21 July 2008

Dundee students drive to success

A group of students at the University of Dundee are set to get a first-hand view of the world of Formula One racing after winning acclaim for their efforts to build their own racing car.

The members of the DRIVE team - Dundee University Race Innovation and Vehicle Engineering - are heading to the Belgian Grand Prix in the autumn, where they will get to see some of the world’s greatest race engineering teams in action.

Tickets to the Grand Prix were the reward for the Dundee’s teams efforts in the Formula Student competition, run by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, which challenges students to design and build a Formula-style racing car.

The Dundee students have just returned from this year’s Formula Student weekend at Silverstone, where they won the `Cost’ section of the competition and were judged 3rd overall in their class.

"Silverstone was a fantastic experience," said team leader Gareth Davies. "We were entered in Class 2 this year, for which you have to design and build a chassis and start to show you have the basics of the car."

"We have a rolling chassis at the moment, and the judges were really impressed by what we’ve done, especially given how small a budget we have had to work with. This has just been our first year on this and our budget has been just a few thousand pounds, whereas some of the competition who have been doing this for years are spending way more."

"Winning the Cost competition has got us the tickets for the Belgian Grand Prix, which should be brilliant - we’ll get access to the pits for some of the races over the weekend, so we’ll get a real close look at how the professional racing teams do it."

The students have built the car in their spare time, although there are considerable benefits to their coursework as they gain added skills in everything from engineering to communication.

"This has been a great project to be involved with in terms of a learning experience," said the team’s chief designer Mike Barker. "We have been really hands-on with designing parts and building the car in the workshop, really getting our hands dirty."

"It is a huge challenge to build a racing car from scratch, but I think we’ve done really well so far. The big challenge is moving up a class next year and really starting to put the car into shape, to the point where we have a fully-tested, driveable car. At the moment we have built ourselves a really good frame with the chassis and so on, so we have a good start."

The team has been supported with sponsorship from a number of local firms including John Clark Motor Group, Michelin and Brown& Tawse.

"The way people have got behind the project has been unbelievable," said Gareth. "They’ve given us money, expert advice, transport, use of their facilities - we can’t give enough thanks for the help all our sponsors have provided."

NOTES TO EDITORS
The DRIVE team is sponsored by John Clark Motor Group, Michelin, Brown & Tawse, Autosave Components, XM Services, JTC Furniture Group, Thom Micro Systems, RS Components Ltd, Scottish Motorsports Marshalls Club, Matrix International, IPG and Adamsons Fabrication.

CONTACT - Gareth can be contacted on 07731 005066

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