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Student racers in overdrive with digital skills

A student pit crew is gearing up for a competition that could see them crowned Formula Student champions 2008. The University of Sunderland Motorsport Team has designed and developed a racing car that they hope will power to victory in the student competition. The car, named SU08, is being honed by the team for Formula Student, an international competition where students from different universities design, build, test and race a single-seat race car.

Students called on the expertise of staff at the North East Productivity Alliance’s (NEPA) Digital Factory, which provides North East business with training in digital engineering software and physical technologies.

Paul Walsham, Joint Team Captain of the Sunderland team, said: “Formula Student allows us to put into practice the knowledge gained from the classroom and develop new skills and experience by actually building a car from our designs.”

Alan Stafford, the Digital Factory Project Manager, said: “While the Digital Factory project is designed to assist manufacturing industry and their current employees, these students are our engineers of the future. Formula Student not only consolidates their academic engineering knowledge but also requires them to run the project as a commercial operation.

“You can’t help but be impressed by the dedication of these ‘engineers of the future’ and I wish them the best of luck in the competition and hope very much that their hard work pays off.”

Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix, will play host to the finals of Formula Student from July 10 for three days. Each team must produce a car which fits a specific design brief: relatively low cost, easy maintenance and good reliability.

A sponsor event has already been staged by the team, but more sponsors are being sought in the run up to the final of the competition. To sponsor the team contact Charlotte Emmerson, Projects Coordinator, by emailing charlotte.emmerson@sunderland.ac.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .