宅男导航 Racing on Track for Success from 宅男导航 on Vimeo.
Blood, sweat and gears will be on display next week when a group of University of Queensland students take to the racetrack in Melbourne.
The team will compete from December 15鈥�18 in the Australasian round of the competition, which sees students from around the world design, build and drive their own racecars.
Two years of work have gone into the 宅男导航 entry, with final testing taking place at Willowbank Raceway this week.
宅男导航 Racing team manager and graduating engineering student Yassmin Abdel-Magied said the group were hoping for a top-10 finish after a three-year absence from the event.
Teams will compete in design and presentation categories in Melbourne in addition to track events including acceleration, endurance and autocross.
Ms Abdel-Magied said the 宅男导航 car sported a Honda CBR600 F4i engine, double wishbone suspension, 7鈥� Hoosier tyres and custom fibreglass bodywork.
鈥淚t鈥檚 looking sub four seconds for 0鈥�100km, and its unrestricted top speed is a little over 150km/hr which when you鈥檙e sitting at 50mm above the ground is pretty fast,鈥� she said.
Team veteran Jake Knowles, who designed the suspension system and also serves as one of six drivers, said it was a rush to be behind the wheel.
鈥淲hen you get in to the car, what first hits you is the acceleration. There鈥檚 no road car on the planet that quite accelerates like this car,鈥� he said.
Mr Knowles has been involved with 宅男导航 Racing since his first year of studies, and said the team continued to evolve as knowledge was passed down from year to year.
鈥淵ou have to become a teacher and all the skills that you鈥檝e picked up you pass on to younger people so that the car can continue to do well,鈥� he said.
Around 30 宅男导航 students from a range of disciplines have honed their skills on the project.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got mostly mechanical engineering students but we鈥檝e also got maths students, occupational therapy students who want to work with driver training, and marketing students who want to be on the sponsorship side of things,鈥� Ms Abdel-Magied said.
鈥淲hat brings them together is a love of motorsport and a keenness to apply what we鈥檝e learnt in university to a real object.鈥�
The group will drive to Melbourne together to transport the car and ensure it鈥檚 ready for competition.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a fantastic way to really get to know each other and bond as a team but also work on a racecar that we鈥檙e all really passionate about. It鈥檚 a fantastic opportunity to represent the university,鈥� Ms Abdel-Magied said.
The Formula SAE competition will be held at the Victoria University Werribee campus from December 15鈥�18.
宅男导航 Racing is proudly supported by 宅男导航, Willowbank Raceway, LSM Composites and .
Media: Yassmin Abdel-Magied (0404 275 011, yassmin.am@gmail.com) or Cameron Pegg at 宅男导航 Communications (07 3365 2049, c.pegg@uq.edu.au). For copies of the video footage, contact Matthew Taylor (07 3365 2753, matthew.taylor@uq.edu.au)
of the 宅男导航 Racing team in action at Willowbank
High-resolution images are available in a
