UWA Motorsport 2009: April 2008

UWAM Express April

UWAM Express

Issue #39 April 2008

From the Project Manager

This month has been a mixed bag of emotions for everyone at UWA Motorsport for a number of reasons. Firstly we had to say a sad farewell to Ian Hamilton, the acting Head Technician of the UWA Mechanical Engineering Workshop head technician. April was a busy month in terms of events with one of the biggest that UWA Motorsport attends – the Perth Motorshow which was held at the Convention Centre. On top of that, we were also asked to run a number of tours for the Women in Science and Engineering students, some having come a long way to see the engineering department of UWA and our cars!

Aside from the work that we put in for events and tours, we are still remaining focussed on the task at hand, to build the worlds best and fastest Formula SAE race-cars! There is no doubt that running such intense events, which soaks up a lot of man/woman-power, does slow the progress and design of the 2008 car. But this is something that we take as somewhat of a challenge. Being part of a race-team does not only involve building and racing cars while swinging spanners and enjoying the smell of burnt rubber. It encompasses a vast number of aspects that involve sponsor relations, promoting, media appearances, public appearances, information sessions and demonstrations. The UWA Motorsport team simply would not be where it was today without the hard work outside of the workshop that ensures the public and sponsors see that we are proactive and promote ourselves as a real race-team.

For many of us, the realisation that one-quarter of the year is behind us is surreal. University is becoming more intense, with assignments being due, lectures continuing and laboratories being run. Not only this, but manufacturing of the car has begun and a sense of urgency has befallen the people on the team. Four months out of the year we will never see again is time that we can never utilise, use for design or build anything in. I think we as a team have been around long enough to realise that maintaining a solid work rate is critical and that milestones must be set in order to stay on track and keep to a launch goal. Everybody can rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to make yet another blisteringly fast race-car!

Best Wishes,

Michael Talikowski

2008 UWA Motorsport Project Manager

talikm02@student.uwa.edu.au

UWAM 2007 Flying to Detroit – USA

Our 2007 team, the same that took the title of Australasian Champions for 2007, are getting ready to ship the car to the states on 22^nd April with the team heading over soon after. As with all UWAM teams, they have big shoes to fill since last year the team came second overall on the world stage! The 2007 guys have been working extremely doing testing, tuning and refining their car for the all-important International Competition. This year, the Detroit races are also the FISITA World Championships so all the best and finest will be out with their pride and joy, all competing for the number one title. We wish the 2007 guys all the best and continue in the design and manufacture of the 2008 UWAM race-car!

Progress Report

It is getting to the business end of things and we are fast approaching a point where packaging layouts have to be decided. In doing this we have started mocking up the rear-bay where the engine sits to uncover any packaging problems that we may come across later in the year. The mock-up day saw Warrick make a mdf rig that resembled the seat back area that would accommodate the fuel tank and electronics, the firewall and a platform resembling the bottom boundary of the engine plate. This allowed us to place the engine in a preliminary position and measure distances, look at exhaust packaging, suspension arms, positioning of the cyclonic separator, oil catch-can, oil pick-ups and other items that require accurate packaging and positioning in the rear.

A sad farewell to Ian Hamilton

For a while now we have known that Ian Hamilton will be retiring from his role as Head Technician of the UWA Mechanical Engineering workshop. Ian is an avid supporter of UWA Motorsport often coming with us and Derek Goad, another senior technician, to the Australasian competition to cheer us on. Ian was an asset to the team as he often performed a lot of the work we submitted into the workshop himself, making sure it was manufactured perfectly. Ian was a huge part of the team since its inception in 2001 right up until his retirement in late March and UWA Motorsport showed its support by naming the 2007 car IHS – 2007, the Ian Hamilton Special 007. We decided to hold a farewell BBQ in his honour to celebrate Ian retirement and enormous contribution to the success of the team. On behalf of the current team, alumni and UWA staff, we wish Ian a happy and stress-free retirement. Ian will always be a UWAM member in our eyes.

Perth Motorshow

Once again it’s that time of year where UWA Motorsport get ready for one of its biggest public events – the Perth Motorshow held at the Convention Centre. Thank you goes to Premiere Events for their fantastic support and willingness to continue their generous support into 2008.

The Perth Motorshow gives the team an awesome opportunity to showcase our cars to the car-loving public of Perth. It is also excellent practice for some of the guys on the team to test their level of knowledge about the team, with some really good questions being asked about the cars. Upon explaining to the public that these cars are designed and built by university students from the ground up, it was great to see some of the reactions. If that wasn’t enough, our response to, “how fast does it go”? consistently produced some Kodak moments with figures such as 3.5seconds from 0 – 100km/h amazing most people.

Many also couldn’t believe the weight of the rims that we use on these cars are, with the expectancy of something much heavier than the feather-light rim sample that we put on display along with some test samples.

We all thoroughly enjoyed talking to public at the Perth Motorshow and we would once again like to thank Premiere Events for not only allowing us to make a presence at the show, but in a fantastic spot at that!

Women in Science and Engineering (WISE)

As part of UWA Motorsport’s push to promote engineering and higher-education in general, we were more than happy to take part in the Women in Science and Engineering event held this month. This is a program held by the university which gives girls from schools around the state a chance to see what studying at UWA is like. The university organised activities and tours around the engineering and science faculties to showcase what the university has to offer the girls and to encourage females into these fields of study. As a part of this program UWA Motorsport was once again asked to show the girls around our lab where all the cars are built and what the program is about. Thanks to the success of last-year’s event, there was an overwhelming demand for the tours this year and three tours had to be arranged to fit in all the girls! After a brief run-down about what the motorsport team is, they were shown the engine dyno and even heard it running with the computer showing what was happening within the engine. As a further treat, we put the 2005 car on stands and cranked the engine, giving the girls first-hand experience into what a real race-car sounds like. To finish up, most of girls got to sit in the 2005 to feel what it’s like drive a open-wheeled, formula-style race machine!

Spotlight on Sponsors

Premiere Productions and Events is now recognised as one of WA's leading event and marketing companies, managing some of WA's major consumer shows.

This includes the Perth Motor Show, Perth Truck and Trailer Show, Perth Motorcycle and Scooter Show and the Mandurah Boat Show. As well as this, we look after a number of regional events such as the Northam Motorcycle Festival, the Cunderdin Easter Air Show and the Aquatank Travelling Fishing Show.

Our professional marketing team provide advertising services to a select number of clients in the outdoors, travel, boating and retirement industries.

In addition to this, we provide audiovisual production services producing programs for Channel 7, television series and consumer and corporate dvd production as well as still photography.

[Information from Premiere Event website]

UWA Motorsport has been lucky enough to be affiliated with Premiere Events (previously called T2 Advertising and Events) over the past years. They have provided UWA Motorsport with an invaluable service by reserving us a place at the annual Motorshow.

Thank You Premiere Events!!!

Contact Premiere Events:

Premiere Events

Unit 9, 126 Broadway

NEDLANDS 6102

Western Australia

Tel: (08) 9386 9666

http://www.premiereevents.com.au/

Positioned to best serve a worldwide customer base.

Gurit offers an unrivalled range of composite solutions, technologies and products specifically tailored to fast growing end markets. Advanced composites will be the core focus of the business after the separation of the former Health Care Division that will, in the course of summer of 2006, be listed on the SWX Swiss Stock Exchange as an independent company.

Advanced composites combine the properties of different materials to create an end product that offers significant performance advantages over traditional materials such as steel or aluminium. Typically the arrangement is a reinforcement material such as carbon, glass or aramid fibre combined with a specially formulated resin system. These materials offer unparalleled features in terms of weight, stability, stiffness and design properties that make them the materials of choice for a rising number of applications today and in the future.

[Information from Gurit 2007 website]

Gurit has been providing UWA Motorsport with much-needed carbon fibre for a number of years. Their support in this is much appreciated especially since a large portion of the recent cars have carbon fibre as the major structural component.

Thank You Gurit!!!

Contact Gurit:

Gurit Australia

Unit 1A, 81 Bassett St

Mona Vale 2103

New South Wales

Tel: (02) 9979 7248

http://www.gurit.com/