About
UniSA Racing Development
The University of South Australia started taking part in the annual Formula SAE competition in 2002 when a group of five students led by Paul produced a very reliable race car. The group undertook the task as their final year project within the Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Engineering field. In late 2004, a group of 12 students got together with an objective to compete in the 2005 competition and began an ongoing involvement in Formula SAE by the university to form Team UniSA Motorsport based at Mawson Lakes Campus after the absence of three years from the competition.
Since 2004, Team UniSA has successfully entered a team in every competition since with much success and are again entering the competition in 2009 with a team of eleven final year Engineer (Mechanical/Manufacturing and Electrical Engineering)) students lead by team manager Brian Mcavaney.
The teams aim in 2009 is to successfully build a fast, reliable vehicle that will improve on results achieved in 2007 and hopefully gain them a place in the top ten universities at the event.
Formula SAE
Formula SAE is an annual international engineering design competition begun in 1980 and run by the Society of Automotive Engineers in the USA, UK, Japan, Italia and Australasia for University students.
The Formula SAE-A (SAE-Australasia) competition is for final year Mechanical Engineering students to conceive, design, fabricate, and compete with small formula-style racing cars. The restrictions on the car frame and engine are limited so that the knowledge, creativity, and imagination of the students are challenged.
The cars are built with a team effort over a period of about one year and are taken to a host institution for judging and comparison with other competitors. The end result is a great experience for young engineers in a meaningful engineering project as well as the opportunity of working in a dedicated team effort.
Competition
The Formula SAE-A competition is held at the Victoria University Driver Training Facility at Werribee, outside Melbourne. The 2009 event taking place mid November.
The cars are judged in three different categories:
- static inspection and engineering design.
- solo performance trials.
- high performance track endurance.
These events are scored to determine how well the car performs, with the highest scoring team overall claiming the prize of Formula SAE-A Champions.