26 March 2007

Dundee students seek the formula for successful DRIVE

The challenge is one that occupies the world’s biggest motor companies, spending hundreds of millions of dollars in search of success in one of the most glamorous sports.

Now students at the University of Dundee have formed their own racing team - DRIVE (Dundee University Race Innovation and Vehicle Engineering) - to try and emulate the giants of Formula One. The team, based around students in Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics, have entered the Formula Student competition for the first time, which will see them design, build and run a Formula-style car.

"We have a team of eight students just now but we are hoping to get more people involved from different sections of the University," said student team leader Michael Barker.

"We’ve already got an engine, which we recovered from a scrapyard in Dundee, and over the next few months we will be looking to develop our plans. The first stage is to get a full design worked out and present that to the judges, and then move on to turning the plans into a full-scale, working racing car."

The students have already attracted sponsorship from a number of local businesses - including joinery firm JTC, Autosave Components, TayPrint and IPG Automotive GmbH - and are hoping to gain further support.

Formula Student is organised by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers to encourage students to develop and demonstrate their skills, enthusiasm, ingenuity and commitment to engineering excellence in designing, building and running a Formula-style racing car. It also provides industry with the opportunity to foster close links with academia and helps students develop the attributes they need for future success.

This year’s competition will be judged at Silverstone on 12-15 July 2007, when the Dundee team will present their initial design and plans. This is the first key stage of the process and must be passed before the students can move on to their main aim - delivering a fully functional car which they will run at the 2008 competition.

"This is a project that can be great fun for students but also presents them with serious engineering and design challenges," said Dr Alan Slade, of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics.

"Building a car from scratch is a great way of understanding how everything in engineering comes together. Most importantly this isn’t just work done on a computer simulator, this is real hands-on stuff where the students can get their hands dirty and really get involved with the project."

"We hope that our team will grow to bring together students from across the university, from different academic disciplines and year groups, and that we will see success resulting from combining all of these ideas and experiences from different fields. The one thing our team aims to be is different."

The School of Engineering and Physical Sciences has already invested in software to enable the students to design and test the chassis and other parts of the car, and Mechanical Engineering & Mechatronics is providing further financial and logistical support for the project.

In the grand tradition of all racing teams the students are in need of further sponsorship to enable them to finish building the car and to travel to Silverstone. All sponsorship that the team receives will be acknowledged by logos on the car and clothing, press releases and space on the team website at http://www.personal.dundee.ac.uk/~apslade/f_student

The team’s first sponsor was JTC, Joinery and Timber Creations, a local company who have provided workbenches and storage space for the team’s workshop.

They have been joined in supporting the project by Autosave Components, Clepington Road, Dundee and TayPrint, Lawside Road, Dundee, as well as IPG Automotive GmbH, who have provided Car Maker software to the team.

The team is holding an opening event on 28 March at 3pm in the Ewing Building at the University of Dundee. Potential sponsors are invited to attend to hear about the team, their ideas and their ambitions for development.

Further information can be obtained from Dr Alan Slade or by emailing DRIVE@dundee.ac.uk.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk