heavy, especially considering students are generally broke. However we have found a number of sponsors, including the UC Mechanical Engineering Department and a range of external sponsors such as the Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand.

``They are very enthusiastic to support this project as they see how powerful it is as a means of boosting the ability and competitiveness of design focused engineers in our country. The competition will be held at Victoria University in Melbourne and our team will be hosted by Monash Motorsport at Monash University. They will also host the University of Warwick team from the UK, so it promises to be a great competition environment,’’ Robertson says.