Latest News

Design Presentation Evening

On April 6^th, 2009 the team held a design presentation evening. In attendance were the 2009 team, a number of team sponsors, and very special guests Pat Clarke and Ron Tauranac, Formula SAE student advisors worldwide. The team had a chance to detail the major design changes for this year’s car, and received detailed feedback for these designs. We also displayed our 2007 and 2008 cars to all the guests to show what the designs presented will eventuate into.

Special thanks to Pat and Ron for making the long trip down to Wollongong for this presentation, and our faculty mentor Bob Wheway for organising the food for the guests.

     

Manufacture has commenced!

The 2009 campaign is well underway, and with the detailed design of all systems being finalised, manufacture has commenced. The team is focusing on an early first drive date to ensure the appropriate testing, tuning and driver training can take place well before the competition start date. This is essential for the success of any campaign so the team is hard at work striving to meet the accelerated manufacture deadline.

Drive Day

With over 65% of the competition points reliant on the success of the vehicle and its drivers, the team recently held a driver selection day at Oran Park. A number of team members were tested for their speed, consistency and ability to avoid track marking cones through a number of different driving situations. Some great results by a number of members were shown, and with the drivers now selected the team can now focus on driver training to ensure we remain competitive in the dynamic events at the competition.

Click here for some photos of the event

Demonstration Day

Carrying on from the recruitment drive at the clubs and societies day, the team put on a demonstration of the 2007 vehicle at Wollongong City Raceway in Kembla Grange. With approximately 30 interested people attending from a range of disciplines, UOW FSAE will have a bright future in the years to come.  Special thanks go to Wollongong City Raceway for their continual support.

Clubs and Societies Day

With the majority of the current team graduating at the end of this year, there is a major focus on recruiting new and enthusiastic members for the team. With the 2007 and 2008 vehicle on show, there was a large amount of interest from everyone within the university community. A large number of 1^st through to 4^th year students showed their interest in the team and will form the next generation of UOW FSAE. To become a member of the team, please contact Ben Williams on the details below.

Ben Williams – bmw161@uow.edu.au

Innovation Centre

The University Engineering and Innovation Centre has been UOW FSAE’s home since its beginning in 2001. With the announcement of a $35 million government grant, the University is completely rebuilding and refurbishing the workshop building into an entirely new interdisciplinary ‘SMART’ infrastructure facility (Simulation, Modelling and Analysis for Research and Teaching).

While the new building is being constructed, the workshop has been relocated to the innovation centre, working alongside the team. Despite the reduction in space, the team has gained a great advantage as the machines that the majority of the vehicle is manufactured on are now in the same building that the car is assembled. We look forward to working with the workshop staff throughout the year and thank them for their support over the years.    

2008 Formula SAE Australasia (FSAE-A) Competition

The FSAE-A competition is the event that the vehicle is designed and manufactured for. The 2008 FSAE-A competition was held from the 27^th to the 30^th of November, where the team competed with the latest UOW vehicle, ‘Frank’.

The team started the competition well with some high scores in the static and dynamic events, however suspension failures in the main event meant we were not in contention for a podium result. In the end we finished with 9^th place overall out of 24 competitors. For a full competition wrap up please follow the link below to the first issue of @fullnoise for 2009.

Click here for photos of the 2008 competition